Blog

Teaching Black Students Love in a System That Doesn’t Always Love Them Back [the74million.org]

Lara Kain · 3/7/1911:40 AM

C ornel West said we have a history that is “inseparable from though not reducible to victimization.” This is just as essential as it is difficult to keep in mind when white high school dropouts own more wealth than black and Latino college graduates . Black children in America today are constantly being told that they do not belong and they are not enough. The past several years have forced me to reflect on what it means to be not only a black man in this country but a black educator for...

OPINION: Black students’ ‘unprecedented and unequal’ college debt should cause alarm [hechingerreport.org]

Alicia Doktor · 2/21/191:46 PM

Today, students from all backgrounds are choosing to go to college, and many borrow money to make that possible. While education debt is of genuine concern for a wide range of students and families, the broad-brush narrative of student debt in this country ignores sharp differences in borrowing across racial and ethnic groups. As a nation, we should be very concerned that African Americans carry a disproportionate amount of higher-education debt. This unprecedented and unequal level of...

Minnesota Wrestles with Foster Care’s Role in Breaking up Black Families [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

Alicia Doktor · 2/7/191:35 PM

On Dec. 3 , a 28-year-old black mother lost her parental rights to her four children – ages 1 to 9 – in a Minnesota courtroom, just outside the Twin Cities. Instead of opening presents with their mother, the children spent Christmas with a white family two hours away. Across the country, black parents – like this mother, whom we will call Jane R. to protect her privacy – are more likely to lose custody of their children than their white, Asian and Latino peers. While African Americans...

New Hub Resource: Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crimes, and Reduce Racial Inequality [jjie.org]

Alicia Doktor · 2/7/1910:27 AM

“Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crimes, and Reduce Racial Inequality,” published through a collaboration between the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) addresses how to help youth involved in violent crime — both offenders and victims. Confinement of youth convicted of crimes has decreased; however, violent crime convictions have not. The report shows that confinement of youth is more expensive and...

Bryan Stevenson Wants the U.S. to Face Its History [nytimes.com]

Alicia Doktor · 1/21/1910:04 AM

Last month, Congress passed the First Step Act, a prison-reform bill intended to reduce recidivism. Do you think this bill will actually change the realities of mass incarceration? It’s important but insufficient, in terms of the actual number of people in jails and prisons. We’ve gone from 300,000 people in jails and prisons in the 1970s to 2.2 million people today. We have to radically reorient ourselves and start talking about rehabilitation, restoration and how we end crime. And if we do...

Eradicating the roots of childhood trauma [indianapolisrecorder.com]

Alicia Doktor · 12/14/1812:56 PM

On the east side of Indianapolis in late March, a barrage of bullets sprayed through a home, killing 1-year-old Malaysia Robson as she slept on the couch. It was a drive-by shooting in the middle of the night by two men in their late 20s. It’s the kind of violence that can shake a community, leaving its distraught members wondering how much more they can take. Community violence — and other forms of trauma — are especially harmful for children. They’re called adverse childhood experiences...

Newer Posts

Skip to main content

Membership Required

Remove From Your Block List

Manage Follow Preferences

Block

Please wait...