Video: Middle school teacher warns colleagues to become "antiracist" or be fired.

Warns that failure to evolve will make them "obsolete."

"If you're not evolving into an anti-racist educator, you're making yourself obsolete in this field of profession.”

“Evolve or Dissolve.”

These are just two of the eyebrow raising comments made by a middle school humanities teacher in the Beaverton School District in Oregon during the closing session of an “ABAR Equity Summit’ in February. “ABAR” is an acronym used by some to mean “anti-bias, anti-racism.”

Rather than editorialize about the teacher’s comments, I have embedded a short video clip.

Antiracism should not be confused with being against racism, being opposed to discrimination based on race or refusing to judge people based on the color of their skin. None of those meet the standard of antiracism as it is commonly used in academia and increasingly in K12 education. Antiracism requires that a person agree that our society, in every aspect, is racist and that the remedy is to embrace sweeping new forms of racial discrimination. Antiracism does not only allow for discrimination to fix past discrimination but it demands it.

The district did distance themselves from the comments in a statement, saying the teacher, “does not speak for the Beaverton School District” and that "being a teacher in the district and a member of the planning team for this particular summit, she has no official role in the equity efforts of the district."

The district did not denounce her statements.

At another point during the summit, a different teacher says, “my lovely White people, be as bold as those idiot invaders, insurrectionists about storming that Capitol. Go about this change like them. They are wacky, but you know what to do, so have that same energy."

The district released a statement about that comment, saying that this teacher “was not speaking for the district; she was expressing her own opinions. The district does not condone the use of violence or destruction of property under any circumstances."

This training had a price tag of $5,500 and was required for all licensed staff and encouraged for classified staff.

If you want to watch the entire video of the closing session, it is here.

To see a powerpoint with descriptions of all the breakout sessions during the event, click here.