Last week, Donald Trump signed a new executive order: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which says: “Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” The order names the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibit, “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture.” It represents that race is a social construct and that the United States used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.

It has become a frequent occurrence in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s inauguration — voters in majority Republican districts voicing their displeasure with the administration’s policy decisions at sometimes tense town hall meetings around the country.The gatherings — at which some lawmakers have been widely jeered and angry attendees removed — have become so charged that GOP officials have discouraged members of Congress from hosting them.While Democrats, too, have felt the wrath of th...

Cell phones are a hot topic in education circles. Should they or shouldn’t they be banned in school? I can say that last school year, my students were distracted by them. My colleagues and I noticed that not banning cell phones enabled students to get distracted during classroom lessons. This was not due to misinformation or cyberbullying happening on social media. Rather they were constantly receiving notifications: texts from friends and family and some received phone calls during the school...

Teachers are under attack. Not teachers who choose to be apolitical, but teachers who actively choose to teach the truth to children. The truth is that the U.S. has a history of sins that include genocide and enslavement, both of which have played a role in the country’s successes. The truth is that families in the U.S. are often defined by societal constructs designed to foster control, compliance, and complicity. In President Donald Trump’s America, educators are at great risk if they teach...

Lloyd Austin, the former defense secretary and a four-star general with 40 years of military experience, was nonetheless labeled a DEI hire of the Biden administration. Pete Hegseth, the current secretary of defense, lacks adequate expertise and experience, on top of the fact that he’s had allegations of sexual assault and is known as an excessive drinker. A former National Security Council member and a Senate member deemed Hegseth unqualified for the position. However, according to Donald Trump, Hegseth had a tremendous track record that qualified him for the position.

In Dr. Jarvis Givens’ book Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching, he details stories of Black teachers circumventing, what he called white surveillance. Black school teachers were often subordinate to white administrators who had a “curriculum” for Black children. Black or African history (told accurately) was not a part of the equation. However, Black teachers understood that Black children needed to know their history and see the truth within an anti-Black soc...

Dear Democrats, I read the other day an opinion piece where James Carville, a relic of a Democratic party of times past, suggested that you do the following: “With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead.” His thought is to let Republicans fall under the weight of their scorched-earth tactics so that the American people will run back to you, seeing they have no other alternative. If that were true, Kamala Harris would have become president because Trump, Musk, and their congressional enablers’ scorched-earth approach was easier to forecast than a snowstorm in the middle of a snowstorm, but I digress.

For Black parents, there’s a cultural cost associated with placing their child or children in schools where their peers don’t look like them, their teachers don’t look like them, their administrators don’t look like them, and the parents that are involved with the school and district don’t look like them. These schools are often well funded. Certainly, there are benefits to exposure and where resources are non-issue. African-American students can benefit from exposure to different people, cul...

As a result of Donald Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders, corporate retailers are under increased pressure to dismantle their DEI policies. This was already happening before Trump’s election. Since his election, retailers including Target, Walmart, and Amazon have all abandoned DEI initiatives concerning their sales goals. DEI stands for Diversity (meaning, acknowledging the ways people differ i.e. race, gender, age, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.), Equity (meaning, correcting societal imbalances by creating more opportunities for those who’ve historically had less access), and Inclusion (meaning, actively welcoming, supporting, respecting and valuing all individuals and groups in organizations).

As we near the seventh anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida, I am reflecting on my role as a parent and educator and how I cannot ignore the possibility that a school shooting could happen where I work or where my children attend school. It is a tragedy that so many children, parents, and educators live with the daily fear of gun violence in American schools. While it’s easy to blame policymakers for our current state, we, th...

Federal agencies under the Trump administration have started banning Black History Month, and now it’s more essential than ever to take the opportunity to recognize the accomplishments and struggles of African Americans throughout history. As an educator, I find it particularly important to acknowledge and honor the father of Black history: Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, who founded Black History Month’s precursor, Negro History Week, at the behest of Black students. Now is also the time to examine...

On January 20, 2025, Martin Luther King Day no less, Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States for the second time. I am sure that many people dreaded that day. I’m sure that many people wanted Kamala Harris to be the person inaugurated on that day. But the truth is that it is not to be her, but Donald Trump. Quite naturally several people are upset and frankly scared for what is on the horizon during the second Trump presidency. I would never disregard or ignore the real...

Whenever race is mentioned in a conversation and someone asks, “Why is everything about race?” or “Why must you always bring up race?” it’s an indicator that they’re ignorant of the role race has had in America’s founding and its continuance, as well as racism’s impact on people. It largely has to do with the refusal of many to acknowledge—much less teach in schools and society—the ugliness that is the history of the United States. Much of the blame is on white people, conservatives and liber...

A teaching colleague recently asked my opinion on whether she should take the lead on coordinating Black History Month activities at her school. To answer, I needed some context.I knew she was only one of three Black teachers in a school with several dozen total instructors, most of them white. (That’s a problem by itself, but I digress.) I asked if she was likely to get support from colleagues. She answered yes, but only if programming didn’t veer from the previous years of teaching sunny, wate...

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a champion for justice; justice for Black people, the poor, and all marginalized and oppressed people worldwide. His work centered on fighting against the power structure to bring justice to society. Therefore, the Day of Service in “honor” of this work is utter bull. King worked to eradicate injustice caused by racism, capitalism, and militarism. He didn’t die so that we could volunteer one day out of the year. He did not die so that we could feel good about a one-day “activism.” That was not his legacy.

We need Black teachers. We also need Black administrators. The unfortunate truth is that the needs are competing not because of Black educators, but because of the white institutional spaces that control hiring. Black teachers represent only 6% of all teachers nationwide; Black male teachers, less than 2% of all teachers nationwide. However, the percentage of Black administrators nationwide is 10%. In my home state of New Jersey, Black teachers make up 6% of all teachers, yet 15% of all admin...

Recently, I attended back-to-school nights for my children at a middle school and elementary school in our district. In each school, I saw that most teachers were white women. As an educator and advocate, I know the national numbers; according to the National Center for Education Statistics, white women are 61% of teachers nationwide. Yet the demographics, when in my face, were hard to ignore. As part of back-to-school night, teachers share personal information about themselves to build relat...

A while ago, Philadelphia Inquirer education reporter, Melanie Burney, shed light on a truth many folks are already aware of: Black and Latino students are disproportionately suspended from public schools in New Jersey. Ms. Burney cites the New Jersey Department of Education’s report on Student Safety and Discipline. The report shows that New Jersey’s Black student suspension rate in the 2022-23 school year was 9%, whereas it was only 2.7% for white students. The Latino student suspension rat...

I am a boxing fan. Recently, Philadelphia’s own Jaron Ennis successfully defended his welterweight championship in the city. But who knew the undercard was this past weekend with two of Philly’s favorite centers, Jason Kelce and Joel Embiid with their separate fights… well maybe not fights. Maybe a scuffle or kerfuffle. Joel Embiid reportedly shoved Philadelphia Inquirer sports reporter Marcus Hayes for referencing his deceased brother and son in an article criticizing his lack of play this s...

Since 2000, every presidential election has been labeled the most consequential election of our lifetime. The 2000 presidential election was a hotly contested battle between George Bush and Al Gore. Florida was the state in question over uncounted ballots. At the time, the folks in charge of the election were Republicans, and the governor of the state was the Republican governor of the Republican candidate. I was a junior in high school and I remember the running joke among friends was wit...