Sean Scheuler
Template:TOCnestleft Sean Scheuler
PSL member
Anti-racist protesters shut down a school board meeting in Burlington, Wisconsin, Nov. 9 2020, in response to the board’s unwillingness to seriously discuss racism in Burlington schools. The meeting was set to address the question of teaching an anti-racist curriculum, using components of the Black Lives Matter movement, within the Burlington school district.
Families whose children had experienced racism in these schools formed the Burlington Coalition to Dismantle Racism and invited members of The People's Revolution and the Party for Socialism and Liberation to join in solidarity at this important meeting. During the public comment section, Burlington alumni and their families shared stories of racist harassment spanning years and decried the fact that the school board has never taken racism seriously. When the school board moved on to the next agenda item without so much as apologizing for the families’ experiences, the protestors shut the meeting down.
Protesters began chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Wake Up Burlington,” fists in the air and marching right up to the front of the room. The school board quickly decided to adjourn the meeting and began to leave, but the protesters remained, standing on chairs and continuing to chant and demand the school board do better. While there was no threat of violence, the school board called upon several police officers to escort the protesters out of the building.
Controversy arose in the community after one teacher began implementing lessons related to Black Lives Matter. When Burlington reactionaries caught wind of this, they organized a Facebook group “Parents Against Rogue Teachers” to disparage the teacher and threaten her job and life. At the school board meeting, concerned residents warned against using any curriculum related to “Black Lives Matter, Incorporated because it is a Marxist organization,” and advocated for social Darwinism to be implemented in lesson plans instead.
“Those people didn’t read the Black Lives Matter curriculum. They saw the name and turned it down,” said Kamila Ahmed, an organizer with The People's Revolution. “If we can teach the kids about the Nazis and the Boston Tea Party and pilgrims and all this…. Why can’t we start teaching them about Black Lives Matter today?
Implementing anti-racism policy would be one step to interrupt the perpetual systemic racism within the school district, though it does not seem that the administrators see that as a priority. Protesters at the school board meeting demonstrated a stronger commitment to the safety of Black and Brown Burlington students than the board members or racist community members ever have. “Witnessing the complacency and ignorance from the school board and members of the community on the struggles of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) families was gut-wrenching and insulting to say the least,” said Sean Scheuler, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and The People's Revolution who attended the protest. “However, the strength of the families who spoke, and the members of the community who chose to defend and uplift those families invigorated hope within the struggle. The fight isn’t over until the school board meets the needs of the BIPOC community.”[1]