Certainly, the masses of Americans are ready to return to “normal.”
By normal I mean a return to engaging in all the activities and indulgences of life. An unavoidable truth is that for “normal” to return – activities that serve one or both functions of generating income and/or entertaining – young people must return to school.
The Coronavirus pandemic is obviously why we’re far from normal, but is normal our preferred destination?
For many Black students, normal wasn’t all that great. Actually, normal was downright oppressive at times. Public schooling has a long history of racism. Black children are over-policed, continue to endure de facto segregation, taught culturally irrelevant and non-identity affirming content by majority white teachers, while attending schools subject to inequitable funding.
Now, throw in the mix that we remain in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed more Americans than anywhere else; a pandemic that disproportionately kills Black people, and it’s no wonder why Black students, and their parents, are in no rush to return to in-person school, as opposed to white parents.
And yet, governors on both sides of the aisle are calling for schools to open; CONTINUE READING: What Exactly Does "A Return To Normal" Mean To Black Children? - Philly's 7th Ward