The Leader Of The Teacher’s Union Believes Learning About BLM Is More Important Than Math

Cecily Myart-Cruz serves as a union boss for Los Angeles teachers. Throughout the pandemic, she has fought for teachers and has advocated for keeping classrooms closed amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases leading into the 2021-2022 school year and has also suggested that Zoom classes should be limited to four hours per day. Although most experts agree that students are missing out on learning opportunities because of the pandemic, Myart-Cruz insists that students have not missed out entirely on their education because they have learned about the Black Lives Matter movement and the impact of the peaceful protests.

However, Myart-Cruz has been labeled “ultra-woke” and “left-wing,” which has earned her some resistance from California’s conservative minority. In an exclusive interview with Los Angeles Magazine, Myart-Cruz outlined her views on school closures, and the lessons teachers have been able to impart on students in the wake of George Floyd’s murder amid the global pandemic.

“There is no such thing as learning loss. Our kids didn’t lose anything. It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times’ tables. They learned resilience. They learned survival. They learned critical-thinking skills. They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup.”

Nevertheless, critics accuse Myart-Cruz of being “radical.” She hit back at her critics with a response to that claim.

“It is not radical to ask for ethnic studies. It is not radical to ask for childcare. It’s not radical to ask for police-free schools so that students don’t feel criminalized. That is not radical; that’s just fact.”

When parents and other critics have a bone to pick with her views, Myart-Cruz suggested they come at her with proof.

“When parents would say, ‘I think you could have done this better,’ I’d love for you to show me,” Myart-Cruz said. “I absolutely invite people to come in and show me.”

“If you condition funding on the reopening of schools, that money will only go to white and wealthier schools that do not have the transmission rates that low-income Black and brown communities do,” she stated in an online video that drew national attention. “We are being unfairly targeted by people who are not experiencing this disease in the same ways as students and families are in our communities,” she went on. “If this was a rich person’s disease, we would’ve seen a very different response. We would not have the high rates of infections and deaths. Now educators are being asked to sacrifice ourselves, the safety of our students, and the safety of our schools.”

Although she has not supported vaccine mandates, Myart-Cruz wants as many people to get the shot as possible so the world can put the pandemic into the rearview mirror.

“We encourage all folks who can to get vaccinated to keep our educational community healthy and safe,” she said.

However, there is no denying that COVID-19 has changed the shape of public education in America. It has exposed weaknesses in the education system, like how students from majority-white school districts are more likely to get resources than their black and brown counterparts in more diverse parts of the country.

“We’re re-envisioning what the future of public schools will look like,” Myart-Cruz said. Right now, she holds a lot of the power.