NEA President Becky Pringle issued the following statement in response to these unprecedented and harmful actions.
“Donald Trump and extreme politicians want to shut the door to equal educational opportunities for all children by attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on public college and university campuses and beyond. This is just the latest example of how these politicians seek to turn back the clock and ensure that students who speak a different language, who are first-generation Americans, or who go by a different pronoun are no longer welcome and supported. These unwarranted attacks on DEI will have a chilling effect on programs that provide equity and opportunity for all Americans.
“The relentless assault on DEI supports and programs are the latest boogeyman for far-right politicians and their allies. They go hand in hand with their efforts to whitewash history, to ban books about important figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, and to silence the voices of educators who teach about uncomfortable truths in our schools. They are weaponizing the federal government to roll back civil rights protections that have been in place since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.
“Let’s not let politicians distract us from their failures to fully fund public education, and from addressing the important issues for parents and families such as keeping students safe from gun violence, providing adequate resources for their public schools, and fixing the educator shortage and pay issues, to name a few. We know what’s at stake. That’s why we are coming together — parents, students, educators, and social justice advocates —to fight for all our students’ right to be seen and supported, and to have the resources they need to live into their brilliance.”
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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org
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