MORE/New Action brought forth this resolution at the 10/17/16 UFT Executive Board
David Garcia-Rosen, Director of School Culture and Athletics at The Urban Assembly Bronx Academy Of Letters wrote and motivated it at the board meeting.
UFT leadership of Unity caucus spoke in favoring of tabling it. The vote to table was split down party lines; Unity voting to table and MORE/NA voting against tabling. As Unity controls the board, it was tabled. They promise to work with us in bringing forth a new resolution that is acceptable to both groups.
13th Resolution
Whereas mass incarceration of people of color is the civil rights issue of our generation
Whereas according to National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated 2.7 million American children and youths have at least one parent in federal or state prison
Whereas according to the New York State Government more than 105,000 children have a parent serving time in prison or jail in New York State
Whereas according to a 2014 study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior children with incarcerated parents have higher rates of attention deficits, behavioral problems, speech and language delays, and other developmental delays
Whereas according to the NAACP from 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million people
Whereas according to the NAACP today, the US is 5% of the World population and has 25% of world prisoners
Whereas according to the NAACP African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
Whereas according to the NAACP, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population
Whereas according to Center of Juvenile and Criminal Justice nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons
Whereas according to the NAACP one in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime
Whereas according to the movie 13th 97 percent of people incarcerated never get a trial
Whereas Netflix on October 7th released 13th, a powerful teaching tool about the history and connections between slavery and mass incarceration in the United States of America
Whereas the New York City Department of Education currently blocks the use Netflix
Whereas 85 percent of NYC public school students are students of color
Whereas the UFT has a long history of advocating for civil rights
Resolved the UFT will send a letter to the Chancellor and Mayor requesting that Netflix be unblocked
Resolved the UFT will immediately allocate $50,000 to develop a k – 12 curriculum about mass incarceration
Resolved the UFT will publish an article in the New York Teacher about the movie 13th
Resolved the UFT will hold a screening of the movie 13th in each borough for all UFT members
