Listen.
Stand up.
Speak out.
Take action.
Together.
As coordinator of the VTLFF network, I am often faced with the task of speaking for a large group of individuals working with a wide range of organizations across the state. Our goals are not always perfectly aligned, and we certainly don't agree on everything. Sometimes, we differ on strategy, priorities or timelines. Sometimes, we differ on politics. Sometimes, events are so complex that it's hard to pin down a direction. Sometimes, I just get the words wrong!
And yet this network has persisted and grown tremendously over the past few years. We have connected through a belief in the rights of all people to live and learn, and a commitment to accelerating change towards equity, sustainability and joy. We are connected by the good that lives in us all.
In this time of uncertainty and unrest, I hope we will lean into that connection, lean into the difficult conversations and hard work, lean into hope.
Over the past few weeks as our nation has rumbled, I have listened to voices from the network, from across the state, the nation and the world. I have listened to voices of our youth partners organizing protests in Montpelier, Burlington and Manchester. I have joined webinars hosted by BIPOC leaders to listen and learn. I have joined Zoom meetings with white colleagues to do our own work. I have joined public meetings to give support to youth activists. I have had hard conversations with my partner, my parents and my children examining our complicity and commitments.I have written to legislators and town goverment. None of it is enough, but it is all important. We have a lifetime of work to do, one day at a time.
With this as backdrop, and with the support of the Common Circle, I share the following:
VTLFF stands with Black Lives Matter and all those showing up and speaking out for racial justice and human rights.
We will listen. We will learn. We will stand up. We will speak out. We will take action.
We will get things wrong. We will take responsibility. We will persist.
We will stay committed to accelerating the pace of change in education towards a system that builds and perpetuates equity, sustainability and joy for all learners and the world around us.
This is not controversial for us, but it is important to state it clearly. Since its inception, VTLFF has been committed to equity, sustainability and joy for all learners in our schools and our communities. Individuals and organizations in the network are doing the work: taking action, organizing, supporting youth, and showing up - some for years, some just beginning - and we commit to listening, learning, and taking action for equity far into the future.
"There's something different this time..."
We Are All Activists
"Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor."
Ginetta Sagan
Whether we speak out or stay silent, our actions have impact. Whether the oppression is in schools or on the streets, the effect is the same. Acting collectively, our voice is amplified and our power is magnified.
This is a collection of commitments made by partners in the past few weeks. It is far from comprehensive of this network, and I encourage others to share their organizational or personal commitments, but even in this form it is an important measure of our collective potential. This is a distillation of alignment across the network:
We stand with Black Lives Matter
We commit to learning about and disrupting racism, oppression, power and privilege as critical, ongoing work
We commit to speaking out against injustice and inequity within and beyond our immediate work
We commit to amplifying BIPOC voices in our work and our communities
"You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time."
Angela Davis