The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) honored the Coalition of Natives and Allies with the Community Champion Allies Award at the 2023 Biennial AFT Pennsylvania Convention in Philadelphia on July 1. CNA was nominated by the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers.
Left: Members of Neshaminy Federation of Teachers with Donna and Arla. Right: Panel on the Impact of the Culture Wars on Education moderated by Arthur Steinberg, President of AFT Pennsylvania
Our members Donna Fann-Boyle and Arla Patch represented the coalition and served on a panel titled The Impact of the Culture Wars on Public Education. We were thrilled to hear speakers Randi Weingarten (President of the National AFT) and Malcolm Kenyatta, the first Black, openly gay PA State Representative. One of Kenyatta's high school teachers was in the audience.
Left: Arla Patch (left) Donna Fann-Boyle (right) with the award. Right: CNA's honored as a Champion Community Ally by AFT Pennsylvania.
We are grateful for this recognition of our work as educators, teaching the true history as a context for our desire to end the use of Native peoples for sports mascots in Middle and High Schools. We will be sharing more information soon about the availability of our newly completed film Native Women and Allies Speak: What We Weren't Taught in School.
We acknowledge Pennsylvania exists on the tribal lands of the Delaware, Erie, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Munsee, Shawnee, and Susquehannock.