The Hybrid Model of School Reopening is Not Safe Either | gadflyonthewallblog

The Hybrid Model of School Reopening is Not Safe Either | gadflyonthewallblog

The Hybrid Model of School Reopening is Not Safe Either

Safety is in the eye of the beholder.

No matter what you do, life involves some risk.

The question is whether certain actions or courses of action involve acceptable risk and exactly what you consider to be acceptable.

These issues are not academic. School directors across the country are juggling such questions in their reopening plans.

With federal and state officials largely leaving the decision up to local elected school boards of how to hold classes in August and September, people used to choosing between bids for text books and whether to renovate the gymnasium are forced to make life and death decisions for hundreds or thousands of students, staff and their families.

There are three main options:

• (1) Open schools completely to in-person learning with safety precautions
• (2) Keep classes entirely on-line as they were in April and May
• (3) Offer some kind of hybrid of the two

Many schools are opting for this hybrid model.

This means reopening to in-person classes part of the time and on-line learning for the rest.

There are many ways to do this.

In my home district of McKeesport, this means having half of the students attend in CONTINUE READING: The Hybrid Model of School Reopening is Not Safe Either | gadflyonthewallblog

Why are the Trump administration and GOP senators playing politics with school reopening? - Education Votes

Why are the Trump administration and GOP senators playing politics with school reopening? - Education Votes

Why are the Trump administration and GOP senators playing politics with school reopening?

By Amanda Menas

Public schools play a central role in every community. That’s why everyone is eager for schools to reopen for in-person learning–state and local leaders, educators, parents, and students alike–but only if it can be done safely.

Educators across the country are working tirelessly to get ready for the coming year, and for many, the year will begin with virtual instruction. The pandemic has continued to worsen in recent weeks, and many school districts have found that they cannot offer even part-time in person learning because they lack the resources needed to follow CDC guidelines on social distancing, personal protective equipment for students and staff, and cleaning supplies and staff to disinfect at regular intervals.

The country desperately needs national leadership to provide federal financial assistance to states and localities that will be forced to slash billions from public schools due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 2 million educator jobs could be lost over the next three years if Congress doesn’t act, an NEA analysis shows.

Instead of providing the leadership and funding that schools and communities need to support the reopening of the entire economy, the Trump administration has repeatedly tried to downplay the severity of the pandemic, and has used the crisis to push its privatization agenda that will siphon much-needed funding from public education to private schools.

The Senate has not acted to pass another major COVID relief package, leaving America’s public schools and all the families who rely on them in limbo as they try to figure out on their own what comes next. 

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stalled legislation that would provide billions of CONTINUE READING: Why are the Trump administration and GOP senators playing politics with school reopening? - Education Votes

A patchwork of reopening plans for schools in the fall

A patchwork of reopening plans for schools in the fall

Local control of schools leads to a patchwork of reopening plans
Experts say flexibility is needed to reopen schools safely this fall, but some argue giving schools a wide berth will cause problems.

On a Thursday evening in mid-July, Superintendent Miskia Davis stuck to a careful script as she presented the Sunflower County Consolidated School District’s reopening plan to an audience of hundreds of parents on Facebook. The district’s school board had approved a hybrid model in which some students will spend the day learning on campus while their peers learn remotely at home, before the groups rotate later in the week.

Davis was in a difficult position. Just next door, the Leland School District was leaning toward keeping schooling fully remote until at least October. Thirty-minutes down the road, the Cleveland School District was planning to bring kids back to school buildings full time. In a stream of comments, parents grilled Davis about how in the world schools could require young children to wear masks with no exceptions. Others worried whether learning in person was safe at all.

“This isn’t going to work! My baby has a weak immune system and I know he’s not going to keep on a mask,” wrote one commenter.

30 (or more) — Number of cases of the coronavirus per 100,000 residents in several Mississippi districts that are planning to reopen for in-person teaching next month

Davis tried to offer reassurance through an extended nautical metaphor. She displayed a picture of boats being tossed at sea and asked families to notice the boats’ different sizes and colors, and the different direction each vessel was headed. The boats represented school districts, she said. The CONTINUE READING: A patchwork of reopening plans for schools in the fall

Confused by changing CDC guidance on school reopening? Here’s help. - The Washington Post

Confused by changing CDC guidance on school reopening? Here’s help. - The Washington Post

Confused by CDC’s changing guidance on school reopening? Here are recommendations from experts not pressured by the White House

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week issued new guidance on how schools can reopen safely for the 2020-21 school year — and, as it turns out, some of it was edited in the White House. That could help explain why there is little discussion about the risks of returning to school buildings, which President Trump has been demanding for a few weeks.

The new guidelines for school administrators appears to drop specific reference to keeping students six feet apart, a social distancing measure that had been in previous CDC guidelines, and suggests that schools consider closing only if there is “substantial, uncontrolled transmission” of the virus. “Consider” is the key word there; the new guidance doesn’t say schools should definitely close under those circumstances.

Trump trains his eyes on education as he hunts path to victory

This week, Trump himself stepped back a little bit from his call that all schools should fully open, saying that there should probably be flexibility in places that are “hot spots,” which is what the CDC’s director, Robert Redfield, also said Friday. But neither acknowledged the extent of the spread of the virus in many states.

This Washington Post story reported that Redfield did concede that exceptions should be made for places with significant covid-19 infection rates but he underplayed the number of places that would be included. However, the infection rate that Redfield offered as the definition of a “hot spot” existed in 33 states over the past week.

The Post story says: “The mixed messaging was another indication of how public health officials at the CDC have been squeezed between Trump’s demand for a normal school year and an out-of-control virus.”

If you are confused by the CDC’s changing guidance, here are some recommendations from two infectious-disease specialists who have not been pressured by the White House.

The two are Wendy Armstrong, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University’s School of Medicine, and Tina Tan, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Both are board members of the CONTINUE READING: Confused by changing CDC guidance on school reopening? Here’s help. - The Washington Post

The New CDC School Reopening Guidelines Should Be Ignored - Teacher Habits

The New CDC School Reopening Guidelines Should Be Ignored - Teacher Habits

The New CDC School Reopening Guidelines Should Be Ignored

The CDC finally released new guidance to aid school administrators in their Herculean (and in some cases, Sisyphean) task to reopen schools to in-person learning this fall. Unfortunately, the guidelines suffer from a number of faults, starting with the credibility of the agency itself.

The CDC makes its position clear, releasing a document titled “The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools This Fall“, which parrots favored talking points of the most vocal reopening advocates. We are reminded that in addition to their original purpose of educating kids, schools also perform such vital functions as developing the social and emotional skills of children, addressing kids’ nutritional needs, and facilitating physical activity among children. The CDC bolsters its argument by citing statistics and studies showing that “COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to school-aged children” and that children “are not the primary drivers of COVID-19 spread in schools or in the community.”

Shoot The Messenger

The problem here is less the message than the messenger. As recently as June, Americans generally trusted the nation’s premier public health agency, with 64% saying it “gets the facts right almost or most of the time regarding COVID-19.” But in the last month, the President has CONTINUE READING: The New CDC School Reopening Guidelines Should Be Ignored - Teacher Habits

Marion Brady: When Face-to-Face Learning Is Impossible | Diane Ravitch's blog

Marion Brady: When Face-to-Face Learning Is Impossible | Diane Ravitch's blog

Marion Brady: When Face-to-Face Learning Is Impossible

Marion Brady is a veteran educator who has been trying to reform the school curriculum for many years. He persists.

He writes:

When face-to-face schooling isn’t possible

There’s no getting around it. Firsthand experience is the best teacher. If what’s attempting to be taught is worth knowing, it’s going to be complicated. And if it’s complicated, firsthand experience isn’t just the best teacher, it’s the only teacher.

That’s the main reason most adults remember so little of what they were once “taught.” Information delivered by teacher talk, textbooks and computer screens is dumped on kids’ mental “front porch”—short-term memory—but gets no farther. To be useful, information has to be interesting enough to be picked up, taken inside, and a place in memory found for it that allows logic to access it weeks, months, or years later.

That rarely happens. Most classrooms are purpose-built for delivering information, making it hard to create CONTINUE READING: Marion Brady: When Face-to-Face Learning Is Impossible | Diane Ravitch's blog

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Florida's circular firing squad with schools in the middle.

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Florida's circular firing squad with schools in the middle.

Florida's circular firing squad with schools in the middle.

The state says schools can close at the guidance of their local health department. However, the local health department says they don't have the authority to advise schools to close. UM, WHAT!!!!

Andrew Atterbury, education reporter for politic tweeted this.

Who can decide when Florida schools should close?

“I do not have the authority as health officer to advise you to close schools or when to re-open,” Claudia Blackburn, Florida Department of Health in Leon County's Health Officer, said today during a task force meeting. pic.twitter.com/RNcv3VMPd4

— Andrew Atterbury (@ALAtterbury) July 23, 2020

Um, what? This may explain why Health Departments throughout the state haven't been very helpful.

From Florida Today, 

When the order for all brick-and-mortar schools to open in August came down from Tallahassee on July 6, the state apparently gave worried school districts an out. Reopenings were "subject to advice and orders" of state health officials and "local departments of health," the document said.

It also said: "Absent these directives, the day-to-day decision to open or close a school must always rest locally with the board or executive most closely associated with a school."

The wording led school boards in at least three counties to believe they needed to seek advice on the safety of opening from their local health officials, many of whom served on local reopening task forces and worked closely with district leaders to craft their plans.

At least one county health leader apparently thought so, too. Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, on July 6 told the Palm Beach school district's health advisory committee the situation there was too dangerous to reopen schools. Based on her guidance, the committee — and later, the Palm Beach School Board — agreed to keep campuses closed.

But days later, Alonso refused to put her recommendation in writing, the Palm Beach Post reported.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Orange County School Board on Tuesday vented at local CONTINUE READING: Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Florida's circular firing squad with schools in the middle.

Please Don’t Make Me Risk Getting Covid-19 to Teach Your Child (Rebecca Martinson) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Please Don’t Make Me Risk Getting Covid-19 to Teach Your Child (Rebecca Martinson) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Please Don’t Make Me Risk Getting Covid-19 to Teach Your Child (Rebecca Martinson)

Rebecca Martinson is a teacher at Northwest Career & Technical Academy in Mount Vernon, Wash. This appeared in the New York Times, July 18, 2020.

I write often about the inescapable personal and professional dilemmas that each educator (including myself) confronts as we traverse our daily lives. Martinson expresses very clearly the stark dilemma facing her (and the choice she would make) if her district directs her to return to the classroom for face-to-face instruction during this pandemic.

But the fact is that for Martinson and other teachers there is no right answer on what to do. During these difficult moments when we face such dilemmas about how much risk each of us is willing to take for ourselves and loved ones, no one can say with any confidence that X, Y, or Z is the correct thing to do. Yes, we have learned to protect ourselves to some degree by wearing masks, keeping physical distance, washing hands, etc. but beyond that no one knows for sure whether opening schools for children and their teachers will lead to more infections and some deaths. Sure, experts state probabilities but health risks remain. Individual choices must be made between staying free of the virus and jobs, between losing a year of schooling CONTINUE READING: Please Don’t Make Me Risk Getting Covid-19 to Teach Your Child (Rebecca Martinson) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Who Got the Money? See for Yourself: ProPublica’s COVID-19 PPP Loan Search | deutsch29

Who Got the Money? See for Yourself: ProPublica’s COVID-19 PPP Loan Search | deutsch29

Who Got the Money? See for Yourself: ProPublica’s COVID-19 PPP Loan Search

To view recipients of the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to businesses and nonprofit organizations during the coronavirus pandemic, use ProPublica’s marvelous search engine.

***

In researching nonprofits, I find ProPublica’s nonprofit search engines to be incredibly resourceful. For example, ProPublica offers a full text keyword search of thousands of nonprofit tax forms.

Often when I am researching nonprofit organizations related to education reform, including charter schools, I begin by Googling the name of the organization and including the term, “propublica” with the name, to immediately locate ProPublica’s concisely organized tax forms for the organization.

During the coronavirus pandemic, with the federal government offering Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to businesses and nonprofit organizations, ProPublica has once again delivered a marvelous search engine enabling the public to easily investigate which companies and nonprofits have received federal money in the form of loans ranging from $150K to $10M, including charter and private schools and other education organizations.

ProPublica offers this summary of PPP loan criteria:

Companies and nonprofit organizations that receive PPP loans may have the loans forgiven if they meet certain criteria, including not laying off employees during an 8-week period covered by the loan. Applicants must attest in their application that the loans are necessary for their continuing operation. Note: This data includes loan applications approved by banks and submitted to the SBA. It may not reflect money distributed to, or credit used by, a given company.

One controversy surrounding the issuance of PPP money to charter schools CONTINUE READING: Who Got the Money? See for Yourself: ProPublica’s COVID-19 PPP Loan Search | deutsch29

Are principals being set up to take the fall? | JD2718

Are principals being set up to take the fall? | JD2718

Are principals being set up to take the fall?

The mayor was planning to reopen NYC public schools in September. It is a disaster on the NYC horizon. But it is far enough away to be avoided. The mayor now coyly claims he doesn’t know which way he will decide,  and that he won’t decide until the eleventh hour. The UFT and CSA (principals union) are talking about problems with plans. The UFT has focused on staffing and safety. The CSA has a broader attack, including how unrealistic the “scheduling models” are. But neither UFT president Mulgrew nor CSA president Mark Cannizzaro have openly come out and called for the plans to be halted. Skeptical, but political.  I hate political responses, especially when a right/wrong response (this won’t work, let’s plan for remote) is available.

II

Imagine, if you will, a ‘normal’ year – first day of school. Parents, mostly moms, arriving with kindergartners. Many of the kids are excited. Some are scared, and clutch at their parent’s pant leg. Some are in tears. Introduction. Separation. Some parents leave fast. Others stay…. While five other grades are finding new teachers, new classrooms, and some new classmates. Now imagine this masked. Now imagine some parents there on the A day, when their child is a C. Imagine tiny children confronted by strangers in masks.

Or imagine if you will, the first week of high school. Assume they start September 21. (What, you say, no CONTINUE READING: Are principals being set up to take the fall? | JD2718

Social-Distance Traveling during the Covid-19 Pandemic – radical eyes for equity

Social-Distance Traveling during the Covid-19 Pandemic – radical eyes for equity

Social-Distance Traveling during the Covid-19 Pandemic

For nearly a decade, I have been taking about a 2-week trip in July or early August for a cycling/brewery vacation. Many of the trips have been to Colorado, but also Asheville, NC and Fayetteville, AR (where I am sitting now).

To insure a good place to stay, reservations must be made many months ahead of this trip; so for the summer of 2020, I had secured and apartment near Old Town in Ft. Collins, CO many weeks before the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.

Beginning in early to Mid-March, my life has been changed significantly as it has been for most of the world. Also, I and my family as well as close friends have had to make decisions about how to navigate the pandemic in terms of social distancing.

Throughout the first phase of Covid-19, the shut-down phase, and into the phased-in reopening, I have taken a practical approach, recognizing the threat of the pandemic to myself and my communal responsibility.

I have maintained a semi-normal outdoor routine (I am an avid cyclist), but have stopped group riding (riding alone or with one or a very few other CONTINUE READING: Social-Distance Traveling during the Covid-19 Pandemic – radical eyes for equity

THE ANTI-SUCK BUTTON VS FUNDING AN EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT – Dad Gone Wild

THE ANTI-SUCK BUTTON VS FUNDING AN EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT – Dad Gone Wild

THE ANTI-SUCK BUTTON VS FUNDING AN EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT

“All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.”
― Molière

“When I was a kid, the county in which I lived was dry. That is, you had to buy your booze from a bootlegger in order to keep the church people happy.”
― Lewis Grizzard, Don’t Sit Under the Grits Tree with Anyone Else But Me

Back in the day, I used to work with a sound engineer that in his rack, had an excess piece of gear that had no discernable function in shaping the sound emitting from the stage. It was plugged into power but wasn’t connected to anything else. When a button was hit, it produced a show of bouncing lights. If you asked him about it, he would tell you that it was the module that housed the anti-suck gear.

He’d be mixing a show and invariably a patron would make their way to the sound booth, “The mix is off,” they would yell to him, “I can’t hear the vocals. It’s all too bright.”

He’d look at them. Give them an earnest look. Stare at his board with a puzzled look. Then he’d shift his look to the rack, his look of puzzlement would suddenly change to one of eureka. He would reach out and punch a button on the module, and suddenly the display of bouncing lights would appear. With a look of relief, he’d turn to the sound connoisseur, “Thanks, man! I’d forgotten to hit the anti-suck button. Much appreciated.”

The patron would turn to the stage, nod their head a few times, a smile would creep unto their face. They’d turn to the sound engineer and give him a big thumbs up, “Yea that was it. It sounds fantastic now!”

The engineer would return the thumbs up and return to the job of mixing the sound. The customer CONTINUE READING: THE ANTI-SUCK BUTTON VS FUNDING AN EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT – Dad Gone Wild

THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

New Wharton Business Dean Erika James Says Lack Of Diversity Stems From A Lack Of Prioritizing

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

'One of the country's leading business schools — the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — has never had a woman or a person of color as its dean since it was founded nearly 140 years ago. Until now. Erika James was named as Wharton's 15th dean in February and officially started the job earlier this month. The business world has been slow to reflect the gender and racial makeup of Am

New Study Reveals Economic Drivers Behind The Sterilization of Black North Carolinians

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

'Between 1929 and 1974, North Carolina officials sterilized an estimated 7,600 people, many by force or coercion. The state’s eugenics program targeted people deemed “feebleminded,” sick or living with a disability. A recent study finds that it also targeted Black people considered economically “unproductive” in society. University of New Orleans professor Gregory Price led the research with co-a

Eddie Glaude Jr. On His New Book And What America Can Learn From James Baldwin

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

'NPR's Noel King speaks with Eddie Glaude Jr. about his book Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.' -- Morning Edition

7 Money Mistakes to Avoid in the Pandemic

by The Penny Hoarder

sponsored

Here are 7 ways people sabotage their own finances during the pandemic, and what you can do instead.

Talking Digital Colonialism with Morehshin Allahyari

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

'Morehshin Allahyari has been capturing the imagination of art lovers the world over since her Material Speculation: ISIS series from 2015-16 propelled her into the spotlight. For that project, she recreated objects destroyed by the ISIS terrorist organization in Iraq. For that ambitious endeavor, she used the few images she could collect of the artifacts themselves and then 3D printed them in a

JUL 23

Phi Beta Sigma International President Hon. Bro. Micheal E. Cristal on the Passing of Congresman and Hon. Bro. John R. Lewis

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d

'Bro. Rod Carter, 2nd VP of Sigma Xi Sigma and news anchor for WFLA News Channel 8, talked with International President, Hon. Bro. Micheal E. Cristal , on the passing of Congressman, Hon. Bro. John R. Lewis .'

JUL 22

Yolonda Wilson: “Racial Bias, Mortality, and the Pursuit of Justice”

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'Research indicates that African Americans are far more likely to get sick than their fellow citizens who are white. Regardless of their age, educational attainment, or socioeconomic circumstances, they are more likely to suffer from severe forms of illness and have shorter life expectancies. While a number of factors play a part in this sad statistical reality, a key underlying factor is the per

Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams on Art and Empathy

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'The musicians Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams —longtime friends and twin titans of so-called alternative-country, though neither is especially keen on genre distinctions, especially that one—have been grounded by the coronavirus pandemic . For Earle, who is sixty-five, and Williams, who is sixty-seven, sitting still is anathema; both have been recording and touring since the late nineteen-seven

Black Thought – Thought vs Everybody (Official Music Video)

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

“Thought vs Everybody” — The Visual Reckoning. A Short Film directed by Rodney Passé .

Unladylike2020: Mary Church Terrell – She was a Civil Rights Activist and Co-Founder of the NAACP

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), the daughter of former slaves, was a national leader for civil rights and women’s suffrage. Her activism was sparked in 1892 when one of her childhood friends was lynched by white business owners in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Terrell joined the anti-lynching movement and the suffrage movement as a passionate writer and educator, and focused her life’s wo

Jennifer D. Williams, “The Poetry and Prose of Precarious Living: Black Women Writers and the Legacy of Segregated Urban Spaces”

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'Between the 1930s and the 1970s, racialized legislation and subsequent migrations of Black Americans combined to drive explosive population growth in urban centers, which in turn gave rise to the creation of segregated districts and public housing projects. The experience of life in these spaces, which required residents to navigate precarious conditions where distinctions between public and pri

JUL 21

The Unceremony of Black Old Men by Mark Anthony Neal

200+by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

| @NewBlackMan | NewBlackMan (in Exile) "I got some pussy jokes I could tell" – Dave Chappelle On the surface Dave Chappelle, and Paul, Eddie, Melvin and Otis – the four primary characters in Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee’s latest film about Black Vietnam veterans -- would seem strange kin. Yet the men are avatars for the increasing irrelevance of “Black Old Men” in the popular imagination and our poli

What Vogue's Simone Biles Cover Tells Us About Diversity in Photography

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'The magazine Vogue came under fire for the cover of its August 2020 issue , which features the celebrated gymnast Simone Biles photographed by Annie Leibovitz . Critics on social media and elsewhere slammed both the choice of photographer and the images themselves, which some say do a disservice to Biles and highlights the importance of hiring photographers who understand how to shoot and light

When Reform Isn't Enough: Afropessimism's Argument for a New Society

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'Co-hosts Eric and Medaya talk to professor, writer, and revolutionary, Frank B. Wilderson III , whose latest book, Afropessimism , is a work of memoir and theory. Wilderson defines Afropessism, the ways it has been misrepresented and how it can shape our understanding of contemporary justice. Wilderson also recounts his childhood and how he became an Afropessimist.' -- LA Review of Books LA Revi

Marquis Bey: "We have to become unreal and impossible – Towards Black Anarchism"

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'African American literature studies scholar Marquis Bey explores anarchism's radical critique of both the state, and the ourselves within the state, and explains how Blackness anarchizes anarchism, demanding more of this world than is possible. Bey is author of the book Anarcho-Blackness: Notes Toward a Black Anarchism from AK Press.' -- This is Hell! This is Hell! · We have to become unreal and

Policy 360: He Predicted a Pandemic

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has grown rapidly, and the United States has quickly become the epicenter. Much of the country has been blindsided by the pandemic’s severity. Not Gavin Yamey . In early 2018 he wrote the op-ed, The Odds of a Devastating Pandemic

JUL 20

Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (2020) | Official Trailer

by Mark Anthony Neal / 4d

'A deeply emotional film with chilling resonance in today’s America, Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn , explores the 30-year legacy of Yusuf’s murder as his family and friends reflect on the tragedy and the subsequent fight for justice that inspired and divided New York City.' -- HBO

How Running's White Origins Led To The Dangers Of 'Running While Black'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 4d

'Since two white men killed Ahmaud Arbery while he was out for a jog, there’s been a lot more conversation about “running while black”. What’s strange is that-- for a few years in fact-- there’s actually been increasing discussion of runner’s safety inside the running community. The catch? It’s focused primarily on (white) women. So why-- until recently-- has it been easier to talk about runner’s

Remembering The 'Divine Diahann Carroll'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 4d

'Code Switch is celebrating the legacy of actress, model and singer Diahann Carroll on what would have been her 85th birthday, . Reporter Sonari Glinton went to her estate sale and took a tour of some of the objects that represent important moments in Ms. Carroll's life. And because Diahann Carroll achieved so many firsts, the exhibit was more like a civil rights exhibit than an auction.'

JUL 19

‘Hood Feminism’ Makes a Case for Women Ignored by the Movement

by Mark Anthony Neal / 5d

'In her most recent book, Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot , author Mikki Kendall calls for solidarity in what she describes as a non-inclusive movement. She spoke with PBS NewsHour Weekend’s Christopher Booker about her book, a New York Times bestseller, and her struggles with finding common cause with mainstream feminism, which she says has largely ignored women of col

Terrace Martin: “Pig Feet” (feat. Denzel Curry, Kamasi Washington, G Perico & Daylyt)

by Mark Anthony Neal / 5d

" Someone asked, how do I feel? I told them hurt, fearless, angry, aware and fully ready to protect me, my family & my people at all cost. I got together with Black men that felt the same way and created a work of truth." -- Sounds of Crenshaw

Prison by Any Other Name: The Perils of Prison Reform

by Mark Anthony Neal / 5d

'In the past few years, there has been a growing bipartisan demand to reduce the extraordinarily high rate of incarceration in the United States, on both moral and fiscal grounds. But some of the key reforms, according to some prison abolitionists, are actually expanding the “carceral web”—the means by which people are subjected to control by the corrections system. “Reform operates according to

JUL 18

Dinner Party Listening Party

by Mark Anthony Neal / 6d

'Musicians Terrace Martin and Kamasi Washington join us to discuss forming the supergroup Dinner Party with Robert Glasper and 9th Wonder , and their eponymous album.' -- All Of It

Black Physicians Make A Plea to America

by Mark Anthony Neal / 6d

'In the wake of the killings of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor and many others, as well as international protests for racial justice, McStuffin Mommies , a group of 1,200 US-based physicians of color released this letter to America.' -- VICE

NewBlackMan (in Exile)