17th Annual Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference

Twenty percent of teachers in the U.S K–12 system are teachers of color and Black teachers. Research suggests that they have a higher percentage of turnover than their White colleagues. A tradition at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conferences in Seattle and Portland prior to the COVID pandemic, this workshop seeks to create a sustainable dialogue among Black and Brown educators working within the public K–12 system. It is an opportunity to talk about shared experiences, successes, and struggles through this work within the framework of the Testimonio. A goal for this workshop is to provide a healing and decolonized space where participants can voice candidly their thoughts on sustaining and growing the diversity within education and supporting each other across the region. Although all are welcome to travel alongside with those sharing their experiences, Black and Brown voices will be centered.

There is a throughline from the dispossession of Palestinian peasants in the late Ottoman Empire and early British Mandate to today’s violence in Gaza and the West Bank. Participants will engage in this classroom-tested mystery/mixer activity to explore the roots of today’s violence in Palestine-Israel. We meet early Zionists, Ottoman officials, Palestinian peasants and journalists, British leaders, a member of the Jewish Bund, and President Woodrow Wilson to search for the “seeds” of today’s violence.

If you share an affinity group identity and want to join, just show up at the location listed. You don't need to register for this session in advance. Affinity spaces are for individuals who identify with the group identity. Please only join if you share this identity.