For Immediate Release
California Federation of Teachers
Contact: Matthew Hardy, 510-703-5291

SACRAMENTO, CA –  In its first executive council action since the murder of George Floyd, yesterday the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) unanimously approved a resolution that condemns systemic racism and and ardently states that ALL Black Lives Matter. In the resolution, the union also urgently called for fundamental change to the nature of policing in California. 

“As educators and school employees, we see the unconscionable impacts of systemic racism on our students every single day. Teachers and school staff have always spoken out to advocate for our students’ needs and we are called upon now to be even more relentless in our fight for equality for Black students, educators, and classified employees,” said CFT President Jeff Freitas. 

The resolution builds on the union’s long standing dedication to eviscerating systemic racism, with commitments to dismantle barriers faced by Black CFT members, to diversity CFT staff at all levels through the union’s affirmative action policy, to actively engage employers to address systemic racism in the educational system, to work with local communities to push for the elimination of campus police departments and to redirect these funds toward counseling and student needs, and to fight budget cuts that disproportionately impact Black workers and communities. 

CFT’s new resolution emphatically declares that ALL Black Lives Matter, and recognizes the value and dignity of every Black person, including men, women, all those along the gender spectrum, trans, queer, disabled, and undocumented alike.

Importantly, the resolution puts the full weight of the 120,000 educators and classified professionals CFT represents behind these commitments to equity and justice, concluding that CFT will “fully engage all of its resources to achieve the goal in this resolution.” 

The full resolution can be found here.

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