“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”—Angela Davis Marilyn Anderson Rhames wrote a great piece recently, “It’s Hard to Get a Teaching Job When You’re Black”...
Archive - May 2017
This is a guest post from Tre Johnson, deputy director for JerseyCAN and a leadership member of The Fellowship–Black Male Educators for Social Justice. It originally appeared on the JerseyCAN blog and was reproduced here with...
On Friday, May 19 many Black communities celebrated Malcolm X’s birthday. A few years ago, Toure wrote an important piece entitled, We Need A Malcolm X Day. In the TIME article, Toure writes: “I wonder if there’ll ever be...

I Was a Principal in Southwest Philly and That Didn’t Stop These Black Cops From Pulling Me Over. Should It Have?
All year our eighth-grade students have been grappling with social justice issues and how to address them. They’ve closely analyzed past movements in America and South Africa—especially those involving direct action of...
Look, No One Wants a Weapon in Their School, But We’re Treating Our Students of Color Like Criminals Adam Stumacher recently wrote an article sharing the seething cauldron of conflicts that many schools represent. He bemoaned...

Why Would Anyone Stand Against Relay Graduate School of Education and the Opportunity for More Effective Teachers of Color?
This year at my school we’ve been proud to host two teacher residents. They are both Black and have worked under the guidance of master teachers, co-planning and observing expertly designed lessons, and then practicing them...
At times, Black people, like any group battered and oppressed by the state, may celebrate any perception of forward motion. Folks scour social media pages to see who has what appointment, what political power is being amassed...

Celebrating Philadelphia’s Sen. Anthony Williams: A 2017 Champion for Charters and Choice for Families
As an early-career teacher, there were people who made some real contributions to my classroom’s culture and instruction. Obviously, some were teacher coaches and mentors who I have written about previously. Others, were...
“As a teacher, as a parent and as a citizen, it’s distressing to see the department [of education] walking away from its core responsibility of advancing equity.” Former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. John B. King...