NC NEA affiliate’s social justice caucus organizing new coalition to counter parents | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is A.P. Dillon.

    The social justice protest arm of the N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE), "Organize 2020," recently sent out an email inviting those "committed to education justice" to join a new coalition aimed at fighting for topics that parents have pushed back on at recent school board meetings - namely Critical Race Theory and saving "banned" books.

    The new coalition is called Honest Education Action & Leadership (HEAL).

    "This national effort is supported by the National Education Association (NEA), People's Action, Dignity in Schools, and many others committed to education justice," the email reads.

    The effort being supported by the National Education Association is no surprise, as the NCAE is an affiliate member.

    According to Influence Watch, People's Action is the "501(c)(4) lobbying arm of People's Action Institute, a consortium of left-wing community organizing groups." The organization is among the network of left-leaning and progressive organizations of Democracy Alliance, the well-funded organization that meets several times a year to strategize ways to push progressive agendas and candidates forward.

    Dignity in Schools' mission focuses on dismantling systemic racism and the school-to-prison pipeline in K-12 education. A main issue and "direct action" for the organization has been to arguably weaken school security by executing an education version of "Defund the Police" in K-12 through removal of school resources officers.

    Dignity in Schools has a direct link to North Carolina with Letha Muhammad, the current director of the Raleigh-based Education Justice Alliance (EJA), sitting on its Coordinating Committee. Recently, EJA began recruiting for its "Youth Power Institute," recruiting children for future activism including removal of resource officers from schools.

    Here is the full email Organize 2020 sent out on Friday, June 17:

    H.E.A.L. TOGETHER NC: AN EMERGING COALITION

    Organize 2020 Caucus info@organize2020.org via email.actionnetwork.org

    Fri, Jun 17, 8:59 AM (1 day ago)

    Friends-

    The right wing in NC is surging. One of the most insidious threats over the past year has been the assault on our public school systems' ability to honestly and accurately teach the history and current context of race in America. Campaigns against Critical Race Theory, masking, and now for book banning have furthered the Right's long term strategy of organizing the unorganized via non-stop outrage politics as a way to build power from the local level on up. It is imperative we engage now at the local level so that we can build our own grassroots bases. We need to harness our own parent and student power, from the local level on up.

    You are invited to join a statewide call at 7 pm, Thursday, June 23rd as we explore ways we can work to organize NC public school parents, students, educators and supporters aligned with Race Forward's national initiative: H.E.A.L Together (Honest Education Action & Leadership). This national effort is supported by the National Education Association (NEA), People's Action, Dignity in Schools, and many others committed to education justice. Together, we have the potential to create powerful, committed teams capable of shifting power locally and statewide.

    On next Thursday's call we will discuss ways to:

• Prepare your county to engage in local school board issues
• Build working teams of public school parents, students and supporters that work in coalition with public school partners
• Engage parents, students, educators, and other public education supporters in a multiracial coalition to defeat right-wing attacks on local school boards

    We know that public schools are essential to our democracy; they are the last remaining structure of our social safety net; and they are natural hubs where communities connect around a common goal, a positive goal - educating our kids. The aim of this project is to build multiracial teams of public school parents, students, educators, and supporters capable of organizing at the local level with effectiveness and staying power.