Wednesday, June 20 is World Refugee Day, and in the United States, debate around immigration is coming to a head. Late this afternoon, President Trump signed an executive order ending his controversial family separation policy; meanwhile, national #FamiliesBelongTogether protests planned for June 30 will continue with the aim of putting pressure on Trump to do more.
Teachers are responding on Instagram and Twitter with the trending hashtag #allarewelcomeinmyclassroom. The campaign was started by Jennifer LaRocque of The Multicultural Classroom. “Refugees, immigrants and ALL students are welcome in my classroom!” LaRocque writes, calling on other educators to share their messages of support.
Instagram teachers were quick to rally around the hashtag. Below is just a sampling of the many posts popping up on Wednesday afternoon.
LaRocque’s post that began the campaign:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQQwU2nnhV/?taken-by=themulticulturalclassroom
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“As educators, it is our job to create a safe space for our students.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQjqF3HhnK/?tagged=allarewelcomeinmyclassroom
“We can do better than this.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQT4Odlrn6/?tagged=allarewelcomeinmyclassroom
“My immigrant students have told me harrowing stories.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQQsZaF6KT/?tagged=allarewelcomeinmyclassroom
“The beautiful thing about a public school is that any child from any walk of life can show up in your classroom.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQQ-qDHJxc/?tagged=allarewelcomeinmyclassroom
“No matter their skin color, their nationality, the language they speak, they are my kids.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQQrfhHQve/?tagged=allarewelcomeinmyclassroom
“This teacher was once a refugee, too.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQT2vgH41M/?tagged=allarewelcomeinmyclassroom
We’ll be chatting more about World Refugee Day and how teaching intersects with immigration in our WeAreTeachers Chat group on Facebook—come join us.