June 2022
All forms of injustices—particularly those caused by warfare, climate injustice, crimes against humanity, and/or political instability brought on by colonization—threaten educational systems and the safety of students and teachers everywhere. As a community of scholars committed to social justice who teach students and work with scholars from around the world, it is time to broaden our attention, both individually and collectively.
CCCC stands in solidarity with those students and teachers whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by war, by crimes against humanity, by political instability, by climate injustice, and by famine. We see you in US writing classrooms, in refugee settlements, and in your own communities and schools where you face danger daily, and we thank you for your commitment to learning even in the face of physical violence, knowledge suppression, and linguistic imperialism.
CCCC stands against injustice wherever literacy learning and students’ access to education are threatened. This demand is inclusive of students and scholars around the world, of all those who must cross borders at great risks, and of all who teach, study, write, and speak under traumatizing conditions.
Today, we stand in solidarity with our colleagues and students in and from Ukraine. We also stand in solidarity with students and scholars in and from places affected by war and violence, including Ethiopia, Myanmar, Haiti, Afghanistan, Palestine, Cameroon, and Yemen.
We stand in solidarity with our colleagues and students who oppose the war crimes inflicted on citizens, immigrants, and visitors.
As a community of educators and scholars, we will work to open our scholarly resources to fellow scholars and students in generous collaboration. We will work to open our classrooms, writing centers, and professional resources for access to you and your students. And we will work to make the conditions under which literacy learning is happening in the face of war crimes visible in our understanding of teaching writing.
This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.
