ABSTRACT

This book challenges pre-service and in-service educators to reflect critically on their assumptions and engage in praxis promoting racial and social equity. Grounded in policy contexts, historical understandings, and critical theories, this book describes innovative community-engaged approaches to resisting racism and promoting equity and features reflections and personal narratives from partners in change—including on-the-ground activists, voices from younger and older generations, educators, and first-time writers.

Fueled by the ideology of white supremacy for over four centuries that whites matter more than Blacks, the authors argue that racial inequities exacerbated during the Trump administration and the legacy of neo-liberal policies dating to the "New Federalism" fiercely necessitate invoking community-engaged strategies to advance equity.

This book advocates for collaboration among schools, community organizations, businesses, university centers, and community activists to address historically pressing issues, including systemic racism, declining educational opportunities, limited access to ongoing health care, and the decline of civility in public life.

part I|122 pages

Resisting Systemic Racism

chapter 21|29 pages

Stepping out of our Lanes

The Big Picture and the Big Lies (Plural)

chapter 4|22 pages

The National “Birth Defect”

Systematic Inequity and the American Democracy/Nightmare

chapter 5|23 pages

Education Policy and Leadership

Resisting the Shift to Neoliberalism in New Orleans

part II|94 pages

Promoting Equity

chapter 1246|24 pages

Seed Times for Civil Rights and Citizen Participation

Reflections from a Social Welfare Historian

chapter 7|19 pages

Math Literacy as a Community Organizing Tool

Narratives of an “Extraordinary Citizen”

chapter 8|22 pages

Throwing out the Good with the Bad

A Counter Narrative of the New Orleans School “Revolution”

chapter 9|15 pages

Traditional Leadership Theories Reframed

Moving African-American Women Leadership Experiences from “Margin” to “Center”

chapter 10|12 pages

The Last Words