ABSTRACT
Where to begin? Thirty years as an American teacher, a White American teacher, a White American urban community college teacher in post–Civil Rights America. And that last qualifier matters maybe most of all, as much of White-dominant America believes the myth that the Civil Rights Movement brought racial equity to the nation. Born the year the Civil Rights Amendment passed, we both turned 54 this year, and yet. Trayvon, Michael, Eric, Oscar, Sandra, Tamir, and here in Minnesota Jamar and Philando—and the hundreds of other unarmed Black and Brown people killed by police challenge that myth. And in education the persistent opportunity gap leaving 40%, 50%, 60%, 80% of students of color behind depending on the site, or pushed out of school, even after “No Child Left Behind,” even after Obama. These twenty-first-century realities beg the question: what equity?
