Cultural Competence Only Goes So Far. Kids Need Teacher Diversity.

I am a middle school science teacher. When covering the laws of physics, I teach that “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” This…

White Teachers, Our Whiteness Is Getting in Our Way

Since the murder of George Floyd, teacher leaders across America have sought to prove the necessity of antiracism in public education. And rightly so: from…

A Student Who Is Ineffectively Taught by an Anti-Racist Teacher Is Not Receiving Justice

Last Sunday educators, students, and families marched in Philadelphia demanding a long overdue anti-racist action in the city’s schools, insisting that anti-racism “be the overarching…

Award-Winning Teachers Demand 4 Anti-Racist Policies to Ensure Schools Are a Place of Liberation

As educators, and also as community members, parents, and learners, the undersigned 2018 Teachers of the Year, rise in solidarity with Black Lives Matter against…

Parents, It’s Way Past Time to Break Up With Traditional Education and School Funding

This pandemic is an opportunity to change not only how we educate children, but how we fund that education. Right now, school and district leaders…

We Don’t Recognize America’s Independence Day Over Here in Wakanda

“Independence Day” is upon us. But Black fam’, before we get geeked to partake in such traditions as backyard barbecues and celebratory fireworks commemorating a…

This Moment Demands a New, Race-Conscious Approach to Education

All across the country confederate statues are coming down, schools and road names are changing too. In my home state, New Mexico, we’re beginning to…

From Kindergarten to High School, Schools Show They Don’t Give a Damn About Black Lives

Across the globe, millions of people are protesting police brutality and systemic racism in response to the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor…

Culturally Relevant Teaching Isn’t ‘Indoctrination.’ It’s The First Step Toward Justice.

Back in 2018, I was really fed up with the major incidents of discrimination and hatred going on around the country. (Remember Charlottesville? Or when…

America Has to Take Its Knees Off the Neck of Public Education, Too

By now, the image of George Floyd pinned to the ground with the knees of a murderous cop who the public trusted to serve and…