How do we unleash the untapped Genius of our most vulnerable and underserved students? This is the most poignant question of our time right now in the storm of a global pandemic, dire labor shortages in critical and high demand fields and ever more pressing global issues that will demand more of us and our humanity. Right now, we cannot waste anymore Genius. But sadly, over 40% of college students drop out and 89% of low-income and 1st generation students drop out before attaining a degree, there are one in three Black men in prison, Black unemployment is 2 times the national average, and the average net worth of a Black family in 6.7 times lower than their much wealthier counterparts. Looking at all of this, teachers certainly have our work cut out for us so we do not waste anymore of our precious Genius children. But the truth is no matter what we do, we can not teach our way out of this alone. We need an entire village surrounding us to unleash the untapped Genius of our most vulnerable and underserved students. As the world rapidly changes around us, educators will need to be more agile and adaptable to meet the ever changing needs of our students and the new world that we are preparing them for. What’s more, with the push for more personalized and self-directed learning, teachers must curate dynamic learning experiences that not only differentiate students' learning needs, but engage them to be critical thinkers to solve real-world problems that don’t always have clear answers. So we will desperately need a whole village around us if we want to do all of this well because we can't do it alone. Let me give you an example. An essential question in one of my classes is “ How can we create and share disruptive art that makes an impact in a social justice movement?”. Right now, I don’t know the answer to this question. But I do know it will take many shapes and forms for each student to arrive at their own answer using their own unique modality and tools to get there. I mean there are so many unknowns at the outset and let’s not forget, I am not an Artist, I am an English educator. So this required me to reach out to a community of Artists, disrupters and leaders who could guide us along this journey (me included). I also am working with SCAD’s College Faculty to curate creative art workshops so students will learn from diverse artists in their own community. Apparently, they do this with local schools for free to expose students to their college. Still working on this so I will let you know what happens with all this and what we create together. Right now, I don’t know what will happen next and I like it that way. I know some teachers may feel a little uncomfortable with not knowing the outcome or all of the details of what happens next. I know we are taught to always know the answers with our answer sheet, but real life does not have an answer sheet and for us to unlock all students' Genius, then we must wade in the waters of discomfort more in this season. Again, I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But I do know how to curate the right community partners who can help students find their own messy answers. As I shared before, we can’t out teach the challenges that await us, especially when we are staring down the barrel of generational poverty and systemic racism. We must call in all the troops if we expect to win this war and ask messier questions that are akin more to our daily lives than the theories in our books. This is how we begin the hard work of unleashing the Genius of so many young people that have historically been pushed aside and made to feel invisible. We radically activate the village that it takes to not only raise a child, but more importantly unleash their courageous Genius that was always there in the first place. If you want to join our village of educators, please join us on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 6:00pm for a virtual chat (Register HERE) about how we build the village we need to unleash our future Genius.
0 Comments
So hype that this is my 5th year in education! I just finished my first week of school and as other educators like me have proclaimed, “ I am tired child.” It’s the south and of course it is 100 degrees outside and we decided to do yoga on a roof and a whole city scavenger hunt on MARTA trains with our students. So yes, I am beat. But over the past few weeks, as I have had the privilege and honor, to lean in to curating intentional community-building experiences for students in week one, I was reminded that this luxury is not afforded to all. Some schools, parents and communities are still fighting over who will wear masks or even creating separate campuses for students to opt out of wearing a mask. Crazy, how we have dress codes that people don't mind following but a mask is death. We have been so focused on WHAT we wear for students to gather, but has there been equal intention and energy exerted on HOW we will gather in ways that rebuilds and restores our communities and students. This time last year, I started school in a little Zoom black box so I know I want this school year to feel different and be different than what we had last year. This pandemic has truly stolen so much from our kids, how are we creating space to rebuild, not just academically what we have lost, but emotionally and in our community. At my school, this was our singular focus, rebuilding and creating space for our students to reconnect with each other and build community. We knew we would get to the regular work stuff, but if we did not lean in to creating a connection within our community, we could be dealing with a whole lot of other issues later on. So we,
What happened after that?
Overall, the point I am making is that while we were intentional about how we gathered and created natural space for students to reconnect within our community, something that would have amplified this experience is communicating that to our students in advance. The logistics and communication of how we gather is also just as important as the gathering itself. We have to entrust our students with the hidden secrets of the day and unveil the teacher magic of our plans so they too feel like a vested member of the community they are building with you. So less building FOR students and more building WITH them at the start. Next time, I am inviting students to our planning in advance so they too can be invited to plan how we gather at school and build the community they want to learn and grow in. I invite you to do the same. Happy 1 Year Blog Anniversary! Now on to today's blog.
With teachers under more pressure to do more with Covid restrictions and constant attempts to whitewash history and ban facts, there will likely be an exodus of talented educators and school leaders that are reluctantly walking away from the school house in this season. Sadly, kids not only will be returning to school in the coming weeks with new student faces but with more new teacher faces in a season where familiar faces are needed most. However, I wonder who asks our teachers about their wellness if they decide to leave. Some educators have retired early or pivoted to a new career because they just couldn’t take the trauma and stress any longer. ( Also, some teachers are suffering in silence at work for fear of backlash or loss of their livelihood which is a whole other toxic trauma.) But I wonder who checked in with them. Was there a community championing them and building them up? Obviously, no or I believe they would still be teaching. But I do think this is a learning moment for us to take stock of and ask the most unanswered question of the ages before we lose more teachers. How can I help you? Most times we tell people to call us if they need us or I am here for you just let me know what you need. Most times you get hit with the “I’m good” response knowing they are not good or no response at all. But the reality is that our society glorifies the DIY culture that esteems individual struggle and triumph and dismisses those who get help or support as weak or lazy. So as teachers that's why we trudge on with our work, never fully answering this question even for ourselves. Maybe we don’t answer because we don’t have an answer or for some of our super teachers, like me, who think only “I” can do it all ( I am working on this y’all) and don’t want to seem weak if someone else helps. So when the question comes, “How can I help you?” Heck, I don’t know. We just keep putting our heads down, making another bulletin board, grading more papers, calling parents, leading another after school club, and now Covid cleaning protocols and the million and one things that we must do because that’s just what teachers do. But where is there space for teachers to relinquish this cape and be well? I mean you may be “good” but are you “well”. In this season, good is not enough. I now boldly ask my fellow teachers a more specific question: How can I help you be well today? I know teachers have a lot on their plate and it is hard to think about what you need help with at work. But if you could get help being WELL at work, what would you need someone to help you do? Maybe it could be creating a bulletin board, or scheduling emails to parents, or making your class DOJO or website. But what could come off your plate that would help you be well today. People never see all the little things that teachers do that stretch well beyond pencils and paper but you do so today, answer the question. How can I help you be well today? So as we prepare to return to school this year, how can we, as a collective community, better support our newest educators and our returning veteran educators and school leaders that are working on the frontlines of this battle? I don’t have the sole answer to this question. Teachers, like you, do. Tell us. I know a lot of teachers are not used to being heard and listened to. I know in the past, I have not and it feels like why bother. But we need our educators to be well so that our beloved community can be as well. That is why Teach X is creating space for you to tell us as we pilot our mobile app in metro Atlanta starting August 2, 2021 on the Apple and Google Play Store where we can hear from our beloved teachers how our community can help. We need to know the answer to this singular question. How can we help you be well today? I don’t know if you ever felt like when someone asked you this question they really didn’t even care about the answer that came after it. But we do because our beloved community can’t be well unless you are. Day 1 of school is coming. So, how can we help? Frfr, we are here for you. It’s the last weeks of July and if you are a teacher in the South this means you feel the tug of Summer ending and the even greater pull restarting another school year. However, somehow, as this Summer comes to a close, I feel a deep soul-wrenching pain in my spirit that questions what comes next. For some teachers, they have not seen their classrooms in a year and a half, for some of our children they have not either. But I am starting to see and hear the same “Back to School” lingo from what seems like a bygone era about backpacks and new clothes that feels like it no longer fits what our kids and communities needs in this season. At the height of the pandemic, there were some grumblings of “not going back to normal, because normal did not work” but now I barely hear a whisper of this anymore. People are so concerned with WHAT their children will learn more than they are with WHO will teach them, and HOW they will be equipped physically and emotionally to do so.
For me the WHO will teach is a huge question that seems to be missing from the conversation. I mean the facts are this pandemic has hit everyone hard with over 600,000 deaths nationwide of which hundreds of them are teachers, school social workers, principals, coaches, school custodial workers, bus drivers and the list goes one. The sheer loss of life to the very foundation of learning alone should halt us in our footsteps as we consider “going back to school” when we should be considering how we “restore our souls”. Actually, this is the real task at hand for most of our teachers and school leaders this Fall is restoration and healing from so much loss. Because the reality is there have definitely been some winners and some losers as a result of the fallout of this pandemic. Some people could work from home and juggle work and home, while essential workers had to risk their lives and even die to preserve their own lives and that of those in their home. The truth is this pandemic did not negatively impact us in the same ways that the rallying cry “ We are all in this together” would have us believe. The truth is historically marginalized, underserved people have and will continue to suffer more post-pandemic than any others. More specifically, unequivocally I believe this means poor Black people, children and communities have been hurt the most, yet with the least amount of infrastructure and people to support them. So WHO will teach this beloved community will need to expand greatly as we think about the depths of trauma and pre-existing inequities that led us to this moment. I believe WHO is You! Are you ready to teach this beloved community? Then there's the question of HOW will we physically and emotionally prepare our beloved community of young people to learn. We cannot just bring them in for Universal screeners and tests to gauge learning loss. We need to create intentional space where we can recognize what has been lost and celebrate all that they already are and will be. We must create space for an epistemology of self to transpire in and beyond our classrooms. So much of school is forcing random knowledge and facts into beings and not enough time spent on the beings knowing who they are first for this knowledge to have purpose and deeper meaning for their lives. How will we gather differently as we return to school in person? Will students still sit in desks in rows or join togethers outside in urban gardens and learn wisdom from the trees and Mother Earth? How will we gather? Will we learn from indigenous tribes in remote and physical spaces about their culture and people? Will we gather in healing circles to hear oral storytellers share their wisdom in a park? It is something significant in the ways that we gather to learn and who we learn from that I believe are almost more important than WHAT we learn. Most of our formal education in this country is constructed on WHAT we learn so we fight over it in City Halls and courts. But the new question as we return back to school this school year must not be WHAT but be about WHO will we let teach our beloved community and HOW. Teach X is looking to build this beloved community where WHO and HOW we learn is from the community around us. We know we have everyone we need to build our beloved community. We just need you to show up. You have gifts and talents that our next generation needs to see and hear about. We will create a renewed space in and beyond our schools for healing and restoration but teachers cannot do it alone. They need you. Come join our conversation this evening at 6PM and learn about how you can join our beloved community. RSVP at bit.ly/underexposedtx. In a few weeks, I will have to return back to school, but I don't want to go back to normal. I want to go forward toward hope, love and a renewed beloved community for the future. Please join me. As most celebrated our nation’s independence and liberty, too many Black folks know all too well of the myth of freedom that was sold to them. Now some of us Black folks so desperately want the myth to come true, and some of us just want to drink the kool-aid and eat some good BBQ, but the reality is our true liberation won’t come until we begin to intentionally build the beloved and liberated community we hope to live and thrive in. Freedom is not about a day of fireworks, but the collective work and actions of a people willing to break the chains of oppression toward a more just world. Thankfully, this past week I was able to see a small glimpse of what this work and action could look like during a week-long Collaborative Redesign Studio Workshop.
During the design studio experience, a collective of 100 unique educators and discipline-specific experts joined forces to redesign WHAT and HOW our children come into knowing… knowing who they are, knowing how they exist in the world, and knowing where and how they belong in it. In one conversation, we discussed de-centering traditional power structures and systems (elected officials, government) as the sole vehicle of civic engagement toward group-based leadership models and communal power which resonated with the most radical push to defund the police and invest in the people. I don’t know if we are ready for this yet, but this was powerful work for me because for the first time there was celebration of difference and space created to center marginalized stories, voices and people where the old curriculum check the boxes, neutralized rich cultures and diasporas and made no room for restoration and healing. Each day, as I sat on Zoom calls working with phenomenal thought leaders from all over the world, I didn’t just hear the cliche buzzwords that flow in DEI conversations. I started to hear a new language emerge that pushed us closer to learning that truly liberates and heals. WOAHHH! We spoke of the enduring power for young learners in identity, community, autonomy, agency, and alternative narratives that would stretch beyond our own world view and transcend new worlds of knowing and being that were anti-racist and truly multi-cultural for future generations. As a Black Educator and a Teacher of Teachers, this really challenged my own views of what is the measure of quality learning experiences. As the central question on my blog asks, “ Are we there yet?” my new question is “Where is there?”. I now believe “there”must include more than cognitive and skill development. Our aim must be higher, where we strive toward education that liberates and heals. If we expect to build this beloved community of people and move past the myth and glitz of symbolic independence and freedom fairytales, then we must embrace learning experiences for the next generation that center their voices in ways that are rooted in identity, healing and restoration. I know this because far too many Black and Dark bodies disproportionately fill up our prisons, over represented in our special education or remediation classes, at higher health risk with lower life expectancies than their white counterparts and the list goes on. This is the vestiges of America’s continued bondage of Black and Dark people in this country that we never healed from the trauma. She has not let us go or in the words of W.E.B Dubois, “Black people stood but a moment in the sun…and then back toward slavery”. So how do we get back in the sun? Black and Dark people have been underexposed to their own histories and narratives that center discourse of restoration and healing. There is liberation in these narratives and exposure to them. So WHO is sharing these new and alternative narratives. If the history books erased those stories and academic learning purports to be agnostic of them, then we need the beloved community to show up. We need the beloved community ready to share these alternative narratives, share their time and share their love. We must forsake a world of “I” and “me” for one that is inclusive of “we” and “us”. Teach X is working to bring together this beloved community and our first step is hosting a Virtual Collective Conversation: Underexposed where we come together to understand our collective power on July 19, 2021 at 6PM. We also are launching our Underexposed Speaker Series where we will match teachers with members of our beloved community who want to virtually share their stories with our youth. We want to share our collective success and alternative narratives of victory that our history books don’t have. If you are ready for this next level of liberatory education, then we need you to join us and RSVP at bit.ly/underexposedtx because teachers can’t do this work alone…they need the entire beloved community to show up so that the 4th of July truly means freedom for ALL. As a Black Educator in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica for the Summer, I realize how little of the world our children are exposed to that uplifts and shares the stories and cultures of Black and Dark indigenous people all over the world (Not just in America). From my own experience, I never knew there were Black Costa Rican people. I never knew about Afro-Carribean LatinX, people despite spending 8 years of my education learning Spanish. I wonder how different my learning experience could have been if my teachers would have exposed me to the diverse people and cultures of Spanish speaking people around the world, especially those that looked like me. I may have actually learned this beautiful language feeling more connected and tied to its origin and its people. But now as I pass these beautiful Black faces in the grocery store and on the beach, I can’t help feeling so disconnected from people who look just like me but I can’t understand. Yet somehow, when I was in school, I always knew that my education presented more barriers than bridges with its Eurocentric historical narrative that wiped out most of the world’s Black and Brown people from its books.
So as I spend this time abroad, exploring the newness and history of a people I’ve never been exposed to, I contemplate the continuation of these barriers for future generations as America now wants to block more young people from conversations about racism and Black narratives in classrooms. How will our children learn about the richness and fullness of Black cultures and all that they have done if we don’t keep these discussions alive in our classrooms? As my favorite intellectual radical, James Baldwin, once said, “I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” America’s classrooms have been vastly shaped with a sterile and nostalgic patriotic lens of half-truths that simply impair our students from leading as Baldwin did. Sadly, recent efforts have been pushed in numerous States and local school boards to further deny the full truth of America’s history from students. Unfortunately, the fake news of the day is if you love America, then you should NOT criticize Her. But that is the furthest thing from the truth. It is actually more imperative to our democracy that future generations interrogate and critique our systems, challenge past and present narratives and push for better and more diverse narratives in the future if we hope to preserve our country and democracy. Thus our civic learning experiences and all our learning spaces, especially for Black and Dark youth, must be safe refuges for critical inquiry, meaningful interrogation and research, new narrative creation and shared collective action if we are to improve our democracy. If we say we love America, then we must do what love requires and challenge Her to be the best version of America she can be. Therefore, we must not seek to ban or deny our collective truth, but expand our knowledge of it and invite more diverse perspectives and narratives to open up our world; not close it off. That is why Teach X is hosting a Collective Virtual Conversation, “Underexposed: A Moment in the Sun” on Monday, July 19, 2021 at 6PM to reconcile our past history and explore a new narrative for our future generations. What stories will we share? Who will tell them? How will we build in this moment as a community of thought leaders, educators, students and people? Right now, history is watching what we do next. It is wondering in the words of W.E.B Dubois, how will we bring Black and marginalized people across the world back “into the Sun” for more than a moment so they can be seen, heard and celebrated. This is our moment as educators, school leaders and the larger community to fight for the truth, diverse narratives of our shared history and for future generations to have the privilege to do the same at home and even learn about the rich cultures of far away places like Puerto Viejo. That moment is now. RSVP today HERE! Yesterday, I was on Instagram and a college friend shared, “ I abruptly quit my job. I am no longer a classroom teacher. Now, I am on a beach and never felt freer.” She was glowing for sure. But as I stared at my former teacher friend living her #bestlife on social media, I also thought about so many other teachers just like her during this pandemic Teacher Appreciation Week. All working to just get free, but never getting there until they leave and in this season there has been a lot of leaving. Frankly, with all the attacks against teachers and schools who teach Critical Race Theory the 1619 Project, the outright denial of racism in this country by political leaders, the overwhelming workload due to remote learning in a Pandemic, I can’t imagine a Black educator feeling less valued and appreciated than right now. I digress. But for Black teachers especially, there is this constant sense of feeling trapped in a system that was never made for you or for the kids that you serve that look like you, but you try to stick it out to see if you can just free a few from the shackles of oppression---but it’s always just a few. Nevertheless, it remains tiring to be caught in the snares of such a place, especially when you see the rest of the world living their #bestlife and you barely feel seen, heard or appreciated. As a Black educator, this too was my story and I must claim it if I expect to uncover what it means for Black teachers to go and STAY in urban, public schools AND be FREE to live their #bestlife. The facts are in America, only 19% of teachers are non-white of which only 7% are Black, but over 50% of students in America are non-white and growing more diverse, despite more Black teachers leaving the profession. Additionally, by 2028, we are expected to see a shortage of over 100,000 educators in K-12 schools in hard to place fields in STEM with teacher preparation programs seeing record declines in enrollment. Teachers cite the largest issue they face is pay, working conditions, lack of autonomy and treatment as to why they leave the field. Research has proven that more diverse learning environments and teachers yield better learning outcomes for students, but yet they are still missing from our public schools and leaving faster than we can keep them. All of this is to say, with more STEM-based jobs in demand and less teachers to fill these vital roles in diverse communities, it is imperative that we get this thang right. So, today ain’t just give a free lunch day and a gift card to a teacher. Today is the day we truly support the liberation and celebration of the work of our teachers, especially our Black teachers in underserved classrooms. In order for us to do this though, we must first understand the role of how White Supremacy Culture impacts the sub-culture in our schools that create these toxic environments for teachers of color. Yeah, I told you this ain’t a gift card kind of day. Black teachers need for school and district leaders to deeply assess their culture to ensure it is an inclusive, caring and liberating space, not only for students to learn, but for teachers to work. From my experience, less energy is paid to the latter and that is how we keep losing good people, including myself. SO what’s Wrong? Pay is a huge issue for educators, but I think more important is culture. As with any other culture, White Supremacy Culture is interwoven in our everyday lives, actions, behaviors and beliefs but the difference is this one tends to bestow advantages consciously or unconsciously to the majority culture at the expense of the minority one. That is most White people win while most Black people lose as long as the existing power structures and systems stay in place and don’t change. This happens in more small and subtle ways in large organizations, such as schools even with non-white people keeping the status quo afloat. Normally, it does not appear as an egregious act like burning crosses on a front lawn, rather it happens in an administrative decision on switching curriculum with no teacher input. This is how White Supremacy Culture shows up. According to work by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, ChangeWork (2001), there are key characteristics that are indicative of White Supremacy Culture in an organization. Please note I am only referring to the tendencies and normed behaviors that are exhibited in schools and not extremist who are white supremacist. But this is the first step to understanding how systemic racism is baked into the whole pie, hurting our schools and tearing down our most valuable assets-- teachers. From Jones and Okun’s work, in my own experience, the main characteristic that constantly showed up for me as a Black Educator was the constant hoarding of power that made me feel powerless to make change. There were little committees with teachers on them, but decisions were never shared or collectively made by them, only those in leadership. If I brought up an idea to do something different, it was shot down or unheard, only to do the same thing that did not work the year before. Once, I decided that my students needed a different assessment for our class that was different from the grade levels, because the content did not match our lessons, and I was quickly reprimanded and closely monitored to give an exam that I didn't even put in my gradebook. Those in power felt threatened by my actions and mostly saw me as inexperienced and not worth any investment to develop me further. This was heartbreaking as a new teacher, but I pushed myself because of my students to keep trying. But this is how White Supremacy Culture can belittle and demoralize Black teachers from feeling any sense of value in these spaces. So they leave. So what do we need to do? So some might be like you should have spoken up and told someone. But the reality is schools are good ol’girl/boy networks too that have dire consequences if you share your story. This is also a tactic of White Supremacy Culture to maintain the supremacy of the beliefs, histories, power structures and institutions that benefit White people even in Black communities. But this is where school leaders have the most opportunity to make a change to uplift diverse voices of educators and staff and empower teachers to truly live their #bestlife -Consistently assess decision making protocols and policies to understand how power is being shared with educators - Create authentic spaces to share power and decision making with diverse groups of teachers and staff even including it in the school’s mission or guiding documents ( don’t just cherry pick favorites) - Black people are highly relational so create opportunities for mentoring, non-punitive feedback sharing, share experiences beyond work, and build a true sense of community that celebrates diverse cultures ( ask teachers how to do this) with constant evaluation of it. - Conduct routine assessment of system operations and continuously invite change and new ideas from Black teachers to optimize systems and create leadership opportunities for them to lead and create new things - Provide multiple opportunities ( and funding) for Black educators to grow and learn new skills and concepts that reflects their interests and aspirations as an educator ( not just required compliance-driven training) If we really want to solve the shortage issue and recruit and retain amazing Black educators in public schools, then today and everyday after, we must really show them we appreciate them, their input, their identity, their power, their perspective and their voice. We must do the hard work to reform our systems and people that were never intended to be equitable for people of color. We must begin the work to change decades of learned oppression. We must do more than give them candy and a gift card today. We must do the work to truly appreciate them and all their glory before it’s too late! Happy Teacher Appreciation Day! Over the MLK Holiday weekend, I rallied alongside courageous teachers who love their job but don’t want to die in the pursuit of doing it in crowded in person classrooms in the midst of a pandemic. As I stood in solidarity with them and chanted in unity for there leaders to hear their needs for safe schools, I realized we were outside, freezing in the cold, as snow flurries grazed our faces and no one was coming to hear us. While I didn’t plan the rally and I don’t work with these teachers, I still wanted their voices to be heard so I stood there with them, sign in tow and kept chanting with the urgent rhythm of our collective demands. But even as I chanted, I strangely expected their leaders to be there to hear their concerns or respond. But of course, there was silence and we just screamed louder to the heavens. But we can unpack later why their was silence from our leaders. However, I think what's most important, beyond the silence, is the voices of those who were resolved to be heard. As the rally ended, and the energy of the moment subsided, I stepped back and took in the crowd of mostly masked black women, who you could tell knew this fight of not being heard all too well, but they stood resolved anyway as the cameras left to keep chanting. They looked like fighters, but still tired all the more. But this act of persistent fight, even when no one is listening and you too tired to move on, I truly believe this is how we will win justice and equity for marginalized and people of color. I also believe as we finally celebrate Kamala Harris, the first biracial WOMAN VICE PRESIDENT of the United States, that that work and fight will be led and organized by fearless ass women! (No shade to MLK, but all the organizing happened thru women, he was an awesome voice and face of a movement, but the workers were lots of women). My mom always asks me why you got to fight all the time and I always tell her that’s what’s necessary to make change. Because the truth is power never simply concedes it’s wrong or gives way to what is just, it will always be a hard fought battle to right wrongs and win justice. As we are witnessing right now, at the highest levels of this country’s leadership, they would rather stage an insurrection at the nation’s Capitol, than concede power, especially to a black woman. So how will we get to the one day where our children have access to high quality education, teachers are empowered to co-create a more holistic vision for children and communities have a supportive ecosystem to thrive? Today, I am certain that this change will happen only if we fight for it with intentionality and purpose ( and with some great women on the front lines...congrats to our new Madam Vice President). Historically, this has always been the case and even today as we feel victorious in this monumental moment of many FIRSTS, we must continue to fight with every tool in our arsenal to fully manifest the promises for our families and communities. Last Year was certainly a roller coaster for everyone. However, what has been most evident in the midst of all of the chaos of 2020 is that our most vulnerable and marginalized families have laid America’s own vulnerabilities bare naked as the world’s richest country scrambles to support them. Thankfully, this has forced an oversized, yet much needed microscope on the gaping holes that exist in our safety net across this country and left us to plot a new course forward ( hopefully to a more holistic and systemic resolve for everyone to thrive). Yet, these vulnerabilities feel more exacerbated in the city of Atlanta, the home of the MOST income inequality in the country, where Black people make up 56% of the city but 30% of Blacks, over half of them, live in poverty in comparison to 8% of their white counterparts. I cannot stress more than I have done before, that in the land of Black milk and honey, there is no greater myth than the myth that all Black folks are drinking from the same well in this city. We are not and this crisis has truly revealed a deeper drought for those Black families who have not tasted this milk and honey ever, despite the city’s eloquent branding otherwise. Last year stripped us naked for the world to see all our flaws, scars and old wounds that we never healed from, but my question for 2021 and beyond is “ Is seeing it enough?”. Is seeing a problem enough to move people to bolder action and steps in the future? I feel like if I have learned anything from this strange year with a global health pandemic it is if seeing massive scale death doesn’t jolt people into doing something simple like wearing a mask, then maybe seeing is not enough. Sadly, it takes more than seeing devastation up, close and personal to significantly alter the behaviors and subsequent decisions of people. Change is a tricky beast of a thing, especially when we live in sound chambers of people who think and believe what we do. But Kotter and Cohen in the book, The Heart of Change suggests, "The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings". So with this in mind, I would say that the laser microscope view of our bare nakedness alone is not enough. But if we speak to people’s feelings about what they are seeing and give it context and humanity, THEN, maybe people will be called to move and move more boldly in the future, especially for our kids. I saw this over the Christmas holiday, when charitable giving is at an all time high. Communities banded together to bless others with gifts and through my own non-profit work, we raised over $7000 to help make Christmas memorable for kids in Atlanta (who don’t always get to even enjoy being a kid). I would say people saw kids in need all year long, but what moved them to act during this season was “a feeling”. Although, I will say the first step to bold change is seeing it, I believe the next and most vital step to action is really feeling it. For instance, I had one neighbor who visited one of our low-income housing complexes at Forest Cove and for the first time asked, “Does the city of Atlanta really let people live like this [in terrible living conditions]?”After seeing these poor living conditions, he felt something deeply needed to change and began working on a student mentorship program with the local schools to expose students in this neighborhood to professionals in their community. This is how we get to bold change and not this gradual piece-meal stuff we've been clinging to for far too long. But striking the right balance of seeing and feeling that resolves into meaningful action is a hard formula to master, but I think this is the secret sauce to change 2021 and beyond. People, businesses and communities that have found out how to strike the right balance have seen sweeping changes. Just look at the Truth Ad Campaigns that helped reduce youth smoking and over $5 billion in health care costs in the first two years, or the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) remediating blight in over 4000 blighted buildings and lots in Philadelphia reducing gun violence by 40%, or even Kim Kardashian taking up criminal justice reform work after she won a pardon for Alice Johnson from the President of the United States. In each of these successful change moments in history, people understood the importance of seeing and feeling to get to the change they desired. I mean today on New Years day, even for ourselves, we all have some kind of change we want to happen this year, but the only way we will achieve change is not just seeing or even understanding that something needs to change, but also finding the feeling in ourselves to make sustainable change for the future. So, today, on New Year’s Day, I think about what it will take for us to get to one day in 2021, where poorer Black and brown students have true access to a quality education and unlimited opportunities, where Black people are not sentenced to death for just being Black in our homes or for having a baby while Black in a hospital and families live in safe communities that allow them and their kids to thrive. It will take us using this secret sauce to change and using it with decision makers at every level of our society to make change happen for our most vulnerable families and kids. It will take us ( especially those of us with privilege or sit in seats of power) being unashamed to stare at the bare nakedness of our problems, deepening our experiences with them by asking deeper questions, and finding the feeling for us to mobilize others to do the same. This is the work for 2021 and beyond. We are not there yet, but we are on our way. Atlanta touts itself as the Black mecca and iconic civil rights home that has a wealth of opportunity for blacks to be progressive and achieve the illusive “American Dream”. However, as an educator who has seen the grips of hunger in poverty in my student’s eyes, I know this is only a fairy tale. The glaring reality is that Atlanta has grown wealthier, yet whiter, since the days of our civil rights leaders and we have rested on a bygone era that has left black families, schools and communities behind. The facts remain that the median household income for a white family in the city is $83,722, compared to $28,105 for a Black family. That’s nearly a 3-to-1 ratio. Atlanta’s poverty rate is 24%, with the vast majority of them being children, which translates to 1 in 4 people are living in poverty, yet 1% of Atlanta’s top earners make $345,000 or more. We are one of the most segregated cities now than we were 60 years ago where resources, relationships and opportunities don’t flow equitably to the communities that need it most. Sadly in Covid, these facts don’t get better and this gap is only getting wider and deeper without any targeted intervention from even our Black elected leaders and business community. Yes, let me say this is also an indictment of their flawed leadership and indifference to the struggle of poor Black folks as well. Yet, these facts have not led to any changes or red flags of the systems that perpetuate these inequities, but has by- in- large transformed the narrative of poverty as an individual man-made flaw and not a structural systems one. This transformation has left systems and institutions unscathed and standing, while people have been made to believe they are broken when their pursuit of the American dream fails. Well I am here to waive the red flag and sound the alarm for all my families and students that are unable to do so. I am sounding the alarm that we have a system failure - and not human failure- when Blacks are 50% of Atlanta’s population, but make up 73% of the poverty rate and 80% of students who cannot read at or above grade level. This is not an individual flaw. This is systems working exactly as they were designed to fail Black people ( even with Black people manning the ship). I am waiving the red flag that in Southeast Atlanta, with the highest concentration of poverty, our schools are failing our students due to a lack of resources, intentional planning and strategic coordination with other institutions for long overdue investment. Right now, my community is about to lose over 350 families and students in the Thomasville Heights Elementary School (THES) community (which translates into $5.2 million+/year in school funding) because no one has invested in the Forest Cove/Four Seasons Apartments community (which contributes 99% of all THES students) and now they are set to shut down and displace hundreds of families. This will have ripple effects felt all throughout the Southeast Atlanta corridor in our schools, future development and our families. But there doesn’t seem to be any strategic coordination between developers, the city, the philanthropic community and schools on how we mitigate this issue for these families, our schools and community. Yet, parents, teachers, and students will be blamed for their poor choices if these families end up homeless in need of more governmental subsidy. This is how we perpetuate the meritocracy myth and self-righteously tell people to pick themselves up by their bootstraps while stealing the boots right off of their feet. So what needs to happen? My birthday was last week and while I host an Angel Tree gift donation for families every year on my birthday ( you can donate HERE to give a gift), this is not the answer to systemic problems where we charitably give to a resolution. I believe there needs to be more system-level investment and strategic partnership across institutions to invest in communities and Black people in the highest tracts of concentrated poverty.
All of this stuff is a part of a larger, more complex system that does not care how hard one works, but is already predisposed to favor the privileged in how it operates. We cannot be naive to believe otherwise. But there are things we can do to transform it and hold it accountable as well as the people caught in its traps. As the award winning city for highest income inequality, history is watching us, how will we respond Atlanta? |
AuthorEducator, student advocate and community activists. Archives
October 2021
Categories |