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Text-to-self connection: The statement of how our schools are more segregated today than they were in 1980 made me stop and think about my own experience.  While I didn't start school until 1983, I remember a predominantly white class., but there were no "black" schools where I lived.  We all went to the same schools and were in the same classes.  Having worked in both a suburban and urban school district, I can see how this statement is accurate in the urban setting. Most neighborhood schools are homogeneous because their neighborhoods are homogeneous.

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Text-to-world connection: The discussion of residential segregation, and how areas are deems at risk of becoming Black neighborhoods received poor ratings was eye opening.  I am aware of how certain neighborhoods are predominantly a particular race and/or a particular class, but I was not aware of the ratings that are given to the potential black neighborhoods.  These organizations are causing the cycle of poverty to continue in some cases.  Families are denied loans because of the neighborhood they live in, setting them up to fail.

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text-to-text connection: Being reminded of the Trayvon Martin case in 2012, and learning about the John Crawford III incident in 2014, brought to my attention the similarity that both Martin and Crawford were assumed to be up to no good and not given the chance to prove otherwise.  In the case of Trayvon Martin, a neighborhood watch volunteer took justice into his own hands, not waiting for police to arrive.  When police did show up after a 911 call reporting that he was in the store with a. gun, pointing it at people, they didn't even investigate the claim of the 911 caller.  Both cases involved a young African American man who was presumed guilty just based on looks.  In both cases, they ended up dead.

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Text-to-Text connection: Page 3 "Our public schools are more segregated today than they were in 1980, as measured by the % of all Black students whoa re attending schools that at "90-100%" non-white."  This paragraph and statistics really reinforced for me how unique and diverse our school population is. We are in such an important place to impact students and give them the tools and experiences together. I think a lot about what I see in South Philly and what white students have said to me over the years at PPACS, it is so important that we address racism, discrimination and stereotyping early, often - not just with the students but the parents and the community - we can make positive changes and directly impact the future of our school and beyond.

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Text to Self Connection:  The discussions on Mass Incarceration struck home with me because of a man I represented in two cases: Mr. John Bartee, who was a victim of the very strict laws particularly in effect in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I was a civil case attorney, not a criminal case attorney, but became interested in helping imprisoned people through my time as an attorney on the staff of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. At my law firm, we were allowed to work on two cases for free each year, and I was assigned to John. He was a very intelligent African-American man, who had been sentenced to many, many years for what I deemed to be a non-violent crime ~ a total overreaction to what he had done. I first got to know him because he had meticulously prepared notes on terrible prison conditions., for which I brought a case. I could barely imagine how he could stand to live in the conditions he described. He then asked me to handle a second case, based on his belief that his first, court-appointed attorney had not defended him fully and properly. I got to know him over the years and he shared with me many more things he had experienced, just due to being perceived as a stereotypical Black man, who would end up dead or in prison. Our conversations were eye-opening to me, because I had grown up in an All-White lifestyle ~ I had never even seen a Black person in real life (only on television) until I had finished high school ~ upstate New York! John was a peaceful man who preferred to spend his time in the prison library, where he really read, wrote and educated himself. My last connection with him was actually a phone call from his mother ~ he had died in prison and she wanted me to know.

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The discussion on the real estate segregation laws and the home loan rating system (p. 5-6) was a revelation to me. Although when I moved here from Pittsburgh (a long time ago)  the realtor subtly steered us away from black neighborhoods and when we picked an integrated one he suggested we move if we were going to have children. Then he directly told us to register Republican -it's the only way to get "favors" if we needed them.  Needless to say, I did not recommend his realty company to anyone.

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Text to life - I was lucky enough to take a class in college on identity development in children and adolescents, as well as the differences between Black and White families regarding what messages about race they give their children.  Much like Tatum describes, color-blind messages, while they have good intentions, end up leading to people who are unaware that racism is still real and who aren't actively challenging stereotypes they have towards other people.  It didn't occur to me until then that Black parents would need to talk to their children about race much earlier to prepare them for discrimination, but it really emphasized for me that racism is far from dead and people are definitely still treated differently based on their race and feel the effects of institutionalized racism.

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Angela Ciccanti Text to self connection: As a member of the baby boomer generation, I grew up in a very homogenous suburban neighborhood where I thought diversity meant someone who was not "Italian."  When a family moved out of the neighborhood, I remember neighbors worrying about who was going to move in- hopefully not "Blacks."  When I  went to college, I was fortunate to live in a dorm that was diverse and I established friendships with students of color.  At Vine Street, I have been given a great opportunity to work with students of color and they have taught me a great deal.

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Text to Text Connection:  One quote that really made me stop and reflect was "Instead we may be living in a color-silent society, where we have learned to avoid talking about racial differences."  I do find it uncomfortable and difficult to have these conversations. The statistics presented are really eye-opening!

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Susan Thomas: Text to Text Connection: When I read the excerpt in this book from Barack Obama's 2016 speech, in which he commented on the probable fact that 60 years before, his father would not have been allowed to sit at a lunch counter, I was reminded of a book I read in around 1962 called "Black Like Me," by John Griffin. In that book, John Griffin, a white Texan, had had his skin darkened and he also shaved his head: his intent was to travel in the South where real segregation was certainly a fact of life. He did this for 6 weeks and was able to pass for a Black man, in several Southern states. One of the points that I remember most clearly was how he wrote about constantly receiving the "hate stare" from White people. His book, filled with many scenarios from experiences he underwent while people thought he was Black, was very different from other books I had read, including "Gone With the Wind," which I had read in around 1959: that book portrayed the Civil War era life of Black people in an almost idyllic way. Our school history books also glossed over the true conditions of slavery and the Reconstruction era. As to what may have been read in teacher-preparation programs, I am not sure; however, in my counselor preparation programs, I do not recall books specifically relating to the Black experience being discussed. In law school, of course, I read Brown and all of the circumstances leading up to it. Some of the results of that case could be seen in my actual law school class, which included  a very early group of women, Blacks, and also a Japanese-American who had grown up in an Internment Camp in California, which made for some very meaningful and insightful discussions.

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Susan Thomas: Text to Real World:  Our book alludes to how Black parents feel the real need to talk to their children, particularly young Black men, about how careful they should be, in case they are perceived as being a criminal in a rather innocuous, day-to-day situation. I am reminded of one time, when a young Black man in my parking garage had washed my car as requested and as usual. He then came around the block to my house to get paid, which we had frequently done in that manner. One time in particular, I could not hear the doorbell because I was out on the deck. He continued to ring and knock. One of my neighbors was about to call the police, but luckily called my phone first, just to check. Close call! Fast forward a few years, to around 2003, and I was lending my daughter's friend from CAPA, a young Black Dance Major, our video cam so that he could make a dance reel for college. We were held back by traffic from the shore and he had to sit on our steps for a really long time, waiting. At that time, I began to sense how Black parents might feel for the safety of their sons.

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Susan Thomas: In my Text-to-Self Connection on July 9th, it came out as Anonymous (relating to Mass Incarceration) ... but that was me.

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Text to Self Connection: About Van Jones comments on election night in 2016,

“This was a rebellion against the elites. True. It was a complete reinvention of politics and polls. It’s true. But it was also something else.… This was a white-lash. White-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a Black president.” I was watching that night, crying, feeling the same things "What will I tell my children in the morning"  We had always involved our children in political discussions, having “parades” as they accompanied us to vote. Obama was elected when my daughter was in Kindergarten, she was one of handful of  white children in a Title I school, Obama's election was a SUCH an incredible celebration. Eight years later as a sixth grader I knew how much this would affect her. And I am talking as a white mother of a white child. I cannot begin to image the anguish that black parents felt that night about what the country was communicating to their families.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/11/09/van-jones-emotional-election-results-sot.cnn

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Text to Self Connection: Text to Self Connection: About Van Jones comments on election night in 2016,

“This was a rebellion against the elites. True. It was a complete reinvention of politics and polls. It’s true. But it was also something else.… This was a white-lash. White-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a Black president.” I was watching that night, crying, feeling the same things "What will I tell my children in the morning"  We had always involved our children in political discussions, having “parades” as they accompanied us to vote. Obama was elected when my daughter was in Kindergarten, she was one of handful of  white children in a Title I school, Obama's election was a SUCH an incredible celebration. Eight years later as a sixth grader I knew how much this would affect her. And I am talking as a white mother of a white child. I cannot begin to image the anguish that black parents felt that night about what the country was communicating to their families.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/11/09/van-jones-emotional-election-results-sot.cnn

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Text to Text Connection:

“the juxtaposition of the first Black president of the United States, arguably the most powerful man in the world, and the futility of his words to deliver justice for the young Black teen was salt in the wound for many young African Americans.”

The way Dr. Tatum lays out the past few decades of police brutality and then frames the very different experience of race relations of the generations just before, paints a devastating picture for the social emotional development of young black people.  This article by Nahliah Webber spoke to me (link to full article below), she makes the case that we not only have to focus on better meeting children of color, we also have to work on better educating white children.

“If you let them tell it, Black kids are in terrible shape while White children are doing gloriously. But how can White kids be doing okay when they’re growing up to be police officers, district attorneys, mayors, judges, media, mothers, fathers and presidents who take away Black life and call it justified? As Black bodies drop like flies around us from physical, medical, economic, and material deprivation and violence at White hands, how can we in any of our minds or metrics conclude that the Whites are alright? What kind of warped standards are these?

Because let me tell you something …

A child who grows up to put their knee on someone’s neck and kill them in front of a crowd is “culturally deprived.”

A child who jumps in a car with their parent and chases down and executes a stranger is a “super predator.”

A child who grows up to shoot people while they are worshipping is “at-risk.”

A child who can grow up and never be confronted with how they benefit from racist violence is “levels behind”.

https://educationpost.org/if-you-really-want-to-make-a-difference-in-black-lives-change-how-you-teach-white-kids/?fbclid=IwAR1_oEIh5kyQ9tCAanLys_h0lrMuLUXYtAI0-nC9Z8tnQW3VXBCsAZ59Hio

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Text to World (Personal): Dr. Tatum's analysis of the 2016 election from a psychological perspective connects with some disturbing social media discussion I've been in lately. ""a shifting paradigm can generate anxiety, even psychological threat, for those who feel the basic assumptions of society changing in ways they can no longer predict….27 percent of the poll respondents said the results of the election “frightened” them...the fear might have been related to an unvoiced and maybe even unconscious recognition that the racial calculus of our society was being changed ” I am seeing  and engaging occasionally with the viewpoint  that BLM and calls for racial equity and anti-racist actions are somehow trying to erase someone else's culture,  when this is the exact playbook that white supremacy has played on BIPOC communities since the founding of our country.

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Text to World (My School Community) Reading about the "Amherst Uprising" I saw a dream of creating a similar healthy dialogue within our community. I am hoping we will start an affinity group for our black students (or they will start one themselves!) Although the website mentioned (thedemands.org) is no longer up, Central HS's AASU https://www.instagram.com/chs.aasu/?hl=en has done an incredible job of listening and synthesizing student concerns into recommendation for their administration. They have already seen some suggested changes enacted and in addition have far surpassed their goal to raise money for black clubs. They have ammended their original ask of $500 to 10K as they have already raised over 6K - great work! Would love to support our students in a similar intiative

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Text- to- self connection:  I grew up in the suburbs because my parents were part of Philadelphia's white flight. There were no families of color in our neighborhood or in my Catholic elementary school .  In fact, I did not know anyone who was African-American until I went to high school , at which point I met only those students who, like me, lived on the Main Line and came from families wealthy enough to send their children to private schools. I have often considered how this, and other experiences like this,  might have affected my perceptions.

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Text-to-text connection: The segregation of my education meant that until I was an adult there were many texts to which I had not been exposed.  Looking back, I cannot think of a single BIPOC writer on any of my required reading lists.  I think it really illustrates the how isolated white students were/are from other points of view.

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Text-to -world connection:  When the author references the presence of Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson in Ferguson, I was struck by the realization that I could not name a Gen X or Millennial person who would be thought of as an African-American community  leader by the media . This was reinforced by an NPR interview with Jim Clyburn regarding his endorsement of Joe Biden. I am now questioning whether the pervasive influence of the Baby Boom generation has  prevented the rise of  leaders with more relevant perspectives on racial equality.

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Text-to-world and Text-to self connections:  (p. 64-65) They describe  microaggressions as being "the daily slights and insults experienced by Black people in the US." It continues to be explained that it's take place in verbal, behavioral, and environmental forms.  Blacks are obviously not the only group that this microaggression happens to on a daily basis.  What came to mind is that there are some people within each sub-group that also contribute to this.  I do not understand how those that perpetuate the stereotype of their particular sub-group then complain that others do the same thing.    I wonder why it is ok for a black person to use the n-word to another black person.  As I say this, it doesn't mean that I want the right to use that term or to have the freedom to call someone a derogatory term, but I want to understand why it's ok for some.

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Text-to-text connection: (p.81) There was a quote given by a mother from Colorado where she tells how her African American daughter was told by a boy in school that he was going to shoot her and all the blacks that he could because Trump is now president.  This was so disturbing to me.  How is this a text-to-text connection?  If I go onto Trump's twitter account, and go back to when he was first elected (and possibly more recently), I would definitely find comments where he encourages negative attitudes towards communities, such as the African American community.  While Trump isn't the only one guilty of encouraging this kind of thought, his stance shows that we all need to do better, especially when it comes to how we influence our children.

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Dana GubitosaText to Self:

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Sorry, wasn't logged in before.  Text to Self:  This is combined across all 100 pages.  I was surprised, then horrified, at how many times I highlighted something because while I may have heard about it, I didn't know about it.  I found that at least 2+ hours of my reading time was spent looking up names and dates.  The horror came when I realized I was deep in my educational career for most of them.  And I didn't bother to educate myself about them.  I have at least 40 notes on the pages...Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Tanisha Anderson, Michelle Cusseaux, Yvette Smith, Sandra Bland...out of this list of people who lost their lives I only had working, deeper knowledge about two of them.  It continued when I read about voter-restriction laws changing in 2014.  I didn't notice.  "Dog whistle" politics...I'd never heard of it.  I have a passing familiarity with the VRA and even Jim Crow laws.  Enough to know what I'm talking about when I talk about them but no understanding of the information itself.  I felt ashamed of my lack of education on these subjects and it is the thing I want to change the most about myself.

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Text to Text:  It is a quote from Alicia Garza on Facebook after Zimmerman's acquittal.  There were other texts I could reference, but reading her quote made me think to the first realization I just posted.  I had no idea.  "I continue to be surprised at how little black lives matter...Black people, I love you.  I love us.  Our lives matter."  When I realized I had no idea this is how the movement got the name, I again felt ashamed.  It is arguably the biggest movement in our history, at least in my lifetime so far.  And to read it in that context, I felt that it gave me a much deeper understanding as to why it conjures up so many feelings when people push against it with "all lives matter" because when she said it, there were no caveats attached.  She was expressing deep hurt at a particular instance with the appropriate words to express that hurt.  It makes me understand Black Lives Matter at a much deeper, more personal level now.

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Text to World: page 25 - "...racial segregation limits access to the helpful social networks needed for successful employment.  Neighbors connect each other (or each other's children) to employment opportunities and other needed resources.  Keeping groups separated means that community helpfulness is not shared across racial lines."  This resonated with me because I feel this is where schools, as community centers if done properly, could help.  The school community could be a place that transcends where you happen to live geographically and open that sphere of influence to include all.  If schools became these epicenters where, despite your immediate surroundings, you were sharing connections and other community-facing assistance, we might be able to circumvent the systemic racism that occurs due to housing inequities and other community based inequities that are straining all else that we are trying to do.  It feels a little more bite-sized to me, something that we could do to change things in our own sphere of control and impact, since changing inequities in the business world, higher education, housing and incarceration are things we vote on/for but don't necessarily have a daily chance to change.

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Text to Text: I was surprised that people were so limited in race choices for the Census until 2000.  The fact that you couldn’t pick more than one race was surprising.

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Prologue Text to World: Since the 2016 election I have been asking myself, "How could I have been so delusional in my belief we were on our way to real progress with the election of President Obama?". I understand that the election of a Black president was a paradigm shift and change causes anxiety, but the results from the USA Today poll taken right after the 2008 election made me better understand the backlash leading to the 2016 results. While 67% of Americans expressed pride in the racial progress the election represented, 27% of the respondents said the results of the election frightened them. To me that is much different than just be anxious about change. Although a minority, fear ignited in just a few can lead to radical, irrational behavior.

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Prologue Text to Self: I am a data girl. I appreciate Dr Tatum's use of research and data to support her writing. In particular when it comes to documenting implicit bias. The problem with implicit bias is that most of the time it operates outside of our awareness, which makes it difficult to support it's existence or identify particular examples. Dr. Tatum's use and presentation of research on the subject makes the existence and impact of implicit bias irrefutable.

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Prologue Text to Text: The inclusion of Hillary Clinton's Democratic Convention acceptance speech highlighted how far backwards we have gone in just four years. Granted, her speech was only words without the opportunity to put in the hard work to bring about the fundamental change she proposed ... but we we are going to have to do work just to get the country back to being open to honest dialog to even begin change and reform.

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Part 1 Text to Self: In Chapter 1 (What is racism) the suggestion that our view of  'others' are often not based on first hand knowledge, but on curated, secondhand information, television, etc. and just filling in the spaces of what we have not been told really resonated with me. There was little diversity (cultural, racial, economic) around me while I was growing up. My parents and community were not overtly racist, but also never talked or had discussions about diversity. As a result I thought I was open minded, but I think unconsciously my gap in experience was filled by the stereotypes I read in books or watched on TV.  When I left that community I had to do a great deal of self re-education based on 'real' personal and community experiences ... and is a process that is continual.

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Text-to-Self Connection: Page 87 the definition of racism. I agree that the idea of prejudice + power is not an appropriate definition because some people do not feel the power part. The system of advantage based on race definition for me is preferable because it is broader and can apply to more things, even if you may not have the ability to control the advantage - the issue could still be a form of racism. I absolutely agree that there are advantages to being white in America and that those advantages have prohibited people of color from the same opportunities.

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Text to Self: Reading about the lack of diversity in schools made me appreciate my early elementary school experience.  I was 1 of 3 White students from 1st-3rd grade at a tiny Catholic school in Wilmington, Delaware.  Some of my first friends were Black and I can remember being upset about my hair not being able to be styled like my friends.  One of my Mom's favorite stories from this time was that I called her crying from a friend's birthday party at a Black salon because they said they couldn't grease my hair (which all of the other kids were doing).  I've been really lucky to grow-up in a mixed race family formed through adoption; so my parents were very much aware of the need to have us interact with everyone and anyone.

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Text-to-Self Connection: Page 88 White Privilege. This is something i've attempted to discuss with middle school students over the years and have struggled with being able to help white students see their privilege. I almost wish the term was different, as I get a sense of defensiveness come up from white students feeling that they need to prove that this does not apply to them. It is hard for middle school aged students to really see outside of themselves, and if they do not feel that they have actually done something...well then it just can't be. I hope to learn a bit more about how to address this with all students in a way they can accept and understand.

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Text to World: I think the conversation about Affirmative Action, especially in higher education is one that people continue to struggle with.  While I feel anyone who wants to go to college should be able to; I also feel that our society shames people who choose other paths to success.  If the financial barrier to attending college can be removed, I think it will lead to campuses looking a lot more diverse.

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Part 1 Text to Text: I appreciated the unpacking of the difference between prejudice and racism. Adding the component that it is a system of advantage based on race, rather than just a personal ideology helped then think more about the 'system' that continues to support racism.

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Part 1 Defining Racism, Text to Self Connection: Dr. Tatus addresses the barrier so many white people have to discussing their advantage in our society. In my notes I wrote "We are born into it, we breathe it, swim in it, benefit from it". It is a tough pill to take there is probably no point of comfort that we as white people have done enough, at least not in our lifetime. I will forever live with the pain of hosting a celebration for my daughter's pre-school summer music program. Her teacher walked into our yard and said "This was our house", upon further conversation she explained that her and her husband had looked at it and considering buying it, but wanted to start a family. She is black, her husband is white. Knowing the history of the neighborhood she knew it would not be safe for them to start a family there. That is an unearned advantage I must sit uneasily with, and it has grow exponentially. Our neighborhood has since gentrified to the extreme. The increased equity of the property represents the bulk of my family's worth net. Getting back to Dr. Tatum's earlier conversations of how generational wealth is built and how it is denied to so many families of color.

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Part 1 Text to World: In Chapter 2 addressing identity I was really struck by discussion of the seven categories of 'otherness' and that there are dominant (systemically advantaged) and subordinate groups in each of the categories and that each category can be a tool of oppression. It was interesting when referring to results from simple studies where they ask individuals to write down words to describe themselves. Often individuals would not include a descriptor if they were dominant in the category ... it was assumed by default ... which leads to the understanding that dominant groups by default set the parameters within which subordinates must operate. If i reflect for myself, I don't think 'white' would be included my list, but I know 'woman' would be. I also thought it was helpful when trying to be as aware as possible to reflect on your feelings in one of these categories where you are a subordinate.

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Karen Grover Text to Self

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Text to text: The Complexity of Identity "Because of the risks inherent in unequal relationships, the subordinates often develop covert ways of resisting or undermining the power..." Reminds me of season 4 of the wire, where a small group of students are selected for a support group. The psychologist facilitating the group observes that several of the students have developed oppositional defiance in their relation to teachers.

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Stevenson text to self: The Complexity of Identity: "Stewart and Healy's research on the impact of historical periods on personality development..." This concept I found really thought provoking and made me reflect on my time during the W. Bush administration, specifically after 9/11, during the beginning of the wars he started, and then his reelection, this historical context informed my understanding of myself as I reacted to these events and made meaning out of them.

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Text to text / worlds: A Question Of Color: "Do we sing hymns in church on Sunday proclaiming our with to be washed 'white as snow?'" This point about color coded language is very clear to me in literature and in the way we use dark / light as symbols of good and evil in our every day speech.

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Dr. Crum's insights on the power of inquiry, art, and reflection and how they can be transformative for examining bias resonated deeply.  Art elicits emotion, and moves conceptual shifts from critical thinking to critical feeling, which has the potential to yield change that emerges from discomfort.  In what ways might we prioritize the kind of inquiry through art and emotion that will yield the change we seek in our learning spaces? Advisory may be a key place for this to regularly thrive.

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In the aftermath of protests last week following the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, the city declared a state of emergency and teachers at Southwest Baltimore Charter School mobilized into action and created a plan that provided students a safe forum to express their feelings and views.
"We knew something was going to happen (last) Monday afternoon," Southwest Baltimore Charter School teachers Siobhan Vicens and Valencia Clay said quietly. "Social media was blowing up. Our kids were saying, 'It's all over Instagram.' And that's when there was that moment of silence in the room-when your students tell you something's going to happen. They have their ears closer to the street than we ever do."

In the wake of protests last week touched off by the death of Freddie Gray, the city declared a state of emergency last Monday, with the governor deploying National Guard troops and other law enforcement officers throughout the community. All Baltimore city schools were closed the following day.

"Our first priority was to make sure the kids got home safely on Monday," stated Siobhan and Valencia. "But we also knew that welcoming the kids back to school on Wednesday was going to have to be well-thought out. Gena Proctor, our Director of Education for the middle grades, sent us all a text to invite us to meet on Monday at school to figure out how to bring our kids back into school and give them the safe space they needed." Dozens of teachers responded.

Siobhan and Valencia credited the Expeditionary Learning (EL) model for emphasizing teacher leadership in this moment of crisis. "There was nothing top down about our response," they said. "Teachers were invited to share what they knew best: their knowledge of their kids. As a result, we developed multiple differentiated responses together." Teachers split off into elementary and secondary groups, knowing the response would need to be different for younger children than older ones.

"Many of us are also not native to Baltimore," Siobhan and Valencia pointed out. "We were scared and confused, too, but the conversation couldn't involve our judgment or fears. It had to be about the kids. So we knew whatever we did, had to involve lot of listening."

"We debated meeting as a whole school," Valencia and Siobhan recalled, "but decided that the conversations needed to be in smaller groups, resting on the strong relationships students built over the year with their Crew leaders." Crew is a daily meeting structure in EL schools where elementary classes or small groups of secondary students meet together, with the guidance of an adult Crew leader, to focus on academic, character and social/emotional growth.

Crew was scheduled as the first activity of the day. Teachers created a morning message that established Crew as a safe place. Valencia, a 7 th and-8 th grade literacy teacher, wrote a middle school plan for Crew and shared it on social media for all Baltimore teachers to use. "There were lots of teachers who didn't know how to approach such a painful subject with their students," the teachers remembered. "And we knew other schools might not be meeting like this. Sharing our work helped all of us cope."

In Crew, students chose to express their feelings of confusion and sorrow; some debated the need for the National Guard; some chose to rest in the safety of a normal day by asking teachers to conduct their regular lesson plans in their subject classes. "We made sure the other students knew that was an OK choice," Valencia and Siobhan said. "It doesn't mean they don't care." A common theme was sadness and disappointment that the opportunity for peaceful protest was used for other ends. It is a testimony to the power of Crew, Siobhan and Valencia stated unequivocally, that these students felt supported enough to tell their stories to their teachers and peers. "Without Crew, we would not have been able to have the richness and depth of response we did."

Siobhan, a K-4 th arts teacher, created artwork that invited students to "give our city a hug." Elementary students in their crews had the opportunity to use the artwork as a coloring page. She also had students reflect upon a quote from PBS' Mr. Rogers: 'When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'

"And the students found them," reflected both teachers. "On Wednesday, we were able to show the kids lots of photos in the media of how the community rallied."

Capturing that energy for Southwest Baltimore students was central to last Wednesday's response plan. "We asked them" 'what now'? That was the open-ended question that allowed students to respond as they needed." In debriefing the Crew and in-class lessons on the protest, students made it clear that the question allowed them to feel safe, empowered, and integrated into the school community. It was also the means by which teachers could urge Southwest Baltimore students to show the world who they really were: concerned, thoughtful, informed youth, grounded in and committed to the health of their city. Siobhan is leading an effort to sell t-shirts printed with the "give our city a hug" artwork, with all proceeds going to local Baltimore anti-violence initiatives.

"They are aware that this isn't the end, " Siobhan and Valencia concluded. "There is so much beauty that can come of this struggle: from our students going out there and saying, 'We're not going to be viewed as thugs.' This is what our city needs. Leadership comes from our youth. It has to come from them."

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Southwest Baltimore Charter School Teachers Create a Safe Forum for Students Through Crew

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In the aftermath of protests last week following the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, the city declared a state of emergency and teachers at Southwest Baltimore Charter School mobilized into action and created a plan that provided students a safe forum to express their feelings and views.

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I was disappointed that, in Dr. Crum's second anecdote in which her principal confronted her teacher about why "You're smart for a black girl" was problematic, the teacher never got the point of *why* it was offensive.  "I'm sorry if I offended you, but..." doesn't get at the root of why it was a racist comment, and I wonder how the principal could have addressed it so that the teacher changed her bias to prevent her from making similar comments in the future.

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I LOVED Dr. Crum's assertion and work using art and reflection as a " way in" to examine our biases

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I LOVED Dr. Crum's assertion and work using art and reflection as a " way in" to examine our biases

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Wondering if we could set something like her program up with the Barnes or the PMA, or invite her to run a PD for us? Her simple questions, which align with best practices in Museum Education, allow us to unearth so much about ourselves while reflecting on art. I participated in a PD where similar questions were suggested and will be using this technique this fall with my students.

I went to Dr. Crumb's website and looked through the resouces she offers there, was thrilled to find this. A Ted Talk by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "The Danger of a Single Story". We used this to introduce our Rwandan book project to our elective class this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

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I'd like to learn more about how to incorporate this into PD with teachers, to then facilitate these kinds of discussions and inquiry with students. I'm also thinking a lot about how to make all of this meaningful virtually. This year seems so important from a social justice standpoint with huge boulder blocking the path to get it done. I'm inspired yet worried, I don't want to do something only half way because of the circumstances.

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Susan Thomas: Dr. Crum's TED Talk stories certainly illustrated how teachers' interactions with students can leave life-long impressions: this brought to mind the parts of our book where the author talks about how identity triggering experiences of perceived racism continue with you even when you are older (around page 475-476) ... I see what our author describes as "something was percolating in me" within this TED Talk. I would like to see us incorporate ALL
of our arts to create a more open awareness in our school of how we can "re-structure" our interactions with our whole school family.

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Susan Thomas: Text to Self:  I think I had never really thought about the concept of White Advantage. Moreover, I had not been aware of the way in which Black students compare other children of color, based on how light or dark their skin may be, until my friend told me about the Jack & Jill Club. Her mother was very hopeful that she would be chosen for this club and encouraged her to play inside all of the time. She then went to the shore for a long summer vacation and played in the sun every day. When she returned home, she tried out for the Jack & Jill Club and was rejected. Her family thought it was because her skin color had darkened. She was around 65 years old when she told me this ~ she remembered that all of those years. I also had something similar in a college essay submitted by one of our students. The theme of part of the essay was that she was looked down upon by other students of color because her skin color was so dark ~ this idea that White is better is still with us today.

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Susan Thomas: Text to Self:  I think I had never really thought about the concept of White Advantage. Moreover, I had not been aware of the way in which Black students compare other children of color, based on how light or dark their skin may be, until my friend told me about the Jack & Jill Club. Her mother was very hopeful that she would be chosen for this club and encouraged her to play inside all of the time. She then went to the shore for a long summer vacation and played in the sun every day. When she returned home, she tried out for the Jack & Jill Club and was rejected. Her family thought it was because her skin color had darkened. She was around 65 years old when she told me this ~ she remembered that all of those years. I also had something similar in a college essay submitted by one of our students. The theme of part of the essay was that she was looked down upon by other students of color because her skin color was so dark ~ this idea that White is better is still with us today.

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I again thought about the "warehousing of human talent in prison," and how what the author describes as "REC" or Racial, Ethnic, Cultural Identity is negatively channeled into a prisoner's persona. There is almost no hope of being released until a man is very old in many of our prisons. There is the daily repetition of not being able to do what YOU want to do, or become,  because your behavior all day is regulated by others. Your innate expectation for success in life has been washed away. You begin to slide into the Black Male Stereotype. The 1995 Million Man March provided a beam of light, with positive role models.

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The avenues to a successful, happy adult life do seem to be filled with obstacles for children of color. Because I so frequently work with SAT scores, I found it particularly distressing to read that the box that says "check off your race" induces anxiety in some children of color, before they even start the test. When the author describes the Stanford "rewrite the essay" scenario, indicating that children of color are less likely to try, thinking it would be of no use, I was reminded of our own 2020 seniors who were invited to audition to give speeches at graduation. Only one student of color put herself "out there" and auditioned. (She did a great job!) I hope that the world will start to ameliorate how all children can overcome uncomfortable feelings of possible rejection, to become their
best selves.

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After having watched the Ted Talk on Code Switching, I realized how often many people employ skills of being "culturally compatible," depending on whom they're with at any given time. This is magnified if you are a person of color. It brought to mind something that my friend told me happened to her 20 year old daughter, in around 2003. She had been hired to work at Lord & Taylor and she was told to "act white" by her superior. She acquiesced and kept her job.

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I related to this story and immediately started thinking of when I  changed schools and felt like I needed to change who I was to fit in with my new environment. I had a girl in my new school ask me if my shirt was actual "Polo Ralph Lauren" and honestly, I had NO idea what that even was, at that point I was still wearing things my mom bought for me. Instantly, I started to care about brands and my outward appearance. Using this small example and realizing what it means to be different and not care about the norm - also realizing that middle school is not the time in your life where you really want to stand out. But what if I stood out more than just my t-shirt? What if it was something I couldn't just buy a new one of to fit in? Seemed much easier for me as a white girl in a suburban white school but today I spent some this time thinking, what if I was a black girl in that same suburban school...what would my experience have been? How can I help students, especially middle schoolers, be themselves in this tough world and encourage them to accept people for who they are and not expect them to fit in?

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Excellent talk. Of course I concur with the power of Art to open dialog. I see this all the time when taking students to galleries and museums. Our students observations and conversation as well as response artworks in relation to the 30 Americans exhibit was particularly powerful. @Jenni, it might be possible to get the Barnes to host a similar PD session for us. I love that Dr. Crum brought it all back to one thing, being your best you.

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Page 156: SET (Student Efficacy Training) Program used in the Massachusetts Middle School was particularly interesting to me. Creating a family within a school setting is important...whether with peers, adults or both. I think the teacher of this program would be crucial in the development of the "family" aspect. I just thought the intervention really was able to highlight what can happen when we think about the developmental needs of Black adolescents and helping them come to terms with their own sense of identity.

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The comment of "normal" really got to me, and not because I personally feel that way but I think it hit me that other white individuals, students in particular, may feel that way. Not always in a derogatory way but with that type of thinking, it is hard to look outside yourself...if you are the "norm" - who decided that? Maybe it is their view of society and this unspoken injustice that happens that gives this illusion of superiority...either way, we as educators NEED to do something to fix even this small aspect of a thought process.

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Perhaps this is an oversimplification but I loved the brown egg analogy. “See, they are different on the outside, but the same on the inside. People are the same way. They look different on the outside, but they are the same on the inside.”
I think the discussIon can stem from a place of commonality and not difference. Working together while learning about and respecting difference.

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I am reading both this and The Hate you Give. Both talk about ‘acting white’ or “hiding your blackness” to fit in. It made me consider how many of our student are putting on the facade each day and how exhausting that would be, and impacts on their ability to learn.

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“For children to develop empathy and respect for diversity, they need to be able to say, “I don’t like what you are doing” to a child who is abusing another child. If we teach children to recognize injustice, then we must also teach them that people can create positive change by working together.… Through activism activities children build the confidence and skills for becoming adults who assert, in the face of injustice, “I have the responsibility to deal with it, I know how to deal with it, I will deal with it.”
I have been thinking a lot of how I can incorporate opportunities for social activism through art in the classroom. It is not a new topic, but perhaps this year more important. I want my students to be leaders not followers, to reflect on where they are and how they can be better and  more aware, and empower them to be agents for change.

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This follows what I had posted earlier in text to text about the cost of code switching. The energy wasted in maintaining a facade. In both MS and HS I think this is true for all of students but more so for student outside the S.Philly group. It is a time where fitting in is so important, even if you are fitting in by pushing norms, as I see in many of our art students. Wouldn’t t it be nice if they could use their energy to become their true best selves. 😊

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So in other cultures, even European, the fairer skin one had the higher one's social status was.  In India, this is how one's level in the cast system was assumed.  Darker skinned people were assumed to be lower because they had jobs that forced them to work outdoors.  It saddens me that within the Black community this is a reality.  I also find it odd that within the White community people intentionally try to darken themselves and find tan skin desirable (even with the risk of skin cancer).

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I've had the debate about The Lion King with people as well.  I add that Rafiki, the wise madrill, was voiced by a Black actor (Robert Guillaume).   I don't deny that Disney made a poor choice is casting all the the hyenas as non-Whites. However, they did cast two other characters with Black actors. I do agree that we often use the colors black and white to represent good and evil. I'll be on the look-out for versus in hymns the mention cleansing white.

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When I think back to the books I loved as a kid - The Babysitter's Club series - I realize Stacey and Claudia were token characters. They were made to be "white" and very little, it ever was their skin talked about. I think their hairstyles may have gotten a mention a few times, but nothing major. I also started thinking about the Black kids I would see in children's books and how the author notes how they were made to look like White kids with tan skin. In one way, I take it to mean we are all the same, but now that I'm learning, I see this is not okay and that ignores what Black REALLY looks like.

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Susan Thomas: Text to Self: I found the comments by psychologist Faye Crosby particularly meaningful this week: "All of us want a better, more peaceful world for our children. If we want peace, we must work for justice." fn 52. For my own children and grandchildren, and all of the children in our schools, I am working to make the world a more just place. I appreciate our Book Club because of the awareness and frank exchange it encourages.

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Susan Thomas: Text to Self: I found the comments by psychologist Faye Crosby particularly meaningful this week: "All of us want a better, more peaceful world for our children. If we want peace, we must work for justice." fn 52. For my own children and grandchildren, and all of the children in our schools, I am working to make the world a more just place. I appreciate our Book Club because of the awareness and frank exchange it encourages.

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Susan Thomas: Text to Text: In accordance with our School Mission, I know we are all working to increase our staff of color. I applaud the author's mention of other criteria for hiring, including experience in working in multicultural settings and experience of collaborating in multicultural workgroups. 

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Susan Thomas: Text to Text: In accordance with our School Mission, I know we are all working to increase our staff of color. I applaud the author's mention of other criteria for hiring, including experience in working in multicultural settings and experience of collaborating in multicultural workgroups. 

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Susan Thomas: Text to World: In my area of work, I am strongly aware of the world's approach to undocumented immigrants as a group vulnerable to racism. Every year, I have students apply to college who are in what Gonzales calls a state of "suspended illegality." (fn67) Suddenly, they may learn that they are undocumented, or, if they already knew, they become acutely aware of how serious this is. Their lifelong plans are crushed, in many instances. They begin to feel the racism that they may have avoided up until this age. We have to help them as well. 

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Susan Thomas: Text to World: In my area of work, I am strongly aware of the world's approach to undocumented immigrants as a group vulnerable to racism. Every year, I have students apply to college who are in what Gonzales calls a state of "suspended illegality." (fn67) Suddenly, they may learn that they are undocumented, or, if they already knew, they become acutely aware of how serious this is. Their lifelong plans are crushed, in many instances. They begin to feel the racism that they may have avoided up until this age. We have to help them as well. 

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Re:Susan Text to World  This also stuck out to me. In the discussion of undocumented immigrant children who may grow up with no idea their dream may be later crushed because of their status even though they have spent their whole life striving to contributors in society. I particularly remember this when Trump was first elected and the fear of some of students for their families and their futures. 

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Re:Susan Text to World  This also stuck out to me. In the discussion of undocumented immigrant children who may grow up with no idea their dream may be later crushed because of their status even though they have spent their whole life striving to contributors in society. I particularly remember this when Trump was first elected and the fear of some of students for their families and their futures. 

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Text to Text: this was a quote from an Asian American on feeling silent and on the power of affinity groups.  “I’ve become really proud of who I am and where I come from, and I know that I’ve become stronger. I’m no longer that silent anymore.… I have really found myself.” This quote struck me as I just finished The Hate You Give. And how repeated through the book Starr is encouraged to find her power through her voice. She must examine what is important to her, and through her bravery to speak out finds her power. 

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Text to Text: this was a quote from an Asian American on feeling silent and on the power of affinity groups.  “I’ve become really proud of who I am and where I come from, and I know that I’ve become stronger. I’m no longer that silent anymore.… I have really found myself.” This quote struck me as I just finished The Hate You Give. And how repeated through the book Starr is encouraged to find her power through her voice. She must examine what is important to her, and through her bravery to speak out finds her power. 

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Text to self: In reading about the many minority populations I realize how narrow my circle is and how much I have to learn about other cultures. I can commit to: “Use your own privilege to question policies that are discriminatory. Be public in your support for those who are targeted, so they will know where to find help when it is needed. In a time of darkness, we all have to generate more light.’

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Text to self: In reading about the many minority populations I realize how narrow my circle is and how much I have to learn about other cultures. I can commit to: “Use your own privilege to question policies that are discriminatory. Be public in your support for those who are targeted, so they will know where to find help when it is needed. In a time of darkness, we all have to generate more light.’

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In Chapter 10 Dr. Tatum tells the story of "Lynn" and her discomfort when someone used racial slurs in conversation with her, assuming she felt the same because she was white (I'm assuming) I had a similar experience in my first years living in Fishtown, with a strong history of being a white working class neighborhood with many incidents of racism some long time residents routinely made racial slurs when talking to me, one was actually and ex-con. Being a gentrifier in this new neighborhood I was afraid to counter them, it took me a few years, but me and "Big Jim" eventually had a conversation and I expressed my discomfort with the language he used. I'm not sure I changed his attitudes about anything but it felt better to state mine to him clearly.

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I actually have two here. Tatum's discussion of black people being much more comfortable talking about race reminded of Matt Kay's book "Not Light But Fire". Majors had a conflict the day he came for PD, I miss now that I was not able to attend. I have been revisiting his book lately and he talks about something similar - that white educators tend to believe that students, particularly students of color are uncomfortable discussing race in the classroom. He talks about having the opposite experience - of students of color not only being ready to talk about race, but being quite able to navigate difficult conversations.

My other Text to Text is actually more of a Text to Lyrics - Tatum's discussion of black female anger really had Solange's "Mad" playing in my head. Her 2016 album "A Seat at the Table" is an amazing work of storytelling and uses recordings of her parents telling stories about growing up black in the south as jumping off points for her songs. "Mad" lays out very clearly why her family and people of color have the right to be mad. Beautiful Album!

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I know all my references are from the last chapter. I really read the whole book! These are just passages that really resonated with me. Tatum opens Chapter 10 talking about the "Paralysis of Fear" I am feeling this very strongly. Our students really need the safe space of the classroom to be able to talk about race relations in our country right now, actually No, I think they need to talk about race relations in their neighborhood and in their school. I do not feel qualified to confidently navigate these conversations in a virtual space, let alone keep them "safe" in this kind of space. I am much more anxious about this than any tech issues as we prepare to go back to school.