Unionized Teachers of Color’s Interpretations of the Silencing of Diversity Discourse in Florida An Intersectional Qualitative Study

Abstract

This intersectional qualitative study seeks to unpack how public school teachers in South Florida make sense of efforts to silence Florida educators and prohibit teaching “that individuals share responsibility for others' past actions by virtue of their race, sex or national origin.” Drawing on Black feminist theories, (also identified as problematic by Florida policy makers,) this study examines not just diverse identities, but also how public schooling is implicated in perpetuating multiple and interconnected systems of oppression (e.g., racism, classism, ableism, patriarchy). Unlike the remainder of the country where the teaching profession is overwhelmingly white, teachers in South Florida are predominantly culturally and ethnically diverse (e.g., 56.7 self-identify as Hispanic (56.7%), and 24.9% as  Black non-Hispanic, 24.9%). In this study, education researchers collaborated with the union president of the fourth largest school district in the United States to ask teachers about  their interpretations of “anti-Woke” legislations.  Moreover, the teachers were asked to explain how they and other educators are enacting, resisting, and/or subverting the intentions of these legislations.