America is turning a corner. Or so it hopes; so it claims. We have just elected a rational adult to the Presidency, thanks in no small part to the turnout of Black Americans in places like Philadelphia, Atlanta...
Tag - Black Lives Matter
When I was first assigned to teach U.S. history nearly a decade ago during my second year as a social studies teacher, my first stop was to a Black-owned bookstore around the corner from where I taught. A month before the school...
By now the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks have permeated our national dialogue. That is to say, most white Americans can identify them as the latest victims of an unjust and violent policing culture in...
White people need to watch the new film, “Black Boys.” There is only one problem—I am worried that it will prove to be a siren song to white people. It will call to them, reach out into their living rooms and through their...
… If America is going to become a nation, she must find a way—and this [Black] child must help her to find a way—to use the tremendous potential and tremendous energy which this child represents. If this country does not...
June 08, 2020 Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, I, like many black children, was raised by my single mother. Our fathers weren’t there for us; some by choice, and others in prison or dead. Since childhood, I have...
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...
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...