Durham Association of Educators (DAE) has been putting in work over the years to grow their membership. Apparently, they are no longer a predominantly white union. I wish they had put just as much energy into growing their critical consciousness and developing a liberatory framework. As an educator and former dues paying member of DAE, I believe DAE should be using their collective organizing power to support our predominantly Black and Brown students as they advocate for educator and worker rights, but they don’t. Their mode of operation is how to gain power over and not power with the community. These are white supremacy moves.
Amid the disastrous failure unraveling in Durham Public Schools, DAE usurped the protesting movement from the bus drivers and created their own demands that apparently didn’t align with everyone they claimed to represent. As such, DAE was surprised by the canceling of schools on February 9th & 12th because they did not organize this call-out. This is because DAE created a set of demands, and then kept changing them once the district met them. The last set of demands included a “Meet and Confer” policy.
Durham Public Schools held the Meet and Confer special session for DAE on February 15th. At the meeting, DAE leaders claimed to represent all workers in DPS, which I imagine didn’t include the mechanics because they walked out of the room less than an hour after the meeting started. According to Assistant Area Manager in Transportation Kitora Mason,“We didn’t have a seat at the table, and we were promised a seat.” While advocating for their own seat, DAE kept a vital portion of the DPS classified workers from being at the table (see DAE president’s remarks at 1:34 of video).
Further, how can we trust DAE to hold space for all voices, when it silenced its own Vice President who was literally sitting at the table? Turquoise Lejeune Parker, a long standing DAE member and advocate for children, was allegedly told to not share and to simply be an observer for the meeting. For two whole hours, several DAE leaders spoke at this meeting, while the VP sat quietly. Parker only spoke after being pitched a question that Board Member Alexandra Valladares posed directly to her.
Parker was being silenced by an organization that she has spent countless hours growing. For years she had been the one standing up for Black people, Black women particularly. And then it hit—she was her. She likens her treatment to what’s been happening to Black women nationally, where we are being pushed out and cast aside in the name of maintaining white power structures. Parker was silenced during the meeting and did not have a speaking part in the DAE agenda. Evidently having a seat at the table doesn’t equal having a voice.
It is clear that DAE wants a seat at the table. But which table are they pushing to occupy, and how many seats do they want? These are questions that need to be answered because they are well-represented with folks who align with their values. If the 5 board members DAE endorsed don’t represent their values, then why should we trust them by adding additional seats? Does DAE want a seat or the whole table? Thus, we find ourselves back to my initial statement regarding white power moves.
DAE leadership is power hoarding. They don't want a single seat; they want all of the seats. They want total control to do whatever they want, and by and large this does not include the advancement of learning for the students of DPS, let alone our Black and brown children.
Just so we’re clear, I want educators to win, but not at the expense of children or Black bodies. Ever. Period. Closing schools treats students as collateral damage, and that’s not right. I’m all for unionizing. I’m all for advocating for equity of pay. I am pro public schools. I’m not anti-DAE and the hardworking educators they represent. I’m anti-DAE’s power hoarding, white supremacist tactics that are not rooted in liberatory leadership. Period.
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