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Urge your representatives in Springfield to stop racial harassment in schools!
Tell your legislators to support the Racism-Free Schools Act to protect students and teachers from racial harassment.
Research shows that students of color experience, on average, 5 acts of racial harassment every day. 1.6 million students were directly targeted by hate speech in a single year, like the student in southern Illinois whose track coach used hateful racial language—but wasn’t disciplined until the victim’s friends and family protested outside the school. In a Teach Plus flash poll, two thirds of teachers responding said racial harassment was a serious concern and that schools were not doing enough to address it.
Current protections against racial harassment are not enough. Hate crimes in schools increased 81% from 2016 to 2018, with race-based hate crimes making up roughly half of all cases. Yet 87% of federal race-based complaints are dismissed, and the total number of reports decreased in 2020 and 2021 because victims and their advocates fear retaliation or don’t trust their reports will be effective.
In response, teachers across the state developed the Racism-Free Schools Act, offering a reasonable solution without added cost to districts. Schools already have similar protections and training in place for bullying and sexual harassment, and this bill extends those policies to race-based harassment. And this is training teachers want - in a 2022 flash poll, 96% of teachers polled were in favor of mandated training to identify and address racial harassment.
The Racism-Free Schools Act requires policies, training for staff, and communication to families at every school, and it clarifies the difference between bullying and harassment. It already has bipartisan support, but we need your help to ensure it passes.
You can help! Take 90 seconds to email your representatives in Springfield.
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If you live and teach in separate legislative districts, please also consider doubling your impact by entering your school address and contacting those representatives as well.
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