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...
Teaching
How Racism in "A Christmas Story" Relates to My Process to Unlearn Anti-Blackness
(Ed Post note: This article was published in 2019; it has been updated because the topic remains relevant, and Rademacher's points should be read this Christmas.) Just before winter break, my various...
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...
opportunity gap
Showing Up and Doing Well in School Should Lead to Better Opportunity But It’s Not Always True
Low-income and minority students are not being challenged nearly as much as their White peers in high school, according to a new study produced by TNTP, a national education nonprofit. They’ve dubbed...
Mental Health
What 'Surviving R. Kelly' Means for My Black Daughters and the Schools They Attend
As the Black mother of two Black girls, I am always acutely aware of how Black girls are harmed in this society. However, there are some moments in America, when it is amplified that me and my girls,...
Teaching
My Student Asked Me If I Was Racist So I Told the Truth and Said Yes
“Mr. Wright, are you racist?” My West Philadelphia classroom, which had been filled with the sounds of shuffling papers, squeaking chairs, and the quintessential high-paced chatter of teenagers, got...
