READINGS
We enter NDSG Jackson mindful of legacies of dehumanization and violence in this country that continue to impact our host city as well as all of the communities we come from. To co-create justice and healing means to approach our time together with reverence for the generations of Mississippians that fought for civil rights and with readiness to be changed by the ongoing anti-racist work of Jackson students, teachers, parents, and community leaders.
Reading and reflecting before the meeting is a way to enter Jackson respectfully. As you read, study, and research, please reflect on what this material means to you. Is it familiar? How? Are there differences with the context you work and learn in? How do you feel about those differences? What can you learn from those differences? Push yourself to ask new questions about your own context as you read. Who is making decisions, and who is not? How much voice do the people most affected by decisions about schools have? In your community, when you see people who are historically marginalized fighting for equity, what strategies are they using?
White folks, as you read the assigned texts, pay close attention to what is new and what challenges you. Think about your own experiences, observations, and responses. How do you deal with the discomfort of recognizing white supremacy in the spaces you move in? How can you get more curious about your unearthing your own points of resistance, whether that shows up as, "why can't we all just get along?" or "my best friend is Black, so I can't be racist," or "they're being oversensitive," or other forms. What goals will you set for your own learning about race and equity? How will you work to decenter whiteness, and make space for multiple perspectives? How does the reading support this decentering and space making?
Please take notes, and be ready to share your thinking and your learning process when we gather in Jackson.
Below the readings are resources recommended by the Boston Youth Organizing Project.
Reading and reflecting before the meeting is a way to enter Jackson respectfully. As you read, study, and research, please reflect on what this material means to you. Is it familiar? How? Are there differences with the context you work and learn in? How do you feel about those differences? What can you learn from those differences? Push yourself to ask new questions about your own context as you read. Who is making decisions, and who is not? How much voice do the people most affected by decisions about schools have? In your community, when you see people who are historically marginalized fighting for equity, what strategies are they using?
White folks, as you read the assigned texts, pay close attention to what is new and what challenges you. Think about your own experiences, observations, and responses. How do you deal with the discomfort of recognizing white supremacy in the spaces you move in? How can you get more curious about your unearthing your own points of resistance, whether that shows up as, "why can't we all just get along?" or "my best friend is Black, so I can't be racist," or "they're being oversensitive," or other forms. What goals will you set for your own learning about race and equity? How will you work to decenter whiteness, and make space for multiple perspectives? How does the reading support this decentering and space making?
Please take notes, and be ready to share your thinking and your learning process when we gather in Jackson.
Below the readings are resources recommended by the Boston Youth Organizing Project.
ReQuired ReaDing for All NDSG Participants:
Spend some time with the Mississippi Civil Rights history videos and articles from NDSG 2018 readings and resources.
"Will the State Takeover of Jackson Schools Be "Better Together" or the Same Old Education Politics"
by Jeff Bryant, 5/24/18 America’s ongoing saga to “reform” public schools is filled with stories of state officials taking over“underperforming” school districts. Recent presidential administrations, including Obama’s, have approved of such takeovers even though, in nearly every instance--New Orleans, Detroit, Newark—takeovers are carried out by white state officials accusing black and brown communities of being unable to care for their children. |
Better Together Commission Releases Report From Study of Jackson Schools Jackson Public Schools, 11/29/18 ... The release of the in-depth report, conducted over nine months by Insight Education Group, marks a significant milestone in the process that began over a year ago when this group of partners opted for a "third way" to support transformative change for the state's second largest school district. The study, along with a diverse range of community engagement activities, focused on identifying the assets and opportunities that can be leveraged to ensure every JPS student receives an excellent education. |
State Takeovers Of Schools Are About Political Power, Not About School Improvement
by Domingo Morel, 7/3/18 When states take over local school districts – like they’ve done or are trying to do in Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi – school improvement is typically the stated objective. Although the research on the effects of state takeovers on academic outcomes is mixed, takeovers often have devastating political and economic implications for black communities. As states increasingly attempt to take over school districts in major Southern cities, it’s worth exploring whether school improvement is the real purpose, or whether political motives are at play. |
Over-Testing and Losing Teachers in JPS: This short video is unscripted, raw and REAL from an amazing young teacher we so badly need in Mississippi public schools. |
Lift Us Up: Meet the Activists on the Front Lines of the Battle for Educational Justice in America
Democracy Now Report, 10/3/18 As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh objects to being held accountable for his behavior in high school, we look at the criminalization of black and brown students that has led to what is known as the school-to-prison pipeline. We speak with a roundtable of community activists engaged in the fight to save schools and push for alternatives to punishment and privatization. Their voices are highlighted in a new book titled Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out! Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement. |
Required readings for White folks:
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and in- sulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protec- tion builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress be- comes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behav- iors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium. This paper explicates the dynamics of White Fragility.
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Want to Be a Better White Person? Learn How to Be a Guest by Damon Young, 1/24/18 My first (and only) visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture almost didn’t happen. My wife and I drove to Washington, D.C., after biking from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md., on a four-day and 150-mile trek that I still plan to write about eventually, but remain too traumatized by to write about yet. |
8 Reaons You Want to Touch a Black Woman's Hair -- And Why They Mean You Shouldn't
by Maisha Z. Johnson, 9/14//15 There are a million ways to compliment a Black woman. You could tell me I look radiant. Say you like my lipstick – it’s hard to find the right shade. Tell me you appreciate how my mind works. I’m not just fishing for compliments here. I’m giving you options to avoid the dreaded “compliment” of touching my hair. |
Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People by Kelsey Blackwell I’m breathing deeply as I write this. What I’m writing about is charged. I feel this energy in my body. It’s a heat in my throat and a rumbling in my belly. It’s an intensity that’s frustrated that these words must even be written. It propels me through my fears of backlash and worry about not getting it exactly right. What I say may anger you. You may disagree. You may feel more confused, and this, I would say, is good. It means the work can begin. Breathing. |
White Supremacy Culture
by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun from Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, 2001 This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking. They are damaging to both people of color and to white people. Organizations that are people of color led or a majority people of color can also demonstrate many damaging characteristics of white supremacy culture. |
Other Resources
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Amazing 9 year old Asean Johnson brings the crowd to their feet Chicago schools closing rally in 2013. |
During their February vacation, over 2,000 Massachusetts youth from every corner of the Commonwealth convened in Boston to rally for youth jobs funding and to stop proposed cuts to the MBTA in 2012. |
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How Grassroots Advocacy Can Impact Public Policy(Najma Nazy'at) Question: Najma, can you tell us about strategies for winning a campaign for the Boston Youth Organizing Project (BYOP)? |