From Darkness to Light: A Journey of Resilience and Unity
I could not let the events of the day reduce me because I knew what my breakdown would do to those 24 faces that stared up at me from their desks in my classroom.
The Potential of the Young, Gifted, and Black: Exploring Educational Disparity in 2023
Flashback to 1969, the same year Simone's hit song was released, and you'd find a seven-year-old Black girl later identified as gifted at age eight. That was me. As I grew, so did my understanding of the educational disparity within our systems, the severe excellence gap that favors the privileged.
This discrepancy isn't merely about numbers, but also the methodologies used to identify and teach gifted students.
Confronting Disparity: Preschool Suspensions and the Injustice they Portend
17,000 preschool students were suspended or expelled nationwide in 2021. The racial disparity here is stark, with Black boys constituting a substantial proportion of those penalized.
The disturbing imbalance begs the question - what is going on? Is there a deeply ingrained bias, or worse, systemic racism at play?
Tackling the Suspension Disparity: A Call for Equity in Education
An analysis of attendance records in Arizona schools illuminates the gravity of the issue. In the past five school years, over 47,000 suspensions have been imposed for attendance violations across just 80 districts. The scope of this problem is likely larger as many of the 250 districts did not provide comprehensive data.
The School Dress Code Dilemma: Equity, Respect, and Learning
Around 93% of school districts have dress codes, many claiming that they promote safety and security. Unfortunately, these dress codes often show a bias towards certain groups. For example, 90% of dress code policies target girls' clothing, dictating what can be worn and what is deemed "inappropriate," often putting the blame on girls for supposedly distracting their male peers. This gender bias is reflected in the fact that only 69% of dress code policies focus on boys' attire.
Reimagining School Safety: Removing Police from Our Classrooms
According to statistics, approximately 58% of schools in the United States had at least one sworn law enforcement officer present during the school week in 2018. However, research suggests that the presence of school resource officers (SROs) does not lead to improved student safety; in fact, it often makes students feel less secure.
Sorry, Boo! It Ain’t About You
And as people - White people, Black people, men, women - shared their “aha” moments and their sadness in a very supportive environment, there was a lot of thoughtful listening. There was respect.
Until the ugliness that is rooted in hate and oppression, in White superiority, and a complete lack of cognitive humility, or any semblance of cultural sensitivity, or even cultural awareness, spoke out.
How to Stop a Racist in One Simple Step
In my workshops, I'm often asked why do I focus on race and racism?
Why do I focus on privilege?
And why don't I focus more on other issues of equity, like LGBTQ?
And my answer to all of these is because it's easy for us to look at other stuff. But it's not always so easy to address our nation's original sin. And it's not so easy for us sometimes, to look deep down within ourselves at the bottom of the iceberg, as I call it, and understand the ways that we as individuals have the ability or the tendency to continue to support systems of oppression, to support racism, as it appears in systems, particularly when we benefit from it.
Defining “Racism”
What is Racism? From wiki: The belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another. In today's blogpost, Dr. Berry goes through race, racist, and racism and associates it with the 5 levels of griefs.
Confronting & Teaching Hard History
This is going to be a fun one as we chat about confronting and teaching hard history.
So, although controversial, there's this guy whose name was Mark Twain. Maybe you've heard of him. Stay with me. Mark Twain wrote,
"The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice."
Is that not cool, or what?
The Prison of I
Welcome, welcome, equity warriors, old and new.
You know, the other day, I read something. And it stuck with me. And I just couldn't wait to share it with you. So this actually is kind of a long quote, so bear with me. But Toni Morrison wrote this and it says,
Our past is bleak. Our future dim. But I am not unreasonable. A reasonable man adjusts to his environment. An unreasonable man does not. All progress, therefore, depends on the unreasonable man. I prefer not to adjust to my environment. I refuse the prison of "I" and choose the open spaces of "we."
From my seat
From my seat in the classroom, I know that my teachers are here to teach me and I am here to learn.
I like school and I would say that I am a responsible student that can complete my work with little support from my teachers.
I am confused and concerned.
How are the Children?
A conversation with Dr. Sheara Jennings, the Human Chair for the Graduate College of Social work and the College of Medicine at the University of Houston.
Recruiting and Retaining Teachers and Administrators with DEI in Mind
This article was commissioned by an education NGO for print in their membership journal. However, after several revisions, they found the content to be too politically risky for their organization. It contained too many words being weaponized against school systems by those opposed to diversity and equity. So they chose not to print it. I present that article here, in its original form and entirety.