By creating schools and systems that are anti-racist, inclusive, and student-centered, we are taking necessary and positive steps forward to addressing racist ideologies that plague our society.

The San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools and the San Mateo County Board of Education stand in solidarity with those experiencing racism and injustice and call upon educators to seek change on behalf of San Mateo County students. Read their statement and resolution condemning racism and injustice and utilize the following resources for educators and families.

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Non-Racist or Anti-Racist

Most of us, says Marlon James, are non-racist. While that leaves us with a clear conscience, he argues, it does nothing to help fight injustice in the world.

Watch the video and understand the difference between nonracism and antiracism. 

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Resources for Families

Talking Çï¿ûÊÓƵ Racism and Injustice

Talking Çï¿ûÊÓƵ Race and Being Antiracist

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Resources for Educators

Discussing the Derek Chauvin Verdict with Students

On April 20, 2021, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on three counts of murder and manslaughter. Almost a year before, while on duty, Chauvin killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. Floyd’s death and Chauvin’s trial amplified the demands for justice and healing in response to racial bias in policing, the disproportionate use of excessive force against Black Americans, and more broadly, the history of racial injustice in the United States. Below are resources for discussing the trial, verdict, and related events with your students:

  •  (Anti-Defamation League)
  •  (UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project)
  •  (UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project)
  •  (Mikva Challenge)
  •  (Facing History) 

Environmental Justice Movement

A wave of protests demanding an end to racial injustice have taken hold of towns and cities across the United States and the world. Backed by experts, these protestors have directly connected racial injustice to police violence, economic disparity, and environmental and health inequalities (many which are now linked to the disproportionate negative impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color).

The direct links between environmental issues and racial issues have long been areas of research and activism focused around the concept of environmental injustice, as described by one of the major founders of the environmental justice movement, Dr. Robert Bullard, “Whether by conscious design or institutional neglect, communities of color in urban ghettos, in rural 'poverty pockets,' or on economically impoverished Native-American reservations face some of the worst environmental devastation in the nation.”

The environmental justice movement is about shifting this paradigm to focus on environmental justice, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people (regardless of race, ethnicity, income, or age) in the process of improving and maintaining a clean and healthful environment. Environmental justice starts with improving the lives of those who have traditionally lived, worked and played closest to the sources of pollution, and or those who are on the front lines of the impacts of climate change." (EPA, 2020) 

The concept of climate justice builds further on this topic, exploring how Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American communities disproportionately shoulder the burden and impacts of the Climate Emergency (caused by human enhanced global warming).