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When:
November 16, 2016 @ 7:00 pm
2016-11-16T19:00:00-08:00
2016-11-16T19:30:00-08:00
Where:
Berkeley Unified School District
1231 Addison St
Berkeley, CA 94702
USA
1231 Addison St
Berkeley, CA 94702
USA
Cost:
Free
Tell the Berkeley School Board: No More Racially Targeted Interrogations of Students!
Immigrant Students and Families Announce Lawsuit Against the Berkeley School District:
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
7pm Press Conference
7:30pm Speak out inside (fill out speakers cards before)
1231 Addison Street, Berkeley, California
Please join us this Wednesday as we return to the Berkeley School Board to support Yvette Felarca’s ELD (English as a Second Language) students, whose families will be announcing their lawsuit against the Berkeley Unified School District for racially targeting them for interrogation and intimidation during the school administration’s witch hunt against their teacher.
While Berkeley middle school teacher Yvette Felarca was finally returned to her classroom, after being put on administrative leave for her anti-fascist activities, there are still outstanding issues that have not been resolved, including wages that were stolen from her and not returned, which are subject of another lawsuit against the school district.
More Details and Background:
Grievance of Yvette Felarca: https://occupyoakland.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Grievance-of-Yvette-Felarca1.pdf
Press conference with Yvette Felarca and her lawyer, September 28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHhVxvNt3vY
Interview with Yvette Felarca by KPFA WorkWeek Radio and Labor Video Project, which gives an overview of the bigger picture of gentrification of Berkeley schools, systemic harassment of teachers and students by the school district, and the impacts of privatization on public education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt38tXaJ6dQ
September 21 school board meeting, public comments by Yvette Felarca, her students who demonstrated how she helped empower them, parents who praised her teaching style and expressed concern about recent racist activities in the schools, fellow workers who wondered about the implications of the district’s actions for other teachers, and community members who told personal stories about fascism in their own lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg2giLt6Fu4
October 5 rally outside the school board meeting, and public comments inside by more students, parents, teachers, and community members speaking in defense of Ms. Felarca. When board members refused to disclose their personal positions on whether she should continue to teach, and instead scurried off into a second, unagendized “closed session”, the community held its own meeting in the board room, with many more speaking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdwuri1LFYI
October 19 school board meeting, more public comments in defense of Ms. Felarca, including a description of an interrogation by a student, remote participation from a former student who called in from Mexico City, and a standing ovation from one of the student representatives on the board: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az4GFkzEfSo
Report of what happened in Sacramento, and the neo-Nazis involved: http://antifasac.weebly.com/home/blood-in-the-valley-why-people-put-their-lives-on-the-line-to-run-nazis-out-of-sacramento
More about the fascist organizers of the Sacramento rally: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/06/27/violent-clashes-erupt-sacramento-between-white-nationalists-and-antifascists
Details about neo-Nazis converging in Berkeley prior to their attempted rally in Sacramento: https://itsgoingdown.org/big-nazis-on-campus/
Article about racist events at Berkeley High School over the last couple of years, including racist pages in the yearbook which had to be recalled, a noose hanging from a tree, and a terror threat citing the KKK on a school computer, which resulted in a walkout by the majority of students: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/11/04/racist-threats-posted-on-berkeley-high-library-computer/
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