Tag: Black History

School Discipline Is the Modern Day Chattel Slavery and Damn Near Everybody Is In On It

This post originally appeared in Hope + Outrage on March 5, 2021. Let me drop some numbers on y’all real quick. We know that starting as early as Pre-K, Black students are three times more likely to be suspended and expelled from school than white students and represent 31% of school-related arrests. To add to that, Black kids are five times more likely to be detained…

Critical Race Theory Bans Are White Supremacy’s Trojan Horse

This post originally appeared on Hope and Outrage from Tanesha Peeples on July 15. Y’all, are they still teaching Greek mythology in schools? Interestingly, it used to be one of my favorite subjects in grammar school. Now, in retrospect—and with an abolitionist mind—I realize it was just another subject taking up space that could’ve been used to teach real history.…

We Can Teach Black and LGBTQ History at the Same Time. In Fact, We Should.

My social media feeds were drenched with homophobia this week. People were saying how they really felt about my state, Illinois, joining other states mandating the teaching of LGBTQ history in schools.  And ignorance about the required teaching of African American history in schools made me feel like I was drowning in idiocy and hypocrisy. Hateful and disgusting questions infuriated me—like Fred Williams’ question…

Is Your Child Being Taught Black History?

I asked them who was the first Black president. They eagerly and confidently responded, “Dr. King!”. I was extremely shocked and caught off guard by their answer, for multiple reasons. At the moment I was leading a discussion at a primarily African American, after-school program, on the South side of Chicago. But it wasn’t just the South side of Chicago.…

This Far By Faith

“We’ve come this far by faith…” These are the first words of one of the great Negro spirituals that has been passed down through the African-American tradition. It is one of the songs that guided my predecessors through the tumultuous Civil Rights era. It harkens back to the deep darkness of American slavery and reminds us of the motivating force by which we overcame…

In Defense of Cheaters: I Understand Why They Lied About Their Address to Go to That School

What do you know?  The Chicago Public Schools Inspector General has discovered that families from affluent Chicago neighborhoods and even affluent Chicago suburbs have been using false residency information in order to gain access to some of Chicago’s top high schools.   I would love to join the chorus of people roundly condemning this behavior, but I can’t shake the…