As educators, as parents, as community members, and as residents and keepers of this land that we call the United States of America, we were shocked and deeply disturbed by the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia. Intolerance and hate-fueled violence should have no place in a nation founded on the principles of life, liberty, and equality. SERC stands united against hateful rhetoric and acts.

We are all accountable to our children. And as we prepare to once again welcome our students into classrooms across the state and the nation, let us keep in mind that schools ought to provide a space for students, teachers, staff, and school leaders to reflect and speak openly about events outside the classroom and the environment that led to them. This includes the reality that white supremacy does not exist in a vacuum but is fueled by structures that permit institutional oppression, systemic racism, and special privilege to dominant groups. SERC continues to reaffirm our commitment to work on dismantling these structures.

To teach in the wake of Charlottesville, educators across the country are sharing resources using the hashtag #CharlottesvilleCurriculum. We have also listed some links below.

• http://www.ctserc.org/equity
• Silence is not an Option: The Educators’ Call to Action #CHARLOTTESVILLE
• The Charlottesville Syllabus
• Teaching Tolerance
• The first thing teachers should do when school starts is talk about hatred in America. Here’s help.
• The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy
• Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism–from Ferguson to Charleston
• Books that address Anti-bias education, Civil Rights, Immigration, different lenses to explore American History, classism, racism and much more.
• Talking to Children About Racial Bias [added: 8/18/17]