School funding disparities and school segregation are often treated as separate issues. Brown’s Promise believes we can’t solve one without solving the other. Saba Bireda and Ary Amerikaner, the founders of Brown’s Promise, join us to discuss their work, how parents and caregivers can get involved in advocacy work, and what the world might look like if we could solve these two, interrelated issues.
In the wake of the election results, Dr. Val and Andrew sit down to reflect on what it means for ourselves, for the Integrated Schools movement, and for the institution of public education.
“Since the days of enslavement, African Americans have fought to gain access to quality education. Education can be transformative. Education strengthens a democracy.” – Dr. Carol Anderson, author of White Rage. In this week before the election, we are revisiting this conversation from March of 2022 discussing the White rage backlash to the Brown v. Board decision, and how it is as relevant today as it was in the late 1950s.
Dr. Sandra Mitchell was entering the 4th grade in 1963 when her family decided to desegregate Stonewall Jackson Elementary in Petersburg, VA. She joins us to tell her story of struggle and hope. We also get to hear from her father, the Reverend Grady Powell, who, at 92, continues to be a powerful voice for integration.
Janel George, a Georgetown Law professor, recently wrote a paper called “Deny, Defund, and Divert: The Law and American Miseducation”, the piece outlines historical and modern systemic educational inequalities faced by Black communities, linked to legislative actions and adaptations of White supremacy. She joins us to talk about legislative lawyering, the importance of community engagement when making public policy, and the ongoing role of systemic racism in our legal and education systems.