For-profit

Jamilah Pitts Consulting, LLP

Occupation:

Anti-Racist Consultant

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Jamilah Pitts Consulting, LLP is a firm that aims to instruct teachers and educators on how to implement far-left race ideology in their curricula and classrooms. The firm claims to be an authority on identifying alleged racism and “other forms of oppression” in educational institutions, and it pushes for “dismantling” the aspects of those institutions that allegedly function as “systems of oppression.” 1

Education activist Jamilah Pitts is the company’s founder. Pitts claims to be a “highly sought after speaker” and says that she primarily partners with schools and organizations that serve black and other non-white communities. 2 3 The advocacy group Parents Defending Education (PDE), which opposes the perceived infiltration of public schools by far-left race activists, has reported that Pitts’ firm received $1,200 from the public school system of Ipswich, Massachusetts. 4 5 PDE also reported that Pitts had given a speech to education administrators in Kirkwood, Missouri. 6 7

In addition to her ideological instruction program for schools, Pitts offers instruction in yoga and other “wellness” practices, which she describes as “radically caring for ourselves,” and she considers them to be a foundational element of her program. 8

Founder

Jamilah Pitts was born in Columbus, Ohio. She completed her undergraduate education at Spelman College, a historically black women’s institution. Afterwards, she taught at an international baccalaureate (IB) school in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Boston College. She also spent four years in New York City schools, where she worked as a teacher, dean, and assistant principal. The IB program has featured her as an “expert speaker” on “wellness” and race ideology in the education system. In a November 2020 interview with the program’s blog, she claimed that education can be “either used as a tool to oppress or as a tool to liberate.” 9

Pitts has advocated for assigning teachers to classrooms and schools on the basis of race. In a May 2018 article for Education Week, she claimed that white teachers “remove or lower expectations” for non-white students so as not to “further complicate” their lives. She also argued that non-white students should generally be taught by non-white teachers. Pitts blamed the school system as a whole, rather than individual student behavior or individual teacher practices, for disparities in educational outcomes. She said that she was “not outraged” that her own “12th grade students cannot read and write.” Instead, she said she was outraged at the “education system and school policies and practices.” 10

Pitts explicitly endorses the idea that educators should insert overt political rhetoric into their teaching. In an October 2020 article for One Day, an online publication of the teacher recruitment organization Teach for America, she claimed that “there is no such thing as a ‘neutral’ teacher” and that teachers must “always” advance left-progressive views in the classroom. Pitts dismissed the ideas that “teachers must take an apolitical stance” and that “a teacher’s focus should be to prepare children academically for the future.” Instead, she endorsed the idea that educators should prepare children to become activists informed by left-progressive ideology. Pitts claimed that the beliefs that “neutrality is a harmless stance” and that “it is okay to be colorblind” were “dangerous” and that “teachers have to be willing to move away” from these principles. 11

Public School Contracts

The advocacy group Parents Defending Education (PDE), which opposes the perceived infiltration of public schools by far-left race activists, has reported that Jamilah Pitts Consulting received $1,200 from the public school system of Ipswich, Massachusetts. 12 13 PDE also reported that Pitts had given a speech to education administrators in Kirkwood, Missouri. 14 15

References

  1. “Jamilah Pitts Consulting LLP.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/jamilah-pitts-consulting-lls/
  2. “Jamilah Pitts Consulting LLP.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/jamilah-pitts-consulting-lls/
  3. Jamilah Pitts. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.jamilahpitts.com/
  4. “Ipswich, MA Demographic Data.” Neighborhood Scout. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ma/ipswich/demographics
  5. “Jamilah Pitts Consulting LLP.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/jamilah-pitts-consulting-lls/
  6. “Kirkwood, MO Demographics.” AreaVibes. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.areavibes.com/kirkwood-mo/demographics/
  7. “Jamilah Pitts Consulting LLP.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/jamilah-pitts-consulting-lls/
  8. “Education equity consultant Jamilah Pitts on strong school communities.” The IB Community Blog. November 24, 2020. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://blogs.ibo.org/blog/2020/11/24/education-equity-jamilah-pitts/
  9. “Education equity consultant Jamilah Pitts on strong school communities.” The IB Community Blog. November 24, 2020. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://blogs.ibo.org/blog/2020/11/24/education-equity-jamilah-pitts/
  10. Jamilah Pitts. “Have Your Feelings for Black and Latino Students Lowered Your Expectations for Them?” Education Week. May 23, 2018. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-have-your-feelings-for-black-and-latino-students-lowered-your-expectations-for-them/2018/05
  11. Jamilah Pitts. “The Role of the Teacher in the Work of Liberation.” Teach for America. October 22, 2020. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.teachforamerica.org/one-day/opinion/the-role-of-the-teacher-in-the-work-of-liberation
  12. “Ipswich, MA Demographic Data.” Neighborhood Scout. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ma/ipswich/demographics
  13. “Jamilah Pitts Consulting LLP.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/jamilah-pitts-consulting-lls/
  14. “Kirkwood, MO Demographics.” AreaVibes. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.areavibes.com/kirkwood-mo/demographics/
  15. “Jamilah Pitts Consulting LLP.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/jamilah-pitts-consulting-lls/
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