Affluent people love their walls. They’re willing to spend tons of money to create a barrier between them and people who “look different.” The current administration’s push to build a border wall didn’t come out of...
Category - Diversity
Earlier this month, in these pages, Philadelphia writer Ernest Owens argued that we should cancel Black History Month and instead “recognize black history — and its people — all year round.” I take Mr. Owens’ point...
A growing body of research is beginning to confirm what many stakeholders in the mid-Atlantic region already recognize: teacher diversity matters. Research shows that increasing the racial diversity of teachers benefits...
Teaching in Philly is hard. Five billion dollars are necessary to complete all outstanding repairs in our buildings. Teachers reach into their own pockets for classroom supplies, playing the roles of librarian, counselor, and...
I didn’t need the new John Hopkins University study to tell me black teachers matter. Diverse teachers, diverse leadership and diverse school cultures create higher expectations, stronger communities and better outcomes...
One teacher reflects on what he and other white educators need to understand as they work to build anti-racist practices and identities. Last year, I realized that I didn’t have my first black teacher until I went to college...
In the 1860s, Black Codes, including vagrancy and loitering laws, were established to prevent black people, particularly black men, from coming together. These Black Codes were used to vilify and cement a distinct and racial...
I was recently in Hartford, Connecticut, at the invitation of Mama Gwen Samuel, an activist who works on behalf and with the community. I wasn’t prepared for what I was to encounter; callousness of Black bourgeois, disregard...
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This is one of my favorite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes, but it leaves out a crucial point: the arc will not bend by itself. Someone has got to be...
“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”—Gloria Steinem Dear White People, Days ago, I, like many of you, watched in horror the vile display of bigotry and hatred, violence and terror that unfolded in...