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.
"What Is Tone Policing And Why Is It Wrong?"
Shambhavi Raj Singh's infographic explains what tone policing is, why it's harmful, and how to avoid it.
"How to Teach Controversial Content and Not Get Fired"
Kelley Dawson Salas, a fourth-grade teacher in Milwaukee, writes about how she prepared to teach a civil rights unit that she had created, and what happened after.
Racial Justice
"How White People Got Made" Writer Quinn Norton explores where the term “white people” comes from and which ethnic groups have and have not been able to become “white” through U.S. history.
"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" A 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" In an article, Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who was 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" In an Atlantic article, (requires free trial or subscription), 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?" In a New York Times essay (requires subscription), Kwame Anthony Appiah brings historical context to the fraught identity of being Jewish in a world built on whiteness.
"White House Threatens Discipline for Employees Engaging in ‘Divisive’ Training, Calls for Political Watchdogs" Writer Eric Katz unveils the Trump administration's September 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 the pandemic.
"Harvard Historian Examines How Textbooks Taught White Supremacy" Harvard Gazette writer 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, senior arts and culture reporter at WBUR, describes a traveling exhibit about a 1930s housing and lending policy that created an enduring racist housing footprint across the U.S.
"Black Women Voters Aren’t 'Saving America.' We’re Saving Ourselves" Writer Joshunda Sanders contextualizes the role of Black women in the historic 2020 election.
"This ‘Equity’ picture is actually White Supremacy at work" The Equity in Education Center's blog post reframes a well-worn equity v equality graphic.
"How one teacher's Black Lives Matter lesson divided a small Wisconsin town" In an NBC News report, Tyler Kingkade describes how a white teacher’s spontaneous mini-BLM lesson sparked a town-wide controversy.
"The Weaponization of Whiteness in Schools" Editor Coshandra Dillard at Learning For Justice explores the role of whiteness in schools and offers examples of how educators can counter impulses to enforce it.
"Move to End Violence - 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" Writer Kearie Daniel breaks down the term BIPOC and why it doesn’t sit well with her.
"The Injustice of This Moment Is not an ‘Aberration' " (Requires a subscription) New York Times Columnist 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" The Institute For Research And Education On Human Rights (IREHR) reports on the white nationalist marketing strategy known as “groyper.”
Bettina Love, Ph.D. Articles written by Bettina Love cover topics on race, politics, public education, history and equity.