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Nationwide School 'Walk-ins' Organized to Demand Educational Justice for Black and Brown Communities
On Thursday the union-affiliated Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools organized âwalk-insâ in 200 cities and 2,000 public schools in black and brown communities to fight against âthe long-standing and systematic underfunding of their public schools,” AROS said in a press release. Hundreds of affiliated parent, education and student groups rallied behind a six-point platform, which includes: a call for the…
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Special âWraparoundâ Services for Black Children Arenât the Solution to Bad Policy Decisions
Weâre not going to ânonprofitâ our way out of poverty, housing unaffordability and economic injustice. Historic discrimination and structural inequality have laid the groundwork for multiple life-sucking neighborhood factors that black children face every day: Poverty, crime, unemployment, unaffordable housing, inaccessible health care and limited transportation make it difficult for children to learn. The rise…
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Like Cops Who Kill Unarmed Black Adults, Pre-K Teachers See Same 'Bad Dude' in Kids
Editorâs note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do about gaps in achievement and opportunity. Perception is a matter of life and death. Now a new study from Yale University delivers the news that even black babies suffer the burdens that racial stereotyping inflicts. Preschool educatorsâ implicit…
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Terence Crutcher's Slaying by Cop Is Why Kaepernick's Protest Must Continue
Authorâs note: In the time I responded to weekend criticism of high school players taking a knee, a disabled black man was shot dead by police in Charlotte, N.C., while sitting in his car. This is the latest extrajudicial killing that shows that existing while black will get you shot by police. Many who have been…
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'Educational Choice' Is a Slogan Slick Enough for Donald Trump
Donald Trump outlined his policy and philosophy for K-12 education in a speech Thursday at Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy or CASSA, a for-profit charter school in the largest city of the battleground state of Ohio. The Republican presidential nominee and founder of Trump University accused Democrats of trapping black and Hispanic youths in…
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Protest This: The NFL Is a Shelter for Violence
After we applaud Colin Kaepernickâs protesting of police brutality, donât let the spectacle of demonstration distract us from the crooked stage of the American football field, where social ills are churned into entertainment. When the commencing whistle is blown, cheers for the game and its heroes drown out screaming acts of domestic violence, racism, sexism,…
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Donât Be Surprised if Colin Kaepernick Has More Schoolkids Sitting Out the Pledge
Editorâs note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do about gaps in achievement and opportunity. Colin Kaepernick is a role model whether you like it or not. Many view Kaepernickâs choice of protest as disrespectful to the flag, our armed forces and America itself, but the vitriol…
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Let White Leaders Defend Institutional Racism; Let Black Leaders Defend Black Lives
If one looks and listens closely, black reform advocates and charter leaders are responding to the mythology that black people donât want charter schools or reform in general. For most black folk, however, not liking reform equates to not liking institutional racism, which impacts our communities no matter how many black and brown people an organization hires.…
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Why the Black Lives Matter Movement Has to Take on Charter Schools
Black school systems are treated like black men and women in America. Urban schools are broken up, experimented on and policed in efforts to improve them. The reformers expect students, teachers and parents to be grateful and accept test-score growth in return, just as black communities were expected to be grateful when crime dropped even as…
