The Stories Blog

brightbeam

Higher Education Is the New Poverty Pimp

I’ve been wanting to get this off my chest for a while and here it is—higher education is the new poverty pimp in Black communities with student loans being the latest form of predatory lending....

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Achievement Gap

The Epidemic We’re Not Talking About: Most High School Seniors Can’t Read or Do Math

The National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP)—nicknamed “America’s Report Card”—released their 12th grade scores at the end of October. The horrifying results: Just 37% of 12th-graders...

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educational justice

We Don't Give a Damn About Equity Initiatives Without Intentional Investment in Our Kids

Closed mouths don’t get fed. That’s why fellow Chicago activist, Natasha Dunn, and I recently demanded that Chicago Public Schools adopt our Black Student Achievement Task Force to serve as a liaison...

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Implicit bias

Teachers, If You Haven't Been Giving a Damn About Your Students, We Definitely Don't Need You Now

Before I stroll into my routine of being a habitual line stepper, let me state my usual disclaimer. Educators, I love and appreciate y’all. I think you have one of the most difficult jobs in the...

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brightbeam

White Progressives Have a Lot of Work to Do, and I’m Not Here to Help

When I ran for school board it was the former Minneapolis mayor who was the first elected official to endorse me. She asked me a lot of questions, offered some straight talk about the political...

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Achievement Gap

Our Kids Can No Longer Wait for Educational Justice, And They Shouldn’t Have To

I wanna talk about three things: movements, public education and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words foreshadowing what would be an ongoing and urgent fight. Follow along as I connect all of these...

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