Columbia Star

1963        Celebrating 60 Years      2023

Teachers march for Black Lives



Teachers gathered at the South Carolina State House Saturday, June 13 to show support for the “I Can’t Breathe” and “Black Live Matter” movements. Photo by Perry McLeod

Teachers gathered at the South Carolina State House Saturday, June 13 to show support for the “I Can’t Breathe” and “Black Live Matter” movements. Photo by Perry McLeod

Nearly 1,000 teachers from across the state gathered Saturday, June 13 at the South Carolina Department of Education on Senate Street in Columbia to show their support for the “I Can’t Breathe” protest and “Black Lives Matter” movement.

The crowd of teachers converged at the State Department of Education for the “Teachers March for Black Lives” planned by the “I Can’t Breathe South Carolina” organization. Teachers carried signs of support, and came to the march and rally with a purpose—“ The education system in South Carolina has to change.”

Brittany Velasquez, a teacher from Irmo Middle School, explained, “ We have to start with redistributing funding. There are districts that spend $9,000 per student, and there are districts that spend $19,000 per students based on S.C. Department of Education data. You shouldn’t get a different education based on where you live.”

Cameron Orr of Charleston County Schools described a significant change he felt should be enacted in South Carolina Schools, “We need to have resources available to all students. Every school in South Carolina has an SRO (School Resource Officer), but there are very few mental health counselors and social workers. Having more counselors than SROs will be critical to change cultures in schools.”

Teachers gathered at the S.C. Department of Education to take part in a march and rally that demanded changes to help eliminate systemic racism in society and the education system across South Carolina.

Teachers gathered at the S.C. Department of Education to take part in a march and rally that demanded changes to help eliminate systemic racism in society and the education system across South Carolina.

Carly Rogers, a U.S. history teacher at Fort Mill High School, saw this moment as a way to address another issue in her classroom. She said, “There must be changes in the curriculum. I teach U.S. history, so a lot of the protests and events currently happening fit in well with what I teach. The current U.S. history standards are very white/Eurocentric. This fact is not missed by black and brown students in my classroom.

“Even as a history teacher, I agree with pulling down the statues. It’s history, and there’s nothing wrong with seeing them, but history belongs in a museum and having those monuments in your face is not right.”

Supporting their students was the definite theme displayed on both signs and t-shirts as the crowd continued to grow.

Alison Schriro, a math and computer science teacher at Dreher High School, explained why she came out to support the protest, “Every year we focus so much in our professional development on closing the achievement gap, specifically with black males. We hear so much about the school to prison pipeline and realizing the system I work for is part of the larger system. It has come to light.

“Discipline handled in our schools is on a smaller scale reflective of the way discipline issues are handled in the real world. If I can start a change in the microcosm of my classroom, then hopefully it will lead to something larger.”

Orr agreed, “I think it’s important for teachers to be out here because we do have a significant impact in talking and touching the lives of our young people and we can inspire and create change within our schools. Those young people, become the adults we want to be significant members, contributors, and leaders in our society. The goal is to create good leaders now, leaders who will lead to change.”

Velasquez summed it up, “We teach black students; we teach students of color and not supporting this movement just seems like not an option. Their growth and safety are our biggest concerns. I’ve seen a lot of things online from my students that ask, ‘Am I scary yet?’ I have to ask, ‘At what age does skin color become a threat?’”

Around 11:15, the organizers of “I Can’t Breathe” called for the teachers and supporters to gather and start the peaceful march to the State House.

At the rally, teachers and supporters listened and cheered as speaker after speaker demanded changes in systemic racism in our society and our schools. More counselors and less SROs was an idea that brought loud cheers from the teachers as well as reforming discipline systems that seem to target students of color across the state.

Teachers came out to support their students, and one sign carried on Saturday summed up why they came out—“I’m here now so my students will not have to be here later—This teacher believes, Black Lives Matter.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.