If you have been watching any TV recently, you are probably taking time to catch the new hit TV show Abbott Elementary, created by the amazing Quinta Brunson. Her show is not only funny but places the importance and power of Black teachers in the spotlight at a crucial time in the history of our nation’s schools. 

As funny and enjoyable as Abbott Elementary is, what makes the show even more powerful is that during a time when our schools are under a direct attack by white supremacists opposing any forms of educational equity, we have this show demonstrating the passion and impact that Black teachers have in the classroom. On one hand, we have this vision of empowerment and on the other, we see the lengths that many are going to take to make sure that it never happens.

We had to know that the attacks on books and curriculum was just the starting point. It was never truly about the 1619 Project or critical race theory. It was always about power. Power is important because whoever controls the mechanism of power controls the truth. Our local school districts and their board of education are just the latest example of this fight to keep power and control what the truth is and will be.

First, they showed us how far they are willing to go by openly attacking any school leader, like Colleyville High School Principal James Whitfield, and making sure they were removed from their position. Then they showed more of their attack on the truth when we saw a leaked recording from Southlake Texas Carroll Independent School District teacher training where teachers were informed to teach both sides of the Holocaust. Then we saw Indiana Republican State Senator Scott Baldwin say in a recent state senate committee hearing that teachers' classroom lessons about fascism and Nazism should be impartial.

As sickening as these attacks and those on books in classrooms and libraries have been, we all knew that these attacks would eventually lead to the next phase of attacking Black Americans directly. It was only a matter of time until these efforts to attack truth in our schools would evolve into an attack on the very group of Americans whose history these white supremacists are attempting to hide from our nation.

Recently, we saw the first step in this direction. During a Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District meeting, one of their newest local school board members elected on the fear and hate-driven anti-CRT hysteria showed us just how far these new white supremacist counter-revolutionary activists are willing to go to ensure that the truth about our nation is never taught or acknowledged in our schools. School Board Member Scott Henry, said the following:

"Do you know what the statewide average for Black teachers is? Ten percent. I looked it up. Houston ISD, which y’all used as a shining example, you know what their average number of percentages for Black teachers is? Thirty-six percent. I looked that up. You know what their drop-out rate is? Four percent. I don’t want to be four percent. I don’t want to be HISD. I want to be a shining example, I want to be the district standard. I want to be the premium place where people go to be.“And quite frankly, we have a limited budget, with limited resources and we have a great place, and let’s don’t mess it up for everyone else."

Read Mr. Henry’s words carefully, or you can watch them here, and think about the fact that these words came from a man entrusted to oversee the education of the students in Texas’ third-largest school district. Cypress-Fairbanks ISD student enrollment is 80% minority students and this man is on their board of education.

Of course, like so many of these delusional white supremacists who are leading an openly hostile takeover of school districts across the nation, he doubled down on his privilege and issued a statement that said the following:

"Any suggestion that I said more Black teachers leads to worse student outcomes is a flat out lie and those spreading that lie should be ashamed of themselves. I am proud that our school district has placed an emphasis on hiring diverse teachers and that we exceed in doing so."

Right out of the Fox News and Republican playbook. Say what you mean and then issue a statement where you blame everyone for hearing what you said.

For Black Gen Z members though, this open hostility to our very existence in a public school system that has built into its very DNA that we are not capable of success does not come as a surprise. We constantly have to deal with attacks on our natural hair in school dress code policies. We know that a teacher workforce that currently does not look like us demonstrates their disdain for us by the adultification of Black girls. Black boys and girls are constantly treated as a threat and disproportionately disciplined, four times more likely in fact, compared to other students.

Each day, Black students across our nation in all types of neighborhoods travel to schools with the reality that we are far more likely to be seen by administrators and teachers as the problem instead of as future problem solvers. Our mental wellbeing and self-esteem suffer and the ramifications of those daily macro and micro racist aggressions accumulate over time and generate stress that we will carry with us our entire lives. No wonder more and more Black American families are continuing to embrace homeschooling as a mechanism to escape the institutional racism found in our schools. 

What makes the remarks by Cypress-Fairbanks ISD board member Scott Henry so harmful if unchecked, is that there is growing data on how important it is to the future of Black Americans that we secure more Black teachers. In a report published in 2018, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and American University found that if Black students have just one Black teacher by third grade they are 13% percent more likely to go to college. If we have two Black teachers that number grows to 32%.

Recently, the amazing team at The Center For Black Educator Development launched the We Need Black Teachers campaign. This campaign is focused on engaging young Black Americans on the need for us to become teachers. They point out that during the times we live in, one of the most important actions we can take right now is to become a teacher. Our mere presence in the classroom as a teacher is so impactful on the future of our community that it is truly an act of revolution. 

This issue is so pressing to the future of our community, that the Center For Black Educator Development estimates that we need 280,000 Black teachers to be proportionate to the number of Black students in our schools. The numbers are staggering but also offer us a clear point of action that we can take to bring the change we want to see in our communities.

So as Americans celebrate the new hit ABC show Abbott Elementary, Gen Z, we should keep in mind that we have the ability to take the images that we see on that show and turn it into reality. By becoming educators we can ensure that our communities will have the teachers they deserve and help send a message to elected officials like Scott Henry that their efforts will be in vain. 

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Haley Taylor Schlitz is 19 years old and in her third year at SMU Dedman School of Law. In May of 2019, she became Texas Woman's University's youngest graduate in history when she graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Woman's University College of Professional Education. She is also the host of the online show Zooming In w/Gen Z. Follow all her endeavors on Instagram and Twitter