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District Racial Equity Teams
Each school in the district has an equity team. The purpose of the equity teams is success for every student. Team members work in partnership with building administrators to eliminate inequity and disproportionality. Students' success should not be predicted by race, ability, gender, economic background, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Monthly Calendar Observances
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The Mukilteo School District is a beautifully diverse community. Because of our commitment to diversity, we work to avoid religious date conflicts for school events, meetings, and activities that offer curricular value to our families and students, such as curriculum nights, conferences, board meetings, and open houses. To help facilitate that process, this page will note significant religious, cultural holidays, and special awareness that can be shared with school leaders for planning purposes.
Black History Month - February 1st through March 1st
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/why-we-need-black-history-month
January 18th - Martin Luther King Day
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/the-best-of-our-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-resources
November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week
November 13–19 is Transgender Awareness Week, followed by Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20.
This week, as we celebrate the diverse experiences of our transgender community, use these resources to advocate for our trans students and fellow educators, whether you’re teaching in person or remotely.
In the Hawaiian language, Kāne means male and Wahine means female. But in Ancient Hawaiian culture, we acknowledge and honor that some people are simply not one or the other. People who hold the magic of two-spirits, we call Māhū. Here is a short FILM that explains the beauty of existing in that place in the middle.
November is Native American Heritage Month
For more information on Native American Heritage Month, please visit HERE.
A land acknowledgment is more than just words. It is acknowledging that something has happened and continues to happen to our Native brothers and sisters. When we acknowledge the injustices, it gives us the opportunity to bring to light that this country has created institutions and strategies to make Native People, Indigenous people, invisible. When we can name the continued injustices and be intentional and deliberate about changing policies and practices, it is only then people can move towards reconciliation and healing. For more information on Land Acknowledgement, please watch this VIDEO.
October is LGBTQ+ History Month
We hope these RESOURCES will help you and your students as you celebrate the diverse identities, experiences, and histories of LGBTQ activists—and the continuing fight for LGBTQ equality.
October 12, 2020, is Indigenous People's Day
In 2014, the City of Seattle observed Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the first time. Over the past six years, more cities and states have come together to replace Columbus Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day represents a long fight to recognize the role of Indigenous people in American history. READ MORE HERE.
Five Ideas for Celebrating Indigenous People's Day
October is Disability Awareness Month
“In October, Americans observe National Disability Employment Awareness Month by paying tribute to the accomplishments of the men and women with disabilities whose work helps keep the nation’s economy strong and by reaffirming their commitment to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens.
This effort to educate the public about the issues related to disability and employment began in 1945, when Congress enacted Public Law 176, declaring the first week of October each year as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week. In 1962, the word “physically” was removed to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals with all types of disabilities. Some 25 years later, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to National Disability Employment Awareness Month.”
October is Filipino-American Heritage Month
Learn more about Filipino-American Heritage Month HERE.
October is Italian-American Heritage Month
Learn more about Italian-American Heritage Month HERE
From September 15 to October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month
Learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month HERE.
Social Justice Library - Books
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Between the World and Me
by Ta Nehisi Coates Year Published: 2015#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER | NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER | PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST | NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST | NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly
Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the single best writer on the subject of race in the United States” (The New York Observer) “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and its Relevance Today
by Jacqueline Battalora Year Published: 2013Birth of a White Nation is a fascinating new book on race in America that begins with an exploration of the moment in time when "white people," as a separate and distinct group of humanity, were invented through legislation and the enactment of laws. The book provides a thorough examination of the underlying reasons as well as the ways in which "white people" were created. It also explains how the creation of this distinction divided laborers and ultimately served the interests of the elite.
Blind Spot
by Banaji and Greenwald Year Published: 2013"I know my own mind. I am able to assess others in a fair and accurate way."
These self-perceptions are challenged by leading psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald as they explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality.
“Blindspot” is the authors’ metaphor for the portion of the mind that houses hidden biases. Writing with simplicity and verve, Banaji and Greenwald question the extent to which our perceptions of social groups―without our awareness or conscious control―shape our likes and dislikes and our judgments about people’s character, abilities, and potential.
In Blindspot, the authors reveal hidden biases based on their experience with the Implicit Association Test, a method that has revolutionized the way scientists learn about the human mind and that gives us a glimpse into what lies within the metaphoric blindspot.
The book’s “good people” are those of us who strive to align our behavior with our intentions. The aim of Blindspot is to explain the science in plain enough language to help well-intentioned people achieve that alignment. By gaining awareness, we can adapt beliefs and behavior and “outsmart the machine” in our heads so we can be fairer to those around us. Venturing into this book is an invitation to understand our own minds.
Brilliant, authoritative, and utterly accessible, Blindspot is a book that will challenge and change readers for years to come.
Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority
by Tim Wise Year Published: 2012White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nation's diverse cultural reality, a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, whites are growing anxious.
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland
by Jonathan Metzl Year Published: 2020In the era of Donald Trump, many lower- and middle-class white Americans are drawn to politicians who pledge to make their lives great again. But as Dying of Whiteness shows, the policies that result actually place white Americans at ever-greater risk of sickness and death. Winner - 2020 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award!
Just Schools: Building Equitable Collaborations with Families and Communities
by Ann Ishimaru Year Published: 2019Just Schools examines the challenges and possibilities for building more equitable forms of collaboration among nondominant families, communities, and schools. The text explores how equitable collaboration entails ongoing processes that begin with families and communities, transform power, build reciprocity and agency, and foster collective capacity through collective inquiry. These processes offer promising possibilities for improving student learning, transforming educational systems, and developing robust partnerships that build on the resources, expertise, and cultural practices of nondominant families. Based on empirical research and inquiry-driven practice, this book describes core concepts and provides multiple examples of effective practices.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
by Layla Saad Year Published: 2020Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor is a book by Layla Saad published on January 28, 2020. Structured as a 28-day guide targeted at white readers, the book aims to aid readers in identifying the impact of white privilege and white supremacy over their lives. It contains quotations, terminology definitions and question prompts. It received positive critical reception, entering many bestseller lists in June 2020 after a surge in popularity in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests.
My Grandmother's Hands
by Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW Year Published: 2017In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.
The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.
My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
- Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system.
- Offers a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods, in addition to incisive social commentary.
This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work
by Tiffany Jewell Year Published: 2019Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Learn about social identities, the history of racism, and resistance against it. Learn how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation. This Book is Anti-Racist is a call-out to the next generation in an unprecedented global crisis.
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