Black Advocacy Group Challenges New Teacher Agreement Laying Off White Teachers First

(KNSI) — A Black advocacy group is challenging an agreement in a new contract for Minneapolis teachers that say white teachers will be laid off first, regardless of experience and tenure.

Kofi Montzka from Take Charge Minnesota says the policy is terrible because “You cannot solve past discrimination with more discrimination. Racism in and of itself is evil, it’s wrong, and it’s illegal.”

The agreement is part of a new contract starting in 2023 between the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Minneapolis Public Schools. The language in the contract says it’s an effort to avoid layoffs to a teacher who is “a member of a population underrepresented,” but Montzka says it’s discriminatory toward teachers of color. “So really these policies no matter what their intent make it look like we are stupid and dumb and that we can’t compete in the marketplace.”

According to its website, Take Charge Minnesota denounces the idea that the country is guilty of systemic racism and white privilege and abhors the concept of identity politics and the promotion of victimhood in minority communities – a notion supported by Critical Race Theory.

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