2022 Black Well-being Final w links for Web 11.29.22 - Flipbook - Page 21
BLACK WELL-BEING REPORT 2022
BLACK FUTURE CO-OP FUND
Inadequate civics education
Ensuring we all understand civics, how society functions, and our political system has not
been a high priority within school districts or our political system. Until the 2020-21 school
year, Washington state was one of 11 states that did not require a stand-alone K-12 civics
class.42 As with all curriculum, districts are free to create their own as long as they meet
Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)’s content standards.
Despite a lack of systemwide implementation, there are examples within Seattle and Spokane
school districts of civics classes that are interdisciplinary, racially inclusive, and hands-on.43
Community demystifying civics
To change our society, we must help each other make the connection between civics, politics,
and people’s everyday experiences. Today, we are stepping up to educate our own community.
And it isn’t majoritively schools, politicians, or government employees creating accessible
spaces for learning. It is Black journalists, writers, radio hosts, religious leaders, barbers, artists,
teachers, actors, tiktokers, dancers, and athletes who are speaking up about the issues and
creating space for discourse. Powerful Black-led coalitions and initiatives like the Washington
Build Back Black Alliance, Washington Community Alliance, Washington Black Lives Matter
Alliance, and King County Equity Now have been formed. They are moving forward policy
agendas that speak to a vision of Black well-being with a focus on educating people and
mobilizing them to act.
Social change has and always will take all of us
Social change will take all of us recognizing and activating our personal power in the spaces
we occupy — on the job, in community spaces, and with our loved ones. It has been those of
us willing to accept the risks of truth telling, and usually outside of the political system, who
have shifted the ways we understand what is possible and build the courage to demand it.
None of the Black people referenced in mainstream historical accounts acted alone, despite
what we are told. Throughout history, Black people — especially queer, disabled, women —
have organized, acted, and inspired to shift the reality of our lived experience.
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