Statement of Withdrawal from NCTE

Nope.

This week, the National Conference of Teachers of English is platforming a racist organization that targets Palestinian and pro-Palestinian academics and authors with slanderous, stochastic attacks resulting in the loss of income and threats to their safety. Besides being abhorrent and in direct contradiction to the ideals NCTE claims to espouse, this is in total violation of its own code of conduct and anti-harassment policy. Even after repeated pleas from board members and attendees who have been targeted, NCTE insists on allowing this group to table and present. The Palestinian American publisher Interlink Books has withdrawn in protest and out of concern for their safety. Palestinian Author Amanda Najib also withdrew. 

I am also pulling out from NCTE in protest. I want to be clear that I fully support the presenters who are continuing to attend. There is never a simple equation to figure out when to stay and speak out and when to withdraw entirely. This was a decision I made in consultation with the community of NCTE presenters who have been raising our voices against the inclusion of CAMERA.  In this case, the one panel I was set to appear on was moving in a direction that normalized and whitewashed apartheid and genocide in its very framing. There are some spaces where no matter how outspoken you are, your very presence can validate the same narratives you’re speaking out against. This was clearly going to be that, particularly in the context of NCTE’s larger assault on Palestinian safety. 

Many things in this world are complex; the morality of genocide is not one of them.

NCTE can not claim to be on the side of equity or diversity or freedom and then champion an organization that directly threatens all those things. It can’t use “Heart, Hope, Humanity” as a slogan and then boost Hate. It cannot hide behind “freedom of speech” to justify its support for the targeted silencing of people experiencing a genocide. That is the opposite of freedom of speech. NCTE, English teachers (!), knows this. But, like so many cultural institutions these days, it insists on doubling down on its own irrelevancy. So be it.

Please join us in demanding NCTE drop CAMERA by signing and amplifying this petition (you don’t have to be attending to sign): https://bit.ly/NCTE-petition

For more info, see this video by Ijeoma Oluo. 

We are more than 400 days into this US funded genocide, over 75 years into the genocidal occupation of Palestine.

Full love and support to those still attending and speaking out! 

Free Free Palestine!