Articles and Excerpts

These articles and chapters may be used for reading circles and/or for pre- or post-workshop reading. Note: The content of the article does not reflect a particular position of the MTA.

Facilitating Courageous/Difficult Conversations

Respect Differences? Challenging the Common Guidelines in Social Justice Education.

Özlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo examine the limits of norms and dialogue guidelines in achieving the goals of social justice education, arguing that they are not responsive to power relations. Rather than creating a supportive space for dialogue, these guidelines actually can interfere with achieving social justice education goals. They also describe efforts to engage alternative strategies for responding to power in the social justice classroom. 

Infographic: What Is Tone Policing And Why Is It Wrong? Shambhavi Raj Singh infographic explaining what tone policing is, why it's harmful, and how to avoid it.  

How to Teach Controversial Content and Not Get Fired By Kelley Dawson Salas needs Description)

Racial Justice 

How White People Got Made, by Quinn Norton, exploring where the term “white people” comes from and which ethnic groups have and have not been able to become “white” through US history.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Groundbreaking 1989 essay by Peggy McIntosh who lists the ways she’s beginning to recognize the way white privilege operates in her life.  

Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person, Gina Crosley-Corcoran, raised “the kind of poor that people don’t want to believe still exists in this country,” explores where race and class do and don’t intersect and how she’s come to understand her own white privilege.

The Case for Reparations Ta-Nehisi Coates explains how reparations entail much more enslavement.

 I’m Jewish and Don’t Identify as White. Why Must I Check That Box? Kwame Anthony Appiah brings historical context to the fraught identify of being Jewish in a world built on whiteness.  

White House Threatens Discipline for Employees Engaging in ‘Divisive’ Training, Calls for Political Watchdogs Eric Katz unveils the Trump administrations Fall 2020 policy to police and obstruct diversity, equity, and inclusion training.   

Struggling to Stay Home: Latino Renters in the COVID-19 Pandemic Unidos US unpacks the Latinx community’s barriers to housing before and during COVID.  

Harvard Historian Examines How Textbooks Taught White Supremacy Liz Mineo explains how U.S. textbooks and educational strategy became perpetrators of white supremacy.  

Redlining Was Codified Racism That Shaped American Cities And This Exhibit Shows It Still Exists Cristela Guerra describes traveling exhibit about 1930’s housing and lending policy’s creation of an enduring racist housing footprint across the U.S.  

Black Women Voters Aren’t “Saving America.” We’re Saving Ourselves Joshunda Sanders contextualizes the role of Black women in the historic 2020 election.  

This ‘Equity’ picture is actually White Supremacy at work Sippin the EquiTEA reframes a well-worn equity v equality graphic. 

How one teacher's Black Lives Matter lesson divided a small Wisconsin town Tyler Kingkade writes about how a white teacher’s spontaneous mini-BLM lesson sparked a town wide controversy. 

The Weaponization of Whiteness in Schools Coshandra Dillard explores the role of whiteness in schools and offers examples of how educators can counter impulses to enforce it.  

Ally or co-conspirator?: What it means to act #InSolidarity Alicia Garza shares ineffective and effective ways to be in solidarity. 

Opinion: Why BIPOC Is An Inadequate Acronym Kearie Daniel breaks down the term BIPOC and why it doesn’t sit well with her.  

How White People Got Made Quinn Norton tells the story of where the term “white people” comes from and which ethnic groups have and have not been able to become “white."  

The Injustice of This Moment Is not an ‘Aberration’ Michelle Alexander contextualizes the 2020 state of racism/white supremacy as an inevitable outcome of a collective narrative steeped in denial.  

From Alt-Right to Groyper, White Nationalists Rebrand For 2020 And Beyond Institute For Research And Education On Human Rights (IREHR) reports on white nationalist marketing strategy known as “groyper.”