LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In March 2023, Michigan News Source brought a story to you about the Michigan Education Association (MEA) offering white nationalism and DEI training for their members.
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The courses were included in something called SCECH (State Continuing Education Clock Hours) certification which teachers need to keep their teaching certificates up to date. The classes that are taken include hours that are earned by attending professional development activities provided by SCECH sponsors and approved the Michigan Dept. of Education (MDE). Educators need 150 education-related professional learning hours in order to renew MDE issued certificates and licenses.
According to their website, they are continuing to offer similar courses. To kick off the summer, the MEA’s Center for Leadership & Learning department is having a four-day book study on the book “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. The book study will be on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 pm beginning on June 14th and made available to members in good standing. Members will be required to buy their own book and registration is required to participate.
The 2019 nonfiction book is a #1 New York Times Bestseller from Kendi who is described as an American author and historian. Amazon says that the book combines social commentary and memoir, discussing concepts of racism and Kendo’s proposals for anti-racism individual actions and systemic changes.
When the book came out, The New York Times called it “The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.” Others called it one of the best books of 2019 including Time, NPR, and the Washington Post.
Kendi’s website says about the book, “Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America – but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.
In his memoir, Kendi weaves together an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science–including the story of his own awakening to antiracism–bringing it all together in a cogent, accessible form. He begins by helping us rethink our most deeply held, if implicit, beliefs and our most intimate personal relationships (including beliefs about race and IQ and interracial social relations) and reexamines the policies and larger social arrangements we support. How to Be an Antiracist promises to become an essential book for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step of contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society.”
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Michigan News Source reached out to the MEA for more information on the class and what parts of the book would be taught but they did not return our request for comment.
