Four weeks ago, a Black man was lynched. In 2020. I remind myself of that fact each day so that I do not forget what we saw, what happened—that we witnessed a man take his last breath. In the days following, we watched...
Tag - Black Lives Matter
Dear Freedom School Literacy Team 2020, Across the nation, we started the summer of 2020, lighting up the streets with rage. We rage for George Floyd’s senseless strangulation. We rage for Ahmaud Arbery, who was hunted...
As I look at the world right now, I see a lot of belief statements and acknowledgment of past hurts—a reckoning to finally accept that we have much work to do as a nation where it pertains to racism and social justice. Some of...
As educators doing antiracism work, we often focus extensively on the impact that white supremacy has on students. But even though we recognize that white supremacy shapes all of our lives and work, we spend little time talking...
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...
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, I had the honor of speaking at the Black Lives Matter in Schools Week of Action rally last week. The audience was mostly educators, with a few powerful students (several spoke as well). It is good...
In recent months, notable people within school reform circles have locked horns over a trifling question: Does the inclusion of social justice activists, people derided as “warriors,” in education reform threaten the...
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...
Shanita Hubbard recently wrote a piece in the NY Times that should serve as a further wakeup call for the white folks who don’t see color, avoid raising their kids in a way that teaches them about race and racism, and the Black...
My friends, Ismael and Ashley Jimenez, describe an haunting encounter they had while #ParentingWhileBlack at a movie theater a few days ago. The police were called on them in order to harass and intimidate them. Meanwhile, what...