Category: EducationAllEducation1Toni Morrison’s “A Mercy” reminds us all of the power Black and Native American solidarity wieldsJanuary 19, 2021Black and Indigenous communities bear the brunt of social and environmental injustices from the same systems of oppression.Interview with Jody Armour on Nigga TheorySeptember 3, 2020I take issue with any and all efforts to distinguish between the worthy and the wicked on the basis of conventional moral judgments.Elite education left blood on my hands. Now it’s my responsibility to heal the damageFebruary 5, 2020I know that my university won’t ever help me to be free, because its own existence is predicated on upholding white supremacy. The anti-Black intellectual hierarchy built by standardized testing needs to come downJanuary 21, 2020What educators should ask is why do we believe that Black students are low achieving and what are we doing that reinforces that belief?Harvard denying Prof. García-Peña tenure reminds us elite schools are only here to exploit Black & Indigenous peopleDecember 19, 2019García-Peña’s ordeal is a necessary reminder to non-white scholars everywhere that intellectual genocide is alive and kicking.Museums could be powerful, liberatory spaces if they let go of their colonial practicesMay 14, 2019Museums could be one of our greatest allies in liberation struggles. They have the physical space, the means, and the public confidence to partake in a large scale social movement against colonial powers. Yet they reject this opportunity over and over again. It’s time to abolish elite universitiesApril 23, 2019Harvard, Princeton & Yale have all perpetuated and continue to benefit from chattel slavery. This ideology affected state and public policy in insidious ways that have carried over to the presentWhy Black folks should return to the agricultural industry post slaveryJanuary 31, 2019If African Americans owned their own farms on a national level, the amount of food deserts would decrease. African American farms would export their products to African American grocery stores within the community. This in turn would allow for healthier living for African Americans.Defining and defying Disturbingly White Organizations for educators of colorDecember 20, 2018As educators, we are being way too gracious in describing nonprofit organizations as lacking diversity or by referring to universities as predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Terms like these miss the intentionality of such spaces to maintain racially homogeneity.I am unchoosing the academy because I no longer want to play monkey for white validationDecember 5, 2018This is what the academy wants us to do. Devour with words and hands and thought. Wants us to strip, pull away, entertain. Be monkey.How the carceral state fuels toxic masculinity in Black childrenOctober 8, 2018The physical markers of the carceral state not only demarcate our mobility and freedom, but inform our performances as well, particularly Black masculinities.Colonization is global: The history that ties Black activism to Palestinian liberationMay 17, 2018The 2007 blockade to prevent Palestinian movement after protesters attempted to seize the Gaza Strip, has made Gaza “unlivable” with residents forced to contend with very little electricity, clean water, and housing, a plight that many Black Americans can empathize with following the horrific conditions in New Orleans and Flint, Michigan, and the massive state-sanctioned initiatives toCharter schools might not liberate Black children, but they also aren’t the problemMarch 21, 2018As Black families become disillusioned with the quality of their neighborhood schools, charter schools have been expanding across the nation as options for students although the concerns against them are growing and legitimate. English Prescriptivism: Being a good writer & its roots in white supremacyJanuary 30, 2018No amount of speaking “proper†English, would have protected Mike Brown for being killed for the way he looked.The racist history of the telephone pole shows how anti-Blackness shapes modern societyJanuary 22, 2018Interesting how these things which were hated because they signified a specific utilitarian purpose so quickly became acceptable when used in opposition against Black bodies.I will not pray for Donald Trump, nor reconcile with the devilDecember 5, 2017I will not compromise my Blackness (my humanity) by praying for a man who seeks to destroy me.Why I choose to be an educator when the pedagogy is anti-blackOctober 18, 2017The institutional education system is inherently anti-black. This is why I'm here.How schooling is used to determine who has value in white societySeptember 6, 2017College status and education credentials are not about who works harder nor about providing a pathway for social mobility.A break-up letter with academia: Not your token guinea pig, show pony, or likable person of colorMay 4, 2017Academia and American educational institutions are and have been colonial projects.Academic rawness and the colonized coffee that fuels itApril 18, 2017“Professionalization,†as it is commonly referred to in graduate school, tried to teach me to trust the system.How academia uses poverty, oppression, and pain for intellectual masturbationApril 6, 2017By Clelia O. RodrÃguez The politics of decolonization are not the same as the act of decolonizing. How rapidly phrases like “decolonize the mind/heart†or simply “decolonize†are being consumed in academic spaces is worrisome. My grandfather was a decolonizer. He is dead now, and if he was alive he wouldNotes from a Black educator on the front-line of a Trump election.January 19, 2017By Belinda Bellinger We fight. We organize. We create. We protest. We dialogue. We coalition. We push. We sing. We rap. We griot. We speak. We write. We listen. We read. We empathize. We challenge. We humble. We agitate. We laugh. We cry. We breath. We grovel. We grieve. We riot. We lean. We rock.…Teaching while Black.October 13, 2016Or how I came to hate warnings. By Goyland Williams I was warned. They told me how unprepared the students were. How most of the students were non-traditional. Not prepared. Eighty percent on financial aid. Not prepared. A Hispanic-Serving Institution. They told me how the students would struggle in class because they lacked the resources…On Race, Inheritance, and Struggle at Yale: An Open Letter to Erika ChristakisNovember 12, 2015This post originally appeared on Conversation X. by Viet N. Trinh Associate Master Erika Christakis, My mother was one of many thuyền nhân Việt Nam. English-speaking historians might call her a “boat person,” which is as good a translation from the original as any. Among the Vietnamese, stories like hers wield great power, communicate great pain, and symbolize… Like this:Like Loading...
Toni Morrison’s “A Mercy” reminds us all of the power Black and Native American solidarity wieldsJanuary 19, 2021Black and Indigenous communities bear the brunt of social and environmental injustices from the same systems of oppression.
Interview with Jody Armour on Nigga TheorySeptember 3, 2020I take issue with any and all efforts to distinguish between the worthy and the wicked on the basis of conventional moral judgments.
Elite education left blood on my hands. Now it’s my responsibility to heal the damageFebruary 5, 2020I know that my university won’t ever help me to be free, because its own existence is predicated on upholding white supremacy.
The anti-Black intellectual hierarchy built by standardized testing needs to come downJanuary 21, 2020What educators should ask is why do we believe that Black students are low achieving and what are we doing that reinforces that belief?
Harvard denying Prof. García-Peña tenure reminds us elite schools are only here to exploit Black & Indigenous peopleDecember 19, 2019García-Peña’s ordeal is a necessary reminder to non-white scholars everywhere that intellectual genocide is alive and kicking.
Museums could be powerful, liberatory spaces if they let go of their colonial practicesMay 14, 2019Museums could be one of our greatest allies in liberation struggles. They have the physical space, the means, and the public confidence to partake in a large scale social movement against colonial powers. Yet they reject this opportunity over and over again.
It’s time to abolish elite universitiesApril 23, 2019Harvard, Princeton & Yale have all perpetuated and continue to benefit from chattel slavery. This ideology affected state and public policy in insidious ways that have carried over to the present
Why Black folks should return to the agricultural industry post slaveryJanuary 31, 2019If African Americans owned their own farms on a national level, the amount of food deserts would decrease. African American farms would export their products to African American grocery stores within the community. This in turn would allow for healthier living for African Americans.
Defining and defying Disturbingly White Organizations for educators of colorDecember 20, 2018As educators, we are being way too gracious in describing nonprofit organizations as lacking diversity or by referring to universities as predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Terms like these miss the intentionality of such spaces to maintain racially homogeneity.
I am unchoosing the academy because I no longer want to play monkey for white validationDecember 5, 2018This is what the academy wants us to do. Devour with words and hands and thought. Wants us to strip, pull away, entertain. Be monkey.
How the carceral state fuels toxic masculinity in Black childrenOctober 8, 2018The physical markers of the carceral state not only demarcate our mobility and freedom, but inform our performances as well, particularly Black masculinities.
Colonization is global: The history that ties Black activism to Palestinian liberationMay 17, 2018The 2007 blockade to prevent Palestinian movement after protesters attempted to seize the Gaza Strip, has made Gaza “unlivable” with residents forced to contend with very little electricity, clean water, and housing, a plight that many Black Americans can empathize with following the horrific conditions in New Orleans and Flint, Michigan, and the massive state-sanctioned initiatives to
Charter schools might not liberate Black children, but they also aren’t the problemMarch 21, 2018As Black families become disillusioned with the quality of their neighborhood schools, charter schools have been expanding across the nation as options for students although the concerns against them are growing and legitimate.
English Prescriptivism: Being a good writer & its roots in white supremacyJanuary 30, 2018No amount of speaking “proper†English, would have protected Mike Brown for being killed for the way he looked.
The racist history of the telephone pole shows how anti-Blackness shapes modern societyJanuary 22, 2018Interesting how these things which were hated because they signified a specific utilitarian purpose so quickly became acceptable when used in opposition against Black bodies.
I will not pray for Donald Trump, nor reconcile with the devilDecember 5, 2017I will not compromise my Blackness (my humanity) by praying for a man who seeks to destroy me.
Why I choose to be an educator when the pedagogy is anti-blackOctober 18, 2017The institutional education system is inherently anti-black. This is why I'm here.
How schooling is used to determine who has value in white societySeptember 6, 2017College status and education credentials are not about who works harder nor about providing a pathway for social mobility.
A break-up letter with academia: Not your token guinea pig, show pony, or likable person of colorMay 4, 2017Academia and American educational institutions are and have been colonial projects.
Academic rawness and the colonized coffee that fuels itApril 18, 2017“Professionalization,†as it is commonly referred to in graduate school, tried to teach me to trust the system.
How academia uses poverty, oppression, and pain for intellectual masturbationApril 6, 2017By Clelia O. RodrÃguez The politics of decolonization are not the same as the act of decolonizing. How rapidly phrases like “decolonize the mind/heart†or simply “decolonize†are being consumed in academic spaces is worrisome. My grandfather was a decolonizer. He is dead now, and if he was alive he would
Notes from a Black educator on the front-line of a Trump election.January 19, 2017By Belinda Bellinger We fight. We organize. We create. We protest. We dialogue. We coalition. We push. We sing. We rap. We griot. We speak. We write. We listen. We read. We empathize. We challenge. We humble. We agitate. We laugh. We cry. We breath. We grovel. We grieve. We riot. We lean. We rock.…
Teaching while Black.October 13, 2016Or how I came to hate warnings. By Goyland Williams I was warned. They told me how unprepared the students were. How most of the students were non-traditional. Not prepared. Eighty percent on financial aid. Not prepared. A Hispanic-Serving Institution. They told me how the students would struggle in class because they lacked the resources…
On Race, Inheritance, and Struggle at Yale: An Open Letter to Erika ChristakisNovember 12, 2015This post originally appeared on Conversation X. by Viet N. Trinh Associate Master Erika Christakis, My mother was one of many thuyền nhân Việt Nam. English-speaking historians might call her a “boat person,” which is as good a translation from the original as any. Among the Vietnamese, stories like hers wield great power, communicate great pain, and symbolize…
