Radical Black Love: A Revolutionary Force at BMEC 2024

As the Center for Black Educator Development (CBED) concluded its 7th Annual Black Men in Education Convening (BMEC/#BMEC2024), which took place at the Loews Hotel November 21-23 in Philadelphia, I was once again struck by the incredible power of radical Black love. Authentic, radical Black love is a revolutionary practice that counters the systemic, pervasive anti-Blackness that seeps into the everyday lives of Black children, educators, families, and communities. 

Radical Black love counters the systemic forces that teach Black youth to hate each other; that rewards the sickness that is flowing from social and traditional media, that entrenches the grime and crime pumped into the lives of Black children and their communities.

Radical Black love is a love that uplifts and unites.

#BMEC2024 was packed with an undeniable wealth of radical Black love and ignited a remarkable reminder of the power of radical imagination. 

This year, we had the pleasure of hosting a multigenerational and diverse group of 1,200 attendees from 40 states throughout the nation, as well as attendees from the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom. The two-and-a-half days of #BMEC2024 amplified Mary Church Terrell’s impetus for Black educators to lift as they climb, and it embodied the Black teaching tradition of uplifting and training our replacements. 

As the founder of BMEC, I often receive congratulations for its success. But this convening is undoubtedly not about me, and it’s also not a new idea. Our convening continues a Black teaching tradition that has always existed. I was fortunate to have giants like Dr. Martin Ryder and trailblazing organizations like the Association of Black School Administrators pour into me the knowledge and belief that teaching is a revolutionary act early in my teaching journey, just as other Black educators have kept the flame of Black teaching alive, passing it to their successors in our remarkable history.

For generations, our forebears created spaces where Black educators could thrive and ensure their students flourished, even when facing systemic pushback. This is what servant leadership looks like—taking the “Blackprint” left by those who came before us and applying it to meet today’s challenges and opportunities. 

One of the many profound moments at this year’s convening was Dr. Chris Emdin’s closing keynote. He urged us to “decolonize our dreams,” reminding us that if it’s not a radical dream, then it’s not a dream at all. Too often, our dreams are confined by systemic limits, bound to the gravity of oppression. As Dr. Emdin noted,

#BMEC2024 exists to engineer ways to break through that gravity, empowering Black male educators to dream and act beyond the confines of systemic constraints.

BMEC creates spaces of Black love that benefit everyone—not just Black educators. Tom Rademacher, a white teacher and former Minnesota Teacher of the Year, shared in a previous Education Post blog how uncomfortable he initially felt attending BMEC as a white man. That feeling of being unlike anyone else around you is a familiar feeling for Black educators, but a rare one for a white teacher. Yet, the warmth and affirmation he experienced revealed to him the ethic of care and community inherent in Black teaching traditions.

Educator and influencer The Conscious Lee reflected that #BMEC2024 was the most powerful professional convening he has ever experienced and one of the few times he had experienced Black men coming together with real love outside of sports. This resonated deeply because it highlights the void BMEC fills, a space where the full diversity of Black male educators can show up as their full, authentic selves and be celebrated for it.

BMEC is a movement grounded in the diversity of Blackness—geographic, generational, and ideological. BMEC has become a space where intergenerational Black educators—from high school students to octogenarians—share wisdom, affirm each other’s identities, and build community. It is a space where educators don’t shrink themselves but instead lean into their full humanity. It is a space that embodies Dr. Howard Fuller’s advice: Don’t shrink an inch.

CBED has partnered with DonorsChoose to elevate and amplify the experiences of Black male educators. Our work highlights the structural inequities that make it difficult for Black men to enter and remain in the profession. We see those on full display when we hear how often Black educators must fight to attend BMEC, as their schools refuse to recognize it as a legitimate professional learning opportunity. This resistance reflects the broader devaluation of Black-led initiatives in education.

Yet, #BMEC2024 attendees—like Brothers Liberating Our Communities in Kansas City and Dr. Andre Samuels, KIPP, in Washington, D.C.—are replicating this work in their communities, building local movements that reflect the ethos of BMEC.

When we started this convening as a local, quarterly convening in 2015, not even my radical imagination could bring me here. What emerged from those smaller, simpler days has grown into a national movement. But nearly from the jump, we could feel something special emerging. 

I’ll never forget when, in 2016, a carload of early-career Black male educators and teachers drove from Tennessee to attend BMEC. They had heard about the convening, felt its importance, and made the long drive to be a part of it. I was blown away. I hate driving long distances, and here, these young Black men had taken it upon themselves to come all the way up to Philadelphia because they were truly drawn to what we were doing. It demonstrated what I have come to see as true: it’s not just “...if you build it, they will come,” but “...if you build something supportive, loving, affirming, and anti-racist, they will come.”  

As BMEC continues to grow, it remains rooted in the principles of Black love and liberation. And, we press on.

BMEC is more than an annual event—it’s a testament to the power of community, the strength of tradition, and the revolutionary potential of authentic, radical Black love.

Together, we are strengthening our impact as individuals and lifting as we climb—in community and as a movement. And we must do this work every day between our national convenings of Black men educators.