Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. <\/em>Sign up for The 74 Newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p> \u201cHe was very intentional about pulling me, and a few of my friends at the time aside, guiding us, mentoring us, and pumping into us positivity. His influence has evolved and had an impact on why I became a teacher and why I do what I do today,\u201d said Whitman, speaking at a panel discussion at Fremont High School organized earlier this fall by the College Football Player Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whitman and other panelists highlighted the unique role Black male educators play and the importance of recruitment and retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Across the country, Black male educators make up just 2% of teachers. In the Los Angeles Unified school district, just 8.3% of teachers are Black compared to 30.6% White and 46% Latino teachers, according to the district\u2019s data<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uric Lamb, a Black 11th grader at Fremont High School said Black teachers are always there for him. \u201cThey are really determined to see Black kids succeed in life. They are so cool that they would always have tutoring to help kids get their grades up. They will always be on you to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Panelists shared their thoughts and observations on the importance of Black educators:<\/p>\n\n\n Hamilton High School teacher Kenneth Turner, who also advises the Black student union \u2014 one of the biggest in the nation, with 400 members \u2014 talked about what motivated him to transition from being a teacher\u2019s assistant to a full-time teacher during the 1992 riots:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI saw that this was no longer something that I just did, but something that I had to do. It became a mission at that point to be more connected with kids at a deeper level, and have much more to offer in terms of my college education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Sherif El-Mekki, the founder of the Center for Black Educator Development, hosts a fellowship for high school students to explore education as a career path: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While attending the Black Male Educators for Social Justice fellowship, El-Mekki said he and his classmates were not being encouraged to pursue teaching as often as white educator colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe found that to be strange, no one had been recruited, tapped on the shoulder, had a conversation with, and we said, \u2018well let\u2019s ask our colleagues,\u2019\u2026 Most of our colleagues were white women. The average response from our colleagues in third grade was when they remembered someone inviting them to the profession. So third grade for one group, post-grad for another group. You couple all of this together and this is why we have less than 2% of our public school teachers being Black (men).\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
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