With A Brooklyn Accent:
Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love Story
One of the reasons I am haunted by the death of Michael Brown is that I have worked with young people in highly charged settings and have seen what they can accomplish when people who command their respect guide them, challenge them, inspire them and love them. This is a story that will help you understand where I am coming from.The year is 1994. The crack epidemic is still with us, hip hop has en
AUG 19
Ferguson Protests Highlight Link Between Growing Poverty and Militarized Policing
The problems of America's poor have been "off the grid" for some time. Politicians of both parties reserve their concern for the middle class, fearing that any reference to poverty will destroy their electoral appeal. The one mass movement against social inequality we have had, Occupy Wall Street was predominantly white and college educated. But in a society where a majority of people ar
AUG 18
Why Michael Brown's Death has Sparked Protests Around the Nation
The protests in Ferguson not only reflect rage at the killing of an unarmed man, they reflect longstanding discontent of a Black community living in a small city where the reigns of power still lie in the hands of white leaders and major institutions are still white dominated. Ferguson is 67 percent Black but only 3 out of 33 police officers are Black and the school board is entirely white. Relati
What A Difference A Year Makes: The Evolution of BATS
BATs is not the same group as it was a year ago. It is far more urban and multiracial and has changed its focus. It is now as concerned with school closings and school privatization as it is with testing and common core and with fending off attacks on teacher tenure and due process. It is also much more explicitly concerned with issues of poverty, racism and social inequality than it was when the
AUG 17
Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker Cooper
I feel that I must share my son's story from small town USA. Last school year my son was in 4th grade. He was being bullied and called racial slurs (nigger and porch monkey) by a 6th grader and a group of other boys. My husband reached out to the principal of his school to discuss what was happening to our son. He told my husband that bullying and racial intimidation does not occur in his school.
AUG 13
Imagination- A Poem for Michael Brown
I can only imaginewhat its like to bewatchedfearedseen as a threatwhen i walkwhen i drivewhen i go to schoolNever knowingwhen i will bestoppedsearchedthrown on the groundor when words thatI sayand gestures that Imakecan lead to mydeath