The need to grieve and to be angry

"I know how black it looks today…We have not yet stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other none of us would have survived. And now you must survive because we love you, and for the sake of your children and your children’s children.”

Baldwin

I truly wish we were able to be together this week, to experience the emotions we are experiencing alongside each other in the wake of the unsurprising and still craven lack of indictment of Darren Wilson.

One of the best things we can do as teachers and people is to listen to each other, to listen carefully. Education so often wants teachers to design lesson plans for young people that don't include asking young people what they are thinking and feeling themselves.

If I were with you this week, I'd be asking you, what are you feeling? What are you noticing about this latest articulation of our collective fantasy of equal protection? Who are our writers, artists, and thinkers who help us shake of those fantasies? We're not with each other physically, but I'm still asking and I'll be listening and reading.

Below are several links, some education-specific, some not.

love,
prof. p.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/smashy-smashy-nine-historical-triumphs-to-make-you-rethink-property-destruction-20141021

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/18/how-the-rest-of-the-world-sees-ferguson/

http://www.teachingforchange.org/teaching-about-ferguson?utm_source=FBTW&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=20140822

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kwZl23Q9tgZ23dxSJWS-WpjZhOZ_mzVPtWL8-pWuLt8/mobilebasic

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/the-death-of-michael-brown-teaching-about-ferguson/?_r=1

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/08/how-to-teach-kids-about-whats-happening-in-ferguson/379049/

https://www.zotero.org/groups/ferguson

TIRED

I am so tired of waiting,
Aren't you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
-Langston Hughes

Excuse the language, but how the fuck do we talk to our students about this?  If people find any time in the coming days, I would really appreciate hearing how your students are responding, what questions they're asking, how you're finding the words to answer :(

Advocating for social justice outside of our classroom walls

Bethanne, Paola, Nate, Emme, and Ivette Team: Discussion Post

After listening to the podcast, watching Precious Knowledge, and reading through the articles, there are a few thoughts that stick out in my mind as I think about moving forward as an educator for social justice.  Students' lives are being negatively impacted because of the assumptions and beliefs others have of students and people of color. The stories of these students reminds me that we need to do more than our roles as a teacher in the classroom and school to work to attain social justice.  

The podcast Act Three: The Talking Cure stood out to me in particular: the school implemented restorative justice practices yet students from the school were prosecuted by an undercover cop who took matters out of hand.  Though the high school in New York had implemented restorative practices, the students still ended up affected and prosecuted by the world outside of the classroom walls.  During the summer we talked about the school to prison pipeline and various practices that could be implemented in our schools to work against that.  We talked about restorative justice and how that could help us fight against the school to prison pipeline at the school and classroom level.  How do we then fight the school to prison pipeline with still so other systems continuing discriminatory practices that target students of color and affect their lives dramatically?  

Further, the TUSD Ethnic Studies greatly benefited the Hispanic population with a 93% graduation rate, however the students lost the program after a long battle with political systems (school board and state level) and politicians. Though the teachers of the Raza program were providing a space to open the minds and hearts of young students, they had to face the racism of the community around that disagreed and misunderstood the beauty of the ethnic studies program.  What can we do to really bring about the change in the systems that negatively and dramatically affect the lives of our students?  We've talked about how to implement practices in our classroom to be social justice educators for our students but what can we do to, either in or out of the classroom, to bring about the change in society and the world that exists outside of our classroom walls?  

Post for Sam, Carol, Kakas, Erin, Ryan, Celestina

What gets realer than the school to prison pipeline? What gets realer than the projection of a child in 3^rd grade filing the bed of a prison in the future? It’s crazy to try to think that a 3 year old child can be suspended… from pre-school... As I listened to the American Life podcast about the personal narratives of the interviewees, I couldn't help but look across my classroom usually filled with 7^th grade boys. Disdain for black skin is interwoven in the ethos of American life. It is so rooted and grounded in every system that it is no more alarming than the 16 year old students in Brooklyn, NY that were subjected to watching  their friends be put into handcuffs by an undercover cop, who incited the response he received. However, these flaws don’t exist solely within the schools themselves. The question of “is what they’re learning in school preparing them for the outside world they live in?” is such that when kids are doing well in school, they still have to go home and navigate their neighborhoods. The covert and overt system of racism in American society crushes them. When a 3 year old boy is suspended for doing the same things his peers do without receiving a consequence for it, he is taught that he is less-than and unequal-to. He begins to understand that each framework of society categorizes him as threatening the balance of the system which allows for a firm grip placed on by oppressors.

I go back to the idea that a toddler is told to leave school because he is black. And racist individuals who I presume wouldn't consider themselves racist, or bigots are teaching him how to color and learn the alphabet. These individuals who stand by as a black child is treated unfairly are just as much a part of the problem. Their silence perpetuates the actions of those in charge of making the decision to discipline a child in that manner. In Arvada, CO students are protesting the district’s decision to change the History curriculum and make it more ‘patriotic’. In Tuscan, AZ students tried to fight against an oppressive school district hell-bent on taking away their ethnic studies courses. In the documentary “Precious knowledge,” students were shown which part of the American dream truly belongs to them. These students were stereotyped and categorized in a negative light, such that the masses supported the politicized and legalized movement to ban TUSD. The students in Arvada are viewed as heroes standing up for what they believe in, yet the students in Tuscan are vagrants and un-American. The students in Arvada are white and middle class, moreover, the students in Tuscan are Hispanic, black, and poor whites. 

The oppressive narrative is nothing new. The manner in which people of color are oppressed change depending on the temperature of the nation. Overt racism is currently not status quo (unless you carry a gun, badge and ride in a blue and white car laminated with words about protecting and serving) and would be met with some back lash. However the system is broken. The faults, fissures and fractures in the rocks are only made more apparent when more liberalized North-eastern parts of the country claim that the nation is now post-racial due to the fact that a bi-racial president was elected.

 I can continue to analyze and theorize the issues, but the question is where do we go from here? How do we EFFECTIVELY combat these systems of power and oppression? How do we ensure that overtly racist individuals don’t get to make decisions for the general population? And then how, like Jose Gonzalez do we impart “Precious Knowledge?” 

So what's the "deal"?

Obama was real clear about what this executive action deal was NOT (not a permanent solution [yeah yeah that's congress's job blah blah], not for those who will continue to come to the U.S. fleeing violence in their home countries and DEFINITELY not for those evil "criminals"), but I didn't feel he did a particularly great job explaining what it actually is. I found this helpful in case others were a little hazy too:

http://prernalal.com/2014/11/executive-action-on-immigration-good-bad-and-ugly/

Also, this is just an image that I like! Hasta que todos seamos libres :)

Precious Knowledge: Lauren, Adama, Jennifer, Megan, and Analie

“You are my other me, if I do harm to you, I do harm to myself, if I love and respect you, I love and respect myself” – Luis Valdez

This snippet of Valdez’s poem entitled The Other Me spoke volumes, as it was expressed within the documentary Precious Knowledge. As I reflect, I take the poem’s meaning as one who respects all mankind, respects him or herself and views “all” as children of God. I thought about taking more of a spiritual approach after watching the documentary, and keeping these words within my soul. Valdez’s poem continued to repeat itself throughout the documentary after children were succeeding within their scholastics and finding value within their education. Furthermore I continued to pay more attention to the words as meditation for the adversity that was displayed within the film. Children became advocates for their education, and educators exemplified social justice and how to respect mankind regardless of one oppressing others or uplifting individuals.

During the trial and tribulation these courageous students fought for what was right regardless of the microaggresions during each encounter they had within Arizona’s school district courthouse (courthouse/school district meeting). After watching a young woman (student  of color) express herself to the superintendent and other leaders on Arizona’s Board of Education, I found her to be an empowering figure for all students of color who are marginalized. After she expressed why the board should continue to allow Tucson to keep ethnic study classes, the board stated, “Thank you, you spoke so articulate”. This pissed me off; however, she taught me so much through her actions. I was infuriated! Why couldn’t the board address her argument with answers that had solutions? Why couldn’t the board address the fact that she had valid reasons to how effective these ethnic studies were to student’s success and identity within America? Why didn’t they ask her how this represented America since they were so into stating how these studies taught students acts of being “anti-American”? Instead, they targeted her character as if she should not speak eloquently, as if she were an ignorant Chicana. The system of oppression has been taught to these students and myself in ways that can anger us, yet we as educated activists are fighting for a solution to gain power for generations to come.

The documentary had me on an emotional rollercoaster.  However, that rollercoaster still doesn’t force me to quit and give up, it gives me reassurance that this is my calling. My calling to commit myself to social justice while advocating equality for people of color. The journey is never simple. The power of faith and meditation are the only vehicles that will transport equality and justice within society and education.

In closing, the documentary allowed me to remember it I essential to respect mankind. Regardless of my anger towards those that are oppressing people of color, I have chosen to rise above. The value of humanity is determined by God; therefore, I shall not elicit hatred towards the oppressor, but respect. Through a spiritual lens I will practice patience, faith, peace, and education for myself, counterparts, and future generations.

Tootles,

Lauren

P.S.- Happy Early Holidays!

 

Dearest Donovans,

I surely missed watching Precious Knowledge with you and talking with you about pushback when cultural transformation happens, when traditionally oppressed people start to shake those metaphorical dungeons. I have been touched and not surprised but appreciative to be connected through your posts. Thank you.

As you were watching this film, I joined protestors outside the White House, and listened on phones and ipads as the President made his announcement about extending deferred deportation to potentially millions more.

The film and the announcement are closely related. I encourage you to listen or read the transcript of the President's speech and the ideas of the U.S. that are foundational to the speech. What are the messages about law enforcement, Indigenous populations, meritocracy, American exceptionalism? How can you, as educators, as educators who will all use language and literacy, widen what counts and sounds like intelligence for successful cultural transformations?

yours,
prof. p.

A.B, Caroline, Marty, Mo-D, & Steeve: Students of Color Under Attack

I was really taken back after watching the Precious Knowledge documentary. I was lost for words because my body was overwhelmed with anger. The fact that the state of Arizona has prohibited public schools to teach ethnic studies is erroneous. The false allegations against the class and it’s pedagogies goes to show how the power structure of Arizona felt threatened. With that being said it was sickening to see the state's counteract agenda be put into action so quickly. Not only was it apparent that the state of Arizona was threatened, it was evident that state officials did not care for the success of its students of color at public schools. During the documentary the state officials failed to include any positive responses from the students or even the 93% graduation rates of hispanic students after taking the class. Clearly the only narrative they think is important for students to learn is the misconstrued narrative of the dominant power.

It was frustrating to watch a class that contained a culturally rich pedagogy come to an end. Mainly because learning had a different importance to the students. They were becoming critical thinkers. At one point of the documentary a Latina student said they have an outline already made for us. When she said this I automatically thought of the WEBZ pod cast Is This Working about schools struggling with misbehaved children. In this pod cast they discussed how a preschool student of color was suspended for having a bad attitude. Suspended for a bad attitude? The child is in preschool. The systemic prison pipeline is just another scary reality for many children of color that then becomes normalized as they get older. As I become more aware of these oppressive processes, I see the root of the truth. I see the narrative that they have laid out for people of color. Even the fight for equity is a familiar narrative that stops abruptly because of the power structure in place.

Benjamin made a valid statement after the documentary. He said (sorry for paraphrasing) that if you want to make a difference... then do it. I fully agree. Revolution will not happen with only a few class discussions that happen every Thursday and/or Friday. It can start there but revolution has to surpass dialogue. If the change is what you seek then we as educators need to be proactive about it. We have students of color under attack by the system.


So now what? What do we do about this societal epidemic? How can we change the narrative of our students? What can we do as urban educators??

Danny, Monika, Hak, Benjamin, Eug

The fight goes on. 

Wow, what a powerful documentary about fighting for education. So many things are going through my mind. The documentary called precious Knowledge surfaced a large controversy in the state of Arizona which highlighted racism in education today. Questions like, "What does it mean to be American?” stirred in my mind as I was watching the film. The powerful documentary exposed the opposition that people of color face in this country in an explicit manner such as the “burning of the Mexican flag.” I personally am appalled by the claims of Tom Horne. There is no validity to his argument and I can see how he uses the fear of conspiracy to shut down education programs that are connecting and resonating with students. I learned through the documentary that Mexican culture in Arizona is not a new phenomenon but has been around for nearly 7000 years!

The documentary caused me to question why the education system deems ethnic studies as “dangerous.” One thing is certain, the state does not want people of color to know their history. The undeniable fact that the government has so much power scares me. This is the same government that supported manifest destiny. In a much more hopeful light, the lectures in the ethnic studies classroom provided students with a relevant history where they could see themselves as moving gears within the framework of society. What made the documentary especially powerful to me was how students showed the enemy love. I kept hearing the classes begin with a saying that hating is hating oneself and that forgiving is forgiving and loving one self. This type of radical love felt so counterintuitive, yet so powerful at the same time.

There was one quote from the documentary that was hilarious. It went something like this, “Weren’t people afraid of Civil Rights?” “Uh yes. yes they were.. HOW COME THERE ARE NO PICTURES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ON THE WALLS?” “Oh so this is about the classroom decor?” 

Schools as sites of change

Dear Donovans,

As you all know clearly by now, schooling is the premier and most pervasive site of social reproduction in the United States. This means that schooling sorts, classifies, and maintains strata, through the three messaging systems of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. However, learning and knowledge need not be resigned to these colonial purposes. Schools can also be sites of productive social change, where learning as transformation and self-determination is prioritized. Even in the midst of this era of corporate-backed venture capitalist education reform, there are bright spots everywhere of programs, teachers, and young people engaging with each other for goals of self-determination (individual and collective self).

But, as Lorde reminds us, power is never abdicated. It does not go down without a fight, or without conflict with prevailing ways of thinking. For this week's readings and texts, I ask you to revisit the article I wrote with Professor David Stovall on the codes and language addressing ethnic studies in Tucson Arizona, as well as NPR codeswitch update on the program. Additionally, listen to a recent podcast of This American Life (linked in the syllabus) which explores both how school discipline disproportionately criminalizes populations of color and how restorative justice programs take place within our larger society that abides discipline, punishment, and criminalization.

None of these are easy conversations or topics with obvious answers, but they are necessary. Read and listen hard. Think about the master's tools, the master's house, and what kinds of tools are necessary to meet the predictable resistance we'll experience when we try to dismantle logics of violence, incarceration, and ownership.

Instead of posting up preliminary questions this week, I'd appreciate it if several of you, it could be discussion group anchors, posted post-class collection of thoughts Thursday evening or Friday. I will miss being with you this coming Thursday but will be looking for your blog posts.

yours in the struggle,
lp.

Celestina, Erin, Carol, Ryan, Sam and Kakas

Hi folks. Such hot and juicy readings this week, many questions and feels, but here are two:

Both Baldwin and Freire employ a language of love and humanity in their conceptualizations of how to disrupt oppression and work toward liberation. I find something powerful and beautiful in that, but also in my experience, this language can sometime be co-opted as means of invalidating and vilifying the righteous anger of marginalized peoples (e.g. "Ugh how are we ever supposed to reach equality when Black/Brown people are so bitter and mean all the time?!") I think it's tricky work to push back against the dehumanization of folks of color without falling into the trap of a colorblind, humanist (I understand this as very white liberal, but Freire uses it in a different way) understanding of how we all should/ should be expected to live in the world together. How do you understand Baldwin's appeal to his nephew to "accept" white folks "with love"? Are love and anger mutually exclusive? Where is the space to talk about our shared humanity in such a fraught historical context, which has produced such differential realities for different humans?

Something else I struggle with which was touched on by these readings is whose shoulders the onus for liberation is placed on. Baldwin very clearly says that his nephew must accept white folks with love in order to force them to recognized themselves as oppressors, the first step in his own liberation ("We cannot be free until they are free.") Freire's work emphasizes similar sentiments about liberation (for both the oppressors and oppressed) only being able to spring from the oppressed themselves. While in many ways I find this gives agency by positioning the oppressed as the holders of transformative power (and also agree that the oppressors are far too entrenched in systems that benefit them to lead the struggle for liberation), there's always a piece of me that feels like really?! Folks who have already had to work 10x as hard have to lead this work too?! And yes, of course, the work is 100% necessary and ultimately much more life giving/soul feeding than maintaining a dehumanizing status quo, but what liberation actually looks like is so HARD since a) "To be Black and conscious in American is to be in a constant of rage"-Baldwin (so responding with love ain't so easy), b) The laundry list of super difficult and painful dualities Freire offers on p.48 and c) capitalism (among other things of course). While we live in this type of economic system where people have to constantly compete and prioritize their paid work for survival it's extremely difficult (while still necessary) to dedicate one's life to transformation. I feel that ugly, painful, full of constant struggle piece is often downplayed in the romantic conversations of liberation and transformation. How do we talk to students about justice being their responsibility, while both attending to the incredible weight of that and also treating them gently when perhaps they make decisions that in turn, "prevent others from being more fully human" (i.e. for survival)?

Discussion Anchor: Benjamin, Danny, Eugene, Hak, and Monika

In reading Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and Baldwin’s A Letter to My Nephew, I found myself thinking about the power structures of schooling and where the oppressors and oppressed fall within this context. When Freire writes, “So often do [the oppressed] hear that they are good for nothing, know nothing and are incapable of learning-that they are sick, lazy, and unproductive-that in the end they become convinced of their own unfitness,” I kept thinking about how students are often oppressed in schools, conditioned to believe that they are failures (p.17). With strict tracking, harsh labels, and low teacher expectations, minoritized students in particular, are “not expected to aspire to excellence” (Baldwin).  

How can we as teachers, dismantle this oppressive system? Baldwin writes, “trust your experience,” so how can teachers bring their students’ experiences and funds of knowledge into the classroom? When Freire writes about the self-deprecation of the oppressed, he explains how knowledge is solely thought of as coming from the oppressors, where the oppressed are considered ignorant. How can teachers shift power structures in their own classrooms? If teachers create an environment where they are co-creators of knowledge with their students, is the enough to stop the cycle of self-deprecation?

Baldwin also writes, “If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go” which I felt could be paralleled with Freire’s idea of “To surmount the situation of oppression, people must first critically recognize its causes, so that through transforming action, they can create a new situation” (p.47). First, oppression needs to be recognized, by both the oppressors and the oppressed, but in order to reach liberation there needs to be hope with the belief that oppression, while it is a “limiting situation,” can be transformed. How can we keep hope alive in ourselves and our students while, together, also becoming more aware of the oppressive systems at play?

Lastly, Freire emphasizes the importance of praxis and dialogue in the process of liberation. What does this mean for you?

Discussion Post for Lauren, Megan, Jennifer, Adama & Analie

I, like Emme, felt that both Freire's piece and Baldwin's piece echoed each other beautifully. It spoke to the unknown that makes us both fearful and hopeful at the same time. It spoke to the idea that action, and what is known, are not somehow separate but intrinsically linked. As Freire says: "...the praxis is the new raison d'etre of the oppressed, and the revolution, which inaugurates the historical moment of this raison d'etre, is not viable apart from their concomitant conscious involvement. Otherwise action is pure activism." (pg.66) One without the other is incomplete and insufficient.

However to me their two pieces spoke, most importantly, to the ambiguity that exists in the oppressed. In the case of James Baldwin, he encourages his nephew to avoid the ambiguity forced upon him by an oppressive system, rather to "take no one's word...[to] trust [his] experience [solely]", harkening back to what Freire says about not putting other's above the oppressed. He talks about how often times the oppressed are self-deprecating and don't realize that they "know things" that are of value. Following that logic, one could say that the conclusion is: just because the oppressors, who set what is valued, does not agree, that those who are oppressed's knowledge is "valuable", doesn't make it any less so. Following that both authors advocate that the way to break out of this oppressive system is to stop putting stock into it and rather build confidence in oneself and others who are oppressed.

In terms of teaching, to me this ties back to the deficit model. Do we, as members of this cohort, made up of both oppressed and oppressors, stay as vigilant as we would like to be against self-deprecation, deficit narratives and more? We talked about assessment two weeks ago, what type of knowledge is assessed as "valuable" in each of our pedagogies?

Discussion Post: Bethanne, Emme, Ivette, Nate and Paola

As I read James Balwin’s piece “A Letter to My Nephew,” I kept thinking Baldwin’s writing was in conversation with Paulo Freire’s text Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Both authors speak to illuminate the confusion and struggle of the oppressed in combat against their oppressor. As Freire writes: “And this fight, because of the purpose given it by the oppressed, will actually constitute an act of love opposing the lovelessness which lies at the heart of the oppressors’ violence, lovelessness even when clothed in false generosity” (Freire, 45). However, this “fight” becomes even more complex as the oppressors are additionally confronted with internalization of the consciousness of the oppressor, self-deprecation, and horizontal violence. Baldwin address this internal battle of the oppressed by saying: “Please try to be clear, dear James, through the storm which ranges about your youthful head today, and the reality which lies behind the words ‘acceptance’ and ‘integration.’ There is no reason for you to try to become like white men" (Badlwin). However, he goes on to say: "(but)...You must accept them and accept them with love, for these innocent people have no other hope. They are in effect still trapped in history which they do not understand and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it” (Baldwin). In what other ways do the texts of the two authors reflect one another or speak to one another? In what ways do they diverge?

 Both texts propose that liberation, of the oppressed and the oppressors must come from the oppressed, and must be enacted through education. What does co-intentional education look like? What can we learn from these texts and how do we want to move forward as both teachers of children in a classroom as well as teachers, “revolutionary leadership,” in society?

A follow-up to Louis CK

Hey Donovans, this just came out in the Washington Post...a follow-up to the Louis CK tweets and parents' reactions to Common Core math. Take a look if you're interested!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/11/08/why-so-many-parents-are-freaking-out-about-common-core-math/

Digitally literate or unengaged and unfocused?

Of course, the title is a false binary, but this popular press article brings up topics that educators must consider in nuanced ways. How does being so plugged in, including young children, effect us? And what do we want to be sure to nurture to be fluent in those digital literacies as well as print literacies?

What do you think of the points raised here? alarmist (check out this response)? sentimental for a romanticized era gone by?

When you are using your smart phone/tablet/laptop, how focused are you on a single text? How focused should you be, and in what instances?