This is a story about two goldfish. One wants to see the waters of the world, and one wants to stay safe in the tank. They work together when they find themselves thrown into a new situation.
“Hey, that was kind of racist.” “I'm not a racist! I have Black friends.” This exchange highlights a problem with how people in the United States tend to talk about racially tricky situations. As Racist, Not Racist, Antiracist: Language and the Dynamic Disaster of American Racism explores, such situations are ordinarily categorized as either racist or not racist (or, in other cases, as antiracist). The problem is, there are often situations that are racially not good, but that we do not want to categorize as racist, either. However, since we don’t have the language to describe this in-between, we are forced to fall back on the racist/not racist/antiracist trinary, which tends to shut down productive discussion. This is especially true for white people, who tend to take claims of racism—be they interpersonal or institutional—as a personal attack. This is problematic, not only because it means that white people never learn about their own racially troubling behaviors, but also because such fragility keeps them from being able to engage in productive discussions about systemic racial oppression. Leland Harper and Jennifer Kling demonstrate how expanding our racial vocabulary is crucial for the attainment of justice equally enjoyed by all.
Drawing from the lived experiences of Black parents as they engaged with their children’s K–12 schools, this book brings a critical race theory (CRT) analysis to family-school partnerships. The author examines persistent racism and white supremacy at school, Black parents’ resistance, and ways school communities can engage in more authentic partnerships with Black and Brown families. The children in this study attended schools with varying demographics and reputations. Their parents were engaged in these schools in the highly visible ways educators and policymakers traditionally say is important for children’s education, such as proactively communicating with teachers, helping with homework, and joining PTOs. The author argues that, because of the relentless anti-Black racism Black families experience in schools, educators must depart from race-evasive approaches and commit to more liberatory family-school partnerships. Book Features: Includes an introduction to CRT and explains how it informed this study.Draws from Derrick Bell’s notion of racial realism to make sense of Black parent participants advocating for high-quality education in the context of persistent anti-Black racism.Examines how Black parents resisted individualism and were, instead, committed to improving the education of all marginalized children.Shows how white supremacy operated in shared school governance despite schools having inclusive practices.Explores how anxiety and stress caused by the Trump presidency impacted parents’ school engagement.Describes three ways any school community can develop family-school partnerships for collective educational justice.
In Achieving Equity and Justice in Education through the Work of Systems Change, Dr. Neitzel contends that our nation is at a crossroads. Do we continue with the band aid approach to equity that is focused on implementing isolated intervention programs aimed at reducing the achievement gap? Or do we embrace systems change, which requires us to focus on disrupting the roots that are sustaining deep disparities between Black and White students? She guides readers through the history of the educational system to facilitate a greater understanding about how barriers have morphed to disadvantage Black students and why systems change is necessary to address racial inequities within our schools. She lays out a systems change framework that provides the path forward for educational leaders, teachers, policy makers, and community members. "The Work" identifies key issues that must be addressed and offers a revolutionary new way of thinking about how to bring about lasting change for all students.
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