The National Interest
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Educators Shouldn't Be Afraid to Teach the History of the N-Word
Omarosa Manigault Newman, the senior White House staffer turned author, said recently during her book tour that she had heard a tape of President Donald Trump using the n-word during his time on the reality show The Apprentice. Trump denied the existence of any such tape, tweeting, “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary…
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LeBron's I Promise School Offers a Few Important Lessons in Education Reform
Last week, President Trump scoffed—albeit passive aggressively—at basketball icon LeBron James’ intelligence in a tweet, stating, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon,” Mr. Trump wrote, “He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!” But it looks like LeBron is the one taking Trump…
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A Case for Educational Reparations for Formerly Incarcerated People
We don’t like to think of social justice as a zero-sum game. But there are costs associated with bringing equity and fairness to victims of discrimination, especially for those incarcerated throughout this nation. Those restitutions won’t come out of thin air. Stanford University research shows that the black incarceration rate nationwide is five times the…
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The Charter School Movement Is Complicit With Segregation
Charter schools didn’t create segregation, but the charter school movement isn’t helping to end it, either. When Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must never adjust ourselves to racial segregation,” he wasn’t suggesting that black kids need white kids and white teachers in the classroom with them to learn. King was acutely aware that segregation…
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Somebody Lied: Education Alone Can’t Dismantle White Supremacy
Editor’s note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. Americans like to think that if individuals are educated in great schools, they can pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps and bring their families with them. From childhood,…
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Black Women and Girls May Run the World, but They’re Not Safe in It
In black America during the 1970s, the portraits of MLK, JFK and Jesus hung on every family’s wall. Today, the new trinity of Oprah, Beyoncé and Michelle Obama could almost replace them. But the increasing power and cultural influence of black women don’t equal protection. Black women’s accomplishments, despite their continuing struggle, illuminate how sexist…