Stories

Charter Schools

Here’s a Breakdown on Why I Told My Students I Was Racist

“Mr. Wright, are you racist?” “Absolutely,” I said. “I’m a White man in America. What else could I be?” So began a piece I wrote recently that has garnered some fascinating, helpful and necessary...

Diversity

If You’re Still Wondering Why We Have to Teach Social Justice, Here’s Your Answer

If you’re not already aware, right before the new year a Black man was arrested at a Huntington Bank in Cleveland, Ohio, for cashing his check. Let that sink in. For cashing a check he earned, he was...

Special Education

I Took a Year Off Work to Learn About Dyslexia Because My Son's Teachers Couldn't Teach Him How to Read

Why, for so many, is access to an education that recognizes the science of reading limited to private programs? My son experienced this as a reader struggling with dyslexia, and my sister experienced...

Teaching

How Anti-Blackness Can Show Up in Our Teaching and We Don't Even Recognize It

Just before winter break, my various timelines were awash with pictures of a young man forced to have his hair cut by a wrestling referee. You’ve no doubt read some of the stories, no doubt seen much...

New York

If You Think Excellence Can't Exist in All-Black Schools, You're Tripping

As a child, youth, and adult, I have had the absolute pleasure of being surrounded by Mamas and Babas who upheld Black liberation in thought and action. Many of them made tremendous sacrifices to...

Kamala Harris Just Wrote a Children's Book

There's an old cliche about Spider-Man: He's arguably pop culture's favorite superhero because his mask covers his whole face. This means, as a great many people like to say, “It could be anyone...