Teacher Tells Meeting, If You Are Not Anti-Racist You Could Be Fired

WATKINS: “Our district is only getting browner and browner with our children, and so if — you know, obviously you can’t change your melanin, all right, but you can change your mind so that you can actually function in a district that is full of BIPOC children. So if you’re being resistant, I understand that, but you’re going to have to eventually come to the light, because if you’re going to keep with those old views of colonialism, it’s going to lead to being fired because you’ll be doing damage to our children, trauma. And so as we fire the teachers who sexually abuse our children, we will be firing the teachers who do racist things to our children and traumatize them. And while our district might not be completely on there, OEA is working on it. NEA is working on it. And so it's just a matter of time. So it’s like you either evolve or dissolve. You’ve got to start working with us."