During my senior year at Purdue University, I decided to join Haraka Writers. It was a spoken word performing arts ensemble of the Black Cultural Center. Khari Bowden, as known as Khari B. or the Discopoet, was and still is the Artist in Residence that led the group. He decided to update Gil Scott-Heron’s poem…
Why would a teacher submit her resignation for her first teaching job out of college in February of that school year? The answer is racism, mistreatment, and oppression. I was the only Black teacher in my building when I was employed by Brownsburg Community School Corporation. It was one of the worst years of my…
In a now viral video, activist Gary Chambers, Jr. made it clear that the behavior of East Baton Rouge Parish School Board member Connie Bernard was unacceptable, and he demanded her resignation. He started his speech with these words. “I had intended to get up here and talk about how racist Robert E. Lee was,…
I grew up in a two-parent household. My mom and dad married less than two months before my second birthday, and they have been married ever since. On July 6, they will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. My father has had and continues to have a strong influence on my life. His mother nicknamed him…
I don’t feel emotionally safe at my current school. Typically, I avoid writing about my current job. I am a middle school academic dean who supervises an evaluates nine educators. I never want any person I supervise to believe I am bashing them online. I’m in a position of power, and I must use it…
When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, this marked the end of slavery in the United States … that is what a lot of people learned in school. Honestly, it is more nuanced than that. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued to free enslaved Africans in the Confederate states. Even if students learned that component, many…
The societal turmoil, protests, and unrest is a cry for justice. The focus is on Black lives; however, this goes beyond Black lives being protected from police brutality. Black lives must also be protected from educational malpractice. For decades, researchers have shown there is an achievement gap between Black and white students. More recently, concerns…
If you are Black, like me, you are probably getting tired of all of these diversity statements. You probably have seen a statement that even offended you because of your experiences or experiences of Black people you know with the organization that released the statement. But even considering the hypocrisy of corporations, some of the…
IDOE released IN-CLASS (Indiana’s Considerations for Learning and Safe Schools): COVID-19 Health and Safety Re-entry Guidance, a 38-page document detailing recommendations on how schools should reopen this fall. With school start dates in Indiana typically falling during the last week of July and the first week of August, it is critical for school districts to…
At Indy K12, we are unapologetically Black. We want students in Indianapolis to be successful. We know this cannot happen without directly addressing the educational equity issues in our city. We are tired of Black students getting left behind. Many of our readers have thanked us for our thoughts on current issues. We not only…