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Speaker 1: On this episode of News World. My Guest Today was

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Speaker 1: an elementary school teacher up until July fourteenth of this year,

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Speaker 1: when she resigned her position teaching in Manchester Public Schools

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Speaker 1: in Connecticut over an excessive focus on race. In the

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Speaker 1: last year, Jennifer and her co workers were asked to

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Speaker 1: track their daily activities as part of equity training for

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Speaker 1: the district. They were required to fill out a daily

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Speaker 1: racial reflection timeline that included the following instructions. Quote. First,

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Speaker 1: list as many actions as possible of your regular daily routine,

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Speaker 1: starting with immediately after you wake up until you return

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Speaker 1: to bed at the end of your day. Second, after

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Speaker 1: completing your timeline, reflect on how race plays a role

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Speaker 1: in what you have listed. Discussing this with others can

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Speaker 1: help close quote. They then provided a list of choices

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Speaker 1: of how individuals, both white and non white, should feel

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Speaker 1: about race as they moved through their daily routine. She

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Speaker 1: was also given scripts on how to respond to her

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Speaker 1: students when or if they ask about the Black Lives

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Speaker 1: Matter movement, how to emphasize race, and characters and books

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Speaker 1: here to tell us more about her experience on the

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Speaker 1: front rinds of critical racial theory in the classroom. I

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Speaker 1: am really pleased to welcome my guest, Jennifer Tafuto. Jen,

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Speaker 1: thank you for joining me today. And you know, I

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Speaker 1: realized that you were a teacher in elementary school in Manchester, Connecticut,

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Speaker 1: just east of Hartford. Before we get into what actually happened,

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Speaker 1: what kind of you interested in wanting to teach in

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Speaker 1: the beginning, and what grade were you teaching. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me, mister speaker. I appreciate you inviting me here.

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Speaker 1: I always wanted to be teacher. I was a fourth

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Speaker 1: generation teacher. My mother taught for thirty five years before

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Speaker 1: retiring just recently to watch my daughter full time. And

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Speaker 1: my grandparents and their parents were teachers, so it's always

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Speaker 1: something that's been in my blood and something that I've

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Speaker 1: always been interested in. I consider myself a lifelong learner,

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Speaker 1: So for me, I always wanted to share my love

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Speaker 1: of learning with my students, and I was really excited

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Speaker 1: to be able to jump into that career right after college.

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Speaker 1: So you've received your bachelors from the University of Virginia

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Speaker 1: and a master's degree in education from John Hopkins, so

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Speaker 1: certainly your educational credentials are pretty impressive. Thank you did

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Speaker 1: you grow up in Virginia or how did you end

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Speaker 1: up at the university. No, I grew up here in Connecticut.

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Speaker 1: I always wanted to go to the University of Virginia.

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Speaker 1: I fell in love with it when I visited, and

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Speaker 1: it was really a dream to go there. That's great.

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Speaker 1: Did you spend any time at Jefferson's house a little

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Speaker 1: bit of time, and it's a remarkable place, just in

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Speaker 1: terms of his designing at the beautiful So when did

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Speaker 1: you start to see equity training getting introduced in your

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Speaker 1: school district? You know, it's hard to pinpoint right when

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Speaker 1: it started happening. I vaguely remember a few years ago,

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Speaker 1: So just some background information. This was only my third

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Speaker 1: year teaching in this district. Prior to this district, I

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Speaker 1: taught in Bridgeport, Connecticut at an upper elementary level, fifth grade.

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Speaker 1: So in Manchester, you know, I remember there are meetings

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Speaker 1: talking about equity and trying to include some of these

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Speaker 1: topics in the classroom. But it really got progressive this

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Speaker 1: past school year. And I was a fully remote teacher

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Speaker 1: this past school year, so it was an interesting dynamic

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Speaker 1: to be teaching from my house to my students and

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Speaker 1: their families at their houses and having a focus on

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Speaker 1: this topic in light of all the learning regressions that

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Speaker 1: a lot of students experienced. So it was a very

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Speaker 1: interesting year for sure. So you are required to have

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Speaker 1: equity sessions yees seven and eight year olds? I mean,

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Speaker 1: what is an equity session? Yes, it was part of

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Speaker 1: our schedule. We had to include an x amount of

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Speaker 1: time to devote to these lessons that were given to us.

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Speaker 1: So it was two days a week for approximately forty

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Speaker 1: minutes per day. And what are the sort of things

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Speaker 1: you would do during an equity session? We were given

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Speaker 1: books to read with our students. They were mailed to

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Speaker 1: me since I was home boxes of books that we

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Speaker 1: were reading with our students throughout the year. And there

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Speaker 1: were questions and conversation starters that followed along with the

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Speaker 1: read aloud books, and it was expected that we went

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Speaker 1: through those questions with our students pretty much verbatim. And

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Speaker 1: I mean, how did the students react to this? It

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Speaker 1: was interesting, had a lot of students where it just

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Speaker 1: went completely over their heads. They're so young, so you know,

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Speaker 1: if a question came up about tell me what that

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Speaker 1: black or brown character is doing, how do you think

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Speaker 1: that black or brown character feels. The kids would often

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Speaker 1: remark on the clothes that the character was wearing, or

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Speaker 1: what sport he or she was playing, you know, something

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Speaker 1: that had nothing to do with the character's race, and

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Speaker 1: making assumptions about injustices. I did, however, have a parent

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Speaker 1: just recently remind me of this that she had reached

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Speaker 1: out to me in the school year. She was concerned

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Speaker 1: because her daughter was pointing out people's races in a

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Speaker 1: public setting. So it was an interesting dynamic I guess

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Speaker 1: where it went over most of their heads. And then

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Speaker 1: I was able to see the implications, as did a parent,

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Speaker 1: that these conversations did have. And I remember the parents

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Speaker 1: saying that her daughter said, no, mom, it's okay, I'm

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Speaker 1: allowed to say black and brown people because that's missus.

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Speaker 1: T Fudo says. So you've got examples of how a

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Speaker 1: student's morning routine could be racist, which I thinks one

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Speaker 1: of the weirdest parts of this whole experience. How did

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Speaker 1: that work? So that document that the racial timeline was

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Speaker 1: a professional development assignment, so that was not for the students. Fortunately,

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Speaker 1: I think that that would have been even further over

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Speaker 1: their heads than anything else that was something that was

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Speaker 1: given for teachers to complete. It was a very bizarre

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Speaker 1: task that I don't think many people were expecting to complete.

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Speaker 1: So as I understand that the instruction manual listed examples

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Speaker 1: such as wake up and get coffee, brush teeth, and

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Speaker 1: take a shower, how is that racist? Your guess is

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Speaker 1: as good as mine. I'm not quite sure. In hindsight,

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Speaker 1: I think it's a little insulting to people of any

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Speaker 1: race to have to think about those things. How I

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Speaker 1: should worry about whether when I brush my teeth I'm

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Speaker 1: doing it in a white way or a non white way.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you're being equitable when you drink your coffee

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Speaker 1: in the morning. And again this was not for students,

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Speaker 1: this was for teachers. So as part of one of

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Speaker 1: the professional development Equity trainings, there was a daily racial

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Speaker 1: reflection timeline given. It says, quote the purpose of this

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Speaker 1: timeline is to detail your moment to moment daily routine

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Speaker 1: in order to investigate how you intentionally, consider, subconsciously, planned,

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Speaker 1: consciously avoid, or live oblivious to the impact of race

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Speaker 1: in your habits of life. End quote. So some of

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Speaker 1: the examples there are a lot so entry narrative examples.

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Speaker 1: Three types A someone considered non white who has become

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Speaker 1: aware of how much they consider or center race. By

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Speaker 1: doing this timeline, I realized that I set my clock

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Speaker 1: forty five minutes earlier than I will actually get up,

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Speaker 1: because if I push snooze more than twice, I will

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Speaker 1: not be scrambling in the morning or late to work.

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Speaker 1: I'm concerned about being late because it could reinforce stereotypes

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Speaker 1: that my racial group are late or not as professional

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Speaker 1: as whites be. Someone considered white who wants to become

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Speaker 1: more aware of how to center race and become more

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Speaker 1: racially considerate. Wow. Doing this timeline and reading some books

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Speaker 1: has my looking at how oblivious I've been to race

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Speaker 1: my cell phone. That woke me up. What third world

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Speaker 1: country is in conflict to get the precious metals for

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Speaker 1: its computer components? Who is being exploited or possibly enslaved

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Speaker 1: to get me my coffee beans? Option c Someone who

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Speaker 1: is oblivious to race's impact and wants to avoid centering, considering,

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Speaker 1: or thinking about race at all. I slept well, And

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Speaker 1: that's the sorts of things that they wanted you to do.

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Speaker 1: That was one assignment from a professional development activity, yes,

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Speaker 1: that we were told to complete and reflect on. They

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Speaker 1: were so concerned that you deal with Black Lives Matter

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Speaker 1: in an appropriate way as they defined appropriate, that you

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Speaker 1: were actually giving prescripted responses. If a seven year old

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Speaker 1: student ask about or mentioned Black Lives Matter, what were

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Speaker 1: some of the things that they wanted you to say?

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Speaker 1: I will read you the footnote. If BLM is mentioned

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Speaker 1: by students, please refer to footnote. What is the BLM movement?

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Speaker 1: The Black Lives Matter Foundation is an organized movement advocating

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Speaker 1: for non violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of

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Speaker 1: police brutality against black people. What about other lives? Don't

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Speaker 1: they matter? Too? Absolutely? However, right now, black men, women,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes children are victims of police violence at a

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Speaker 1: higher rate than other people because of systemic racism. So

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Speaker 1: it's important that we recognize that there is injustice and

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Speaker 1: discrimination in the way our systems value the lives of

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Speaker 1: black people, and that's why it's important to assert that

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Speaker 1: black lives do matter. Imagine you are outside playing with

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Speaker 1: a group of friends. While you are playing, you fall

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Speaker 1: down and scrape your knee. Should we give everyone a

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Speaker 1: bandage because everyone matters? Or should we give it to

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Speaker 1: you because right now now you need it more than

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Speaker 1: everyone else. We should give you the bandage right now

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Speaker 1: so you can heal. The rest of your friends are

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Speaker 1: okay at the moment and can't support you until you

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Speaker 1: are better and ready to play in the same way

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Speaker 1: they can. This is an example of equity making sure

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Speaker 1: that when someone is at a disadvantage they receive the

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Speaker 1: help they need. Similarly, it's important that people are groups

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Speaker 1: that are at a disadvantage because of a system or

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Speaker 1: structure that receive more support, and saying Black lives matter

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Speaker 1: shows that support. So they literally wanted you to sort

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Speaker 1: of memorize or to learn these kind of answers. They

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Speaker 1: were scripted so that if we ever encounter them, we

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Speaker 1: knew how to address them. It's amazing that this was

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Speaker 1: happening all across the country. This wasn't just your local school,

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Speaker 1: but in fact, there's an intern nationwide effort led by

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Speaker 1: the teachers' unions to bring into the system these kinds

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Speaker 1: of thinking. You made a good point. This is certainly

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Speaker 1: not exclusive to Manchester, and my speaking out on this

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Speaker 1: had nothing thing to do with me trying to take

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Speaker 1: them down by any means or you know, show them

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Speaker 1: in a bad light. For me, it was all about

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Speaker 1: my students, and that example of the Black Lives Matter

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Speaker 1: conversation is just one of many that were extremely uncomfortable

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Speaker 1: and that I don't think was really appropriate for seven

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Speaker 1: and eight year old It does seem to me leading

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Speaker 1: a discussion with seven year olds about black lives matters

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Speaker 1: at a minimum is very political and probably isn't among

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Speaker 1: the highest values that the students have. You made a very,

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Speaker 1: very big decision. How did you come to the conclusion

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Speaker 1: that this required you to step out of the classroom. Truthfully,

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Speaker 1: I was so uncomfortable with so many meetings and the

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Speaker 1: curriculum that was being pushed on my students. At the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, I've only wanted what's best for

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Speaker 1: my students, and I want them to understand how important

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Speaker 1: they are and that I should not treat them differently

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Speaker 1: because of the color of their skin. So for me,

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Speaker 1: I did make the decision because I didn't agree with

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Speaker 1: the direction of this work has been going. There wasn't

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Speaker 1: one moment in time. There were definitely a few of

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Speaker 1: those prompts that I mentioned before that were hurtful, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I definitely felt like my integrity as a teacher

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Speaker 1: was questioned with them. But overall, it was just a

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Speaker 1: long time coming. I think with this work, well, I

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Speaker 1: just know, given what you said earlier about your parents

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Speaker 1: and your grandparents, that teaching is really a deep part

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Speaker 1: of your family tradition, and it must have been a

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Speaker 1: very difficult and challenging decision. It sure was. I hope

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Speaker 1: some day to get back into the classroom, assuming I

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Speaker 1: can teach math and reading and writing, teach my students

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Speaker 1: to respect each other and to come together. But until then,

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Speaker 1: I definitely want to stay involved in education on some level.

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Speaker 1: Just not sure what that looks like. At this point.

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Speaker 1: You're speaking out. I'm looking at the list share. It's amazing.

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Speaker 1: The State Education Department, the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendence,

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Speaker 1: the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, the Connecticut Association

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Speaker 1: of Schools, the American Federation of Teachers, the Connecticut Education

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Speaker 1: Association got together and issued a joint statement that this

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Speaker 1: was all legitimate. I guess so I try to stay

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Speaker 1: off from reading these comments and these remarks. It's just

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Speaker 1: interesting because it's a sign you must have touched a

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Speaker 1: nerve and you must have really frightened some very powerful people.

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Speaker 1: What was the reaction you got in school. The support

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Speaker 1: that I got from teachers within that district, districts in

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Speaker 1: the state and outside of the state was overwhelming. It

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Speaker 1: was truly so incredible to hear from so many people

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Speaker 1: thinking me. You know a lot of people saying that

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Speaker 1: they wish that they could say something, but there's such

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Speaker 1: a level of fear in talking about these conversations. And

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Speaker 1: I think that teachers are really scared of sharing how

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Speaker 1: they truly feel because it could cost them their jobs.

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Speaker 1: In a sense, they're afraid to speak up even if

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Speaker 1: they deeply disagree. Yes, And of course when you look

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Speaker 1: at all that list of people piling on, you can

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Speaker 1: see if you were an individual teacher, that's pretty remarkable.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty daunting. I have a book coming out in

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Speaker 1: November called Beyond Biden, and we talk about critical race theory,

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Speaker 1: and one of the points I make is that the

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Speaker 1: woke see racism everywhere and feel compelled to call it out.

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Speaker 1: This process is referred to as problematizing. And these are

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Speaker 1: some recent headlines we got from left wing publications. The

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Speaker 1: unbearable whiteness of hiking and how to solve it, The

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Speaker 1: unbearable whiteness of baseball, how star wars reinforces our prejudice,

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Speaker 1: the racism of technology, and why driverless cars could be

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Speaker 1: the most dangerous example yet. The grocery store shows us

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Speaker 1: how systemic racism works. Western civilization means classics and white supremacy.

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Speaker 1: Addressing anti blackness and specialty coffee, that's what I found

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Speaker 1: particularly exciting. How can you take seriously a person who

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Speaker 1: walks up to you and says specialty coffee illustrates anti blackness?

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Speaker 1: Why is American classical music so white? Systemic racism can't

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Speaker 1: be fixed without tackling it within sight? Why heterosexual relationships

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Speaker 1: are so bad for us? And the candy industry has

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Speaker 1: a long history of racism that we can ignore. I mean,

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Speaker 1: these people write these articles seriously. This is not a

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Speaker 1: comedy channel thing. Did you encounter any of this stuff

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Speaker 1: or was that in a different world? No? I think

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Speaker 1: that's definitely a different world. I am a normal person.

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Speaker 1: I actually didn't really see myself as a very political

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Speaker 1: person prior to these conversations injecting themselves in my workplace.

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Speaker 1: So this whole world is very new to me and unfamiliar,

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Speaker 1: and I find it very interesting but a little bit crazy.

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Speaker 1: When you started to talk out about this. What kind

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Speaker 1: of reaction did you get in the teachers lounge or

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Speaker 1: at lunch in the cafeteria. I think, like I said earlier,

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Speaker 1: teachers are definitely scared to speak out about it. I

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Speaker 1: was fully remote last year, so my interactions with teachers

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Speaker 1: were purely through text messages and phone calls and that

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Speaker 1: type of thing. And they didn't agree with it. They

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Speaker 1: thought it was inappropriate and uncomfortable. But again, no one

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Speaker 1: wants to be labeled or to lose their job. When

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Speaker 1: you did speak out, what kind of reaction did you

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Speaker 1: get from people around the country? Mostly positive, but again

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Speaker 1: I'm off of social media, so I'm sure there are

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Speaker 1: lots of negative comments as well, and that's okay. I

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Speaker 1: think it's okay to disagree respectfully. I'm all about their respect.

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Speaker 1: The support has been really nice and just reaffirming that

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Speaker 1: it's important to stand by your convictions. Especially for me,

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Speaker 1: when it comes down to it, I only want what's

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Speaker 1: best for my students and for the future of our country,

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Speaker 1: So for me, that's definitely the most important thing. And

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Speaker 1: I just try to keep remembering that we discovered that

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Speaker 1: this is happening around the count A whistleblower uncovered a

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Speaker 1: fifth grade social studies lesson in Philadelphia that asked students

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Speaker 1: to celebrate the black communist Angela Davis. Students were asked

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Speaker 1: to act out free Angela Davis rallies demanding that the

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Speaker 1: government released the black panther imprisoned on charges of murder, conspiracy,

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Speaker 1: and kidnapping. And in California, third graders were made to

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Speaker 1: quote deconstruct their racial identity and rank themselves according to

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Speaker 1: their power and privilege. In school, teachers told students they

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Speaker 1: lived in a dominant culture of white middle class cisgender educated,

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Speaker 1: able bodied Christian English speakers. I'm going to repeat that

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Speaker 1: because they talk a whole language that frankly, I'm not

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Speaker 1: totally into white middle class cis, gender educated, able bodied

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Speaker 1: Christian English speakers. Thus the dominant culture. And that was

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Speaker 1: in California for third graders. I mean, it's strange that

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Speaker 1: across the whole country you have this surge by the

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Speaker 1: education establishment to get us, in a sense, to brainwashers

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Speaker 1: into things that really are I think one false and

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Speaker 1: two very deeply divisive, very inappropriate, first, second, third, fourth graders.

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Speaker 1: Bob goes my mind. But I'm curious now that you've

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Speaker 1: been through this. What is your advice to other teachers

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Speaker 1: who find themselves in similar situations. I think at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, I know it's scary to leave

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Speaker 1: a career. I'm terrified still every day and I miss

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Speaker 1: the classroom. But if you truly believe that this work

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Speaker 1: is harmful, then you have to speak up. And you

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Speaker 1: know they told us in past conversations and equity meetings

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Speaker 1: to lean into the discomfort. That was always the headline,

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Speaker 1: So I think it's important to do the same, but

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Speaker 1: out of the situation and lean into the discomfort, talk

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Speaker 1: about why you're uncomfortable with it. If you want what's

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Speaker 1: best for our students and you agree that they were

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Speaker 1: all created equal, then you have to say something and

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Speaker 1: remove yourself to really understand what's going on. How can

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Speaker 1: parents be aware of what's being taught. I have a

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Speaker 1: sense that a lot of the virtual learning from home

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Speaker 1: parents were startled by some of the things they saw

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Speaker 1: being taught that they'd never realized when they was being

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Speaker 1: taught in a classroom, But now that they were seeing

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Speaker 1: it in their own home by zoom or something, they

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Speaker 1: were much more concerned or much more engaged. From your

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Speaker 1: own experience how can parents be aware of what is

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Speaker 1: being taught in their children's classrooms. That's a great question.

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Speaker 1: I've heard from a lot of parents of all backgrounds

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Speaker 1: in support, which has been much appreciated as well. And

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Speaker 1: I think that there has to be some level of

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Speaker 1: transparency with what's being taught with the curriculum that schools

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Speaker 1: are pushing. And so I actually just was talking to

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Speaker 1: a parent a little while ago who requested all of

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Speaker 1: the Equity curriculum lessons from her child's district so that

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Speaker 1: she was familiar with what was going on and could

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Speaker 1: pretty much approve it or not. Although I did also

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Speaker 1: here that apparently there is a no opt out option

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Speaker 1: for these lessons, so interesting. So given all that, I mean,

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Speaker 1: how do we stop this from happening? I think that's

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Speaker 1: the million dollar question. I think that there just needs

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Speaker 1: to be more people speaking about it and you know,

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Speaker 1: talking about the implications. At the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: I don't think this should be a political issue personally

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Speaker 1: for me, I think it's an ethical issue what would

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Speaker 1: be best for our young children, and I think that

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Speaker 1: there needs to be a lot more conversations about the

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Speaker 1: implications that this could have on our young children. Are

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Speaker 1: young students. That's greatness. I really appreciate your willingness to

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Speaker 1: talk with us. I realize you have no intention of

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Speaker 1: becoming a public figure, but I think you're helping educate

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Speaker 1: the country. And talking with my friends at seventeen seventy

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Speaker 1: six Action, they just felt that you had such an

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Speaker 1: important story to tell and has shown so much courage

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Speaker 1: in being willing to stand up and tell it. And

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Speaker 1: I want you to know that I'm personally very grateful

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Speaker 1: both for your courage and for your willingness to help

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Speaker 1: others understand what's going on. Well, thank you. I appreciate

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Speaker 1: that they've been awesome at seventeen seventy six. Adam is great.

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Speaker 1: He's such a trailblazer, and I'm so happy to be

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Speaker 1: able to associate with him. Yeah, I think Adam is

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Speaker 1: doing a great job at seventeen seventy six ACTION, and

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Speaker 1: I think he's totally committed to making sure that the

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Speaker 1: facts about American civilizations survive and that the kind of

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Speaker 1: by past education we've been talking about does not overwhelm

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Speaker 1: the system. So I'm delighted with Adam's work at seventeen

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Speaker 1: seventy six ACTION. But I'm also delighted that you, as

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Speaker 1: a citizen that would have the courage and be willing

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Speaker 1: to come and be on the show. So thank you

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Speaker 1: very much for joining me. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: having me, mister speaker. Thank you to my guest Jennifer Tafuto.

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Speaker 1: You can learn more about critical race theory and the

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Speaker 1: work of the seventeen seventy six action on our show

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Speaker 1: page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is produced by Gingwish

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Speaker 1: street sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Debbie Myers,

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Speaker 1: our producer is Garnsey Sloan, and our researcher is Rachel Peterson.

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Speaker 1: The artwork for the show was created by Steve Pendley.

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Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team at Gingwish three sixty. If

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Speaker 1: you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple

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Speaker 1: Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give

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Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about.

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Speaker 1: Right now, listeners of news World can sign up from

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Speaker 1: my three free weekly columns at Gangwish three sixty dot

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Speaker 1: com slash newsletter. I'm newt Gangwig. This is newts World