Divest from fossil fuels.

After fighting for almost a decade, Divest Harvard claimed victory last week when Harvard University announced it would divest completely from fossil fuels. “It took conversations and protests, meetings with administration, faculty/alumni votes, mass sit-ins and arrests, historic legal strategies, and storming football fields,” the group said. “But today, we can see proof that activism works, plain and simple” (Twitter). This announcement means that Harvard will no longer invest any part of its $42 billion endowment in fossil fuel companies (The Guardian). It’s a key victory in the efforts to demand accountability from university endowments which too often profit by funding objectionable industries.

TAKE ACTION

Follow UC Divest and sign their petition to end the University of California’s investment in fossil fuel and weapons companies.
Tell your elected officials to divest public pension funds from fossil fuels.
Consider: Does your money fund oppressive industries? This could be personal investments, college endowments, or pensions. Are there movements to demand divestment from institutions around you?

GET EDUCATED

When universities receive financial gifts, they’re often placed in their endowment, a financial vehicle whose proceeds fund the school’s operating expenses (Investopedia). The endowments of wealthy universities like Harvard are enormous: Yale has $30 billion, Stanford has $27 billion, and Princeton has $25 billion (US News). Princeton’s endowment is five times the national wealth of Haiti and twice that of Liberia (Credit Suisse). Universities naturally want their investments to be as lucrative as possible. This can mean providing capital to industries that are disproportionately harming people of color and the planet, a practice that divestment campaigns seek to end.

Emissions from fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas are the primary driver of global warming (NASA), which disproportionately threatens working-class communities and communities of color (Anti-Racism Daily). These communities also bear the brunt of the industry’s refinery fires (Democracy Now), oil spills (The Conversation), and toxic pollution (Grist).

Before last week’s announcement, Harvard President Bacow publicly opposed “politicizing” the school’s investments despite facing years of protests by students, faculty, and alumni. In 2019, hundreds of Yale and Harvard students stormed a football game to demand both schools end investments in fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt; dozens were arrested (Harvard Crimson).

Last year, they occupied a university building to demand divestment on the five-year anniversary of another campus occupation calling for the same (Harvard Crimson). The campaign didn’t politicize the university’s investment decisions. By highlighting the social harm abetted by Harvard’s investment decisions, it demonstrated those decisions were always political in the first place.

Though Harvard’s endowment is by far the largest, the struggle to stop institutional investment in particularly noxious industries doesn’t end there. University of California students, among others, are leading a fight to end investment in fossil fuel and weapons companies like BlackRock and Lockheed Martin (UC Divest).

And while Harvard will no longer profit from fossil fuels, it still invests in the private prison industry (The Crimson). It also invests in debt which the Puerto Rican government must pay back in lieu of funding basic services or infrastructure (The Intercept). Puerto Rican debt collection, private detention centers, and fossil fuel companies all profit from the extraction of resources and people from marginalized communities. They all use investments from university endowments, public and private pension funds, and city and state governments, as well (Equal Times). In 2018, the California teachers’ pension fund ended investment in private prisons (CalSTRS), though the same fund recently voted to postpone full divestment from fossil fuels for 30 years (Common Dreams).

Demanding institutional divestment dates back to the 1980s, where activists demanded money be taken out of apartheid South Africa. When our public funds, pensions, or alumni contributions support oppressive practices, we can organize together to demand a change. As the Divest Harvard campaign shows, it’s not always an easy fight, but it’s a fight that we can win. We need to demand divestment from exploitative industries.

Written by Andrew Lee (he/him)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

After a fight lasting almost a decade, Harvard University announced it would divest from fossil fuels.
Universities and other institutions often make investments in companies that profit from oppression and exploitation.
For decades, divestment movements have demanded that these institutions end investments in malignant industries.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.

Subscribe on Patreon | Give one-time on PayPal | Venmo @nicoleacardoza

Nicole Cardoza 8/3/21 Nicole Cardoza 8/3/21

Integrate the National Spelling Bee.

On July 8, 2021, Zaila Avant-garde made history as the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee (NYTimes). At only fourteen years old, Zaila became the first Black contestant to be crowned champion since 1998 Scripps winner Jody-Anne Maxwell of Kingston, Jamaica. While Zaila's monumental victory has sparked well-deserved celebration among the Black community, it has also called attention to the lack of Black representation at the national contest. Racial disparities in the spelling bee echo racial disparities in education at large.

TAKE ACTION

Donate to the American Center for Transforming Education, an institute working with state legislators and policymakers to reform the United States’s education system.
Donate to 826 National, a network of writing and publishing centers aimed at developing writing skills among students from marginalized communities.
Celebrate Zaila Avant-garde, Jody-Anne Maxwell, and every other successful, young Black speller.

GET EDUCATED

By Sydney Cobb (she/her)

Only one out of eleven 2021 National Spelling Bee finalists were Black, and there have only been 2 Black prize winners since Scripps’ inaugural tournament in 1925. In contrast, there have been a total of 26 Indian American champions since 1999 and nine out of eleven finalists for the 2021 Spelling Bee were Indian American (The Hindu). The lack of diversity in the Bee is largely due to anti-Black practices upheld by the spelling bee industry for years and the United States’s unequal distribution of academic resources.

In 1925, nine publications collaborated to create the first National Spelling Bee (Long Reads). The National Bee claimed to uphold an “open door” policy regarding Black students’ eligibility to compete, but the local newspapers that sponsored the National Spelling Bee’s local qualifying competitions were not required to abide by the same rules.

In 1962, teenager George F. Jackson wrote to President John F. Kennedy requesting that the white-only spelling bee contest in Lynchburg, Virginia be open to children of color. The Black community in Lynchburg generally believed the continued segregation of the local spelling bee was an attempt to set back the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education (Long Reads). It was not until the NAACP threatened legal action that the National Spelling Bee’ss director clarified the competition’s anti-discrimination policy.

Though local spelling bee competitions may no longer be explicitly racially segregated, racist disparities in wealth and education continue to serve the same role. “It’s now common for spellers to be coached by other past competitors,” said Dr. Puwan Dhingra, “who can charge about $200 an hour for their services” (Time). Such fees are especially prohibitive for Black families, whose average household wealth is less than $20,000 (Brookings). Zaila Avant-garde had three spelling tutors and used a preparatory computer program to assist her in learning approximately 13,000 words per day. She acknowledges that it would not have been possible without money.

Exclusion from spelling bees ties into larger disparities that block many low-income students of color from attaining higher levels of literacy. Public schools are funded locally, so low-income communities of color dealing with the aftermath of redlining and segregation are continually underfunded. One 2016 study found that “just the increased presence of minority students actually deflated a district’s funding level” (The Atlantic). “For every student enrolled, the average nonwhite school district receives $2,226 less than a white school district” (EdBuild).

Funding for library and media centers in marginalized communities has also declined for years. “In elementary schools with the highest ethnic minority populations, regardless of poverty levels, there are fewer library specialists per 100 students than low ethnic minority status” (National Education Association). Underfunded or nonexistent libraries deprive students of color from enjoying free, educational resources that could be useful for improving their literacy skills.

As a result, “18 percent of black 4th-graders scored proficient or above in reading; the figure for white 4th-graders was 45 percent. For 8th graders, the percentages were 15 and 42 percent” (Forbes). Seeing as the eldest age of eligibility for the Scripps National Spelling Bee is 15, there is clear correlation between low literacy levels among young Black students and the lack of Black spelling bee contestants.

Racially and economically diversifying the National Spelling Bee would show African American children that they are fully capable of succeeding in any space they wish to occupy. Doing this requires repairing the United States’s public school system and would allow low-income students of color to gain the necessary skills to thrive in academic endeavors like spelling bees. Organizations like 826 National are working to develop student writers in marginalized communities, filling in the gaps in an unjust educational system.

It’s only a matter of time before more African American children follow in Zaila Avant-garde and Jody-Anne Maxwell’s footsteps. We should celebrate them as we build an equitable education system that will allow us to truly integrate the National Spelling Bee.

Key Takeaways

The competitive spelling industry excluded and mistreated African American spellers for years.
Competitive spelling reforms can actually increase inequitable privileges of wealthy families.
Zaila Avant-garde’s victory at the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee will likely inspire an entire generation of young Black spellers, so it’s imperative that race and socioeconomic status don’t bar them from succeeding.

Nicole Cardoza 7/20/21 Nicole Cardoza 7/20/21

Support community-based research.

Research about issues hurting marginalized communities has skyrocketed. However, this has not decreased inequality. Extractive research studies marginalized communities without involving or helping them. It runs rampant in American research institutions.

Good morning and welcome back! As society reckons with racial inequities, resources are flowing to conduct research studies to implement new policies and practices. Sometimes, these practices can do more harm than good – exploiting marginalized communities and gatekeeping access to direct support. Tiffany shares more in today's newsletter.

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is fully funded by contributions from our readers. Make a monthly or annual donation to join in, or give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support community-based research projects such as the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and organizations that use community-based research like the Coalition on Homelessness, Our Data Bodies, Causa Justa, and Dignity and Power Now.
Whether you’re a student, parent, employee, or neighbor, challenge academic institutions to employ community-based research.
When assessing academic “solutions” to problems in oppressed communities, consider: Were those being studied involved in research design, implementation, and analysis? Will they be empowered or further marginalized by the proposals? Were community members already articulating their problems, needs, and desires? Did problems stem from a lack of research or an imbalance of power and resources?

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

Researchers in the U.S. have long exploited marginalized communities. Colonial doctors experimented on enslaved Africans (JSTOR). Medical researchers used Puerto Rican women as guinea pigs for the first birth control trials, murdering some in the process (History). Some still deny racism by citing Daniel Moynihan, a sociologist, and Harvard professor, who believed the rise of single-mother households fundamentally caused Black poverty (The Atlantic).

Exploitative research extracts knowledge from oppressed communities without providing empowerment and resources. It views marginalized communities as objects to be studied and academics as the ones who establish the truth and decide the right solutions.

Many researchers do not come from or live in the communities they study. A 2011 NIH study revealed that of the principal investigators awarded R01 grant funding for research, 1.2% reported as Black, 3.4% reported as Latino, and less than 0.2% reported as Native (NIH). Only 11% of students from low-income families obtain a bachelor's degree, so very few researchers come from low-income communities (Ed Trust).

Health studies pinpointing health disparities without focus on solutions is a rising issue. “The inordinate focus on identifying rather than eliminating disparities in health sciences research comes from the top, from what research questions receive NIH [National Institutes of Health] funding and which researchers’ careers are supported,” Dr. Rhea Boyd M.D, a pediatrician and public health advocate, told Anti-Racism Daily.

Aminata Kouyate, a medical student at UCSF, stated, “My professor calls it the Health Disparities Industrial Complex. People are really out here making whole careers reporting on us dying but doing nothing to change that” (Twitter).

Community members are rarely involved in the design or execution of research projects. Many do not see study results because most academic research gets published in journals with subscriptions costing hundreds to thousands of dollars (Vox).

“When researchers do not share the findings with the community who provided the data or samples, they disable the community from making important interventions and from benefitting more generally from the evidence that results from their contributions,” Boyd explained.

Some research focuses on identifying issues that marginalized communities have discussed for years. When the biggest benefit to said communities would be sharing resources and skillsets to find and implement solutions.

In 2019, tech billionaire Marc Benioff donated $30 million to research houselessness (CNN). Houselessness isn’t exactly a new problem. Unhoused communities and advocates have expressed for years that escalating housing prices drive much of the crisis in the Bay Area (48 Hills, Teen Vogue). In 2019, SF had an estimated 8,035 unhoused people and 38,651 empty home units - when the median monthly income for a one-bedroom was $3,690.(CBS Bay Area, SF, SF). That multi-million dollar gift could have housed every SF unhoused person for one year. Engaging with community organizations would have likely shown that the best help would have been to provide a direct housing benefit to the folks sleeping on the streets and in their cars.

San Francisco’s Coalition on Homelessness produced a report called “Stop the Revolving Door” which offers recommendations on how to address houselnessness. This report was produced using a methodology called Community-Based Participatory Action Research, which means community members – in this case, unhoused people in San Francisco – were involved in every step of the process from designing the survey to working as researchers. They created the most comprehensive report on houselessness ever conducted in the city (Coalition on Homelessness). While working on community-based research, the Coalition organizes alongside unhoused people on community priorities like housing subsidies and limiting police power to actively help fight against houselessness (Coalition on Homelessness).

Why do so many respected institutions still do predatory research? It has rewards. Academics and students build resumes and advance careers. Universities get grants. Charitable foundations can celebrate their “impact.” Rich donors get recognized as generous philanthropists. Everyone wins - except the folks from disadvantaged communities that remain afflicted.

Research can only help uplift disempowered people if researchers include community members as active subjects and engage them from a place of genuine respect and concern. Community-based research has to become the standard.

“Rather than a one-way process where researchers take data and stories out of the community to serve their own career interests, researchers should partner with communities to ask and answer questions that are of interest and benefit to communities members - remembering to return with the findings so the community can also start to elaborate their own solutions or implement their own interventions, based on the findings,” Boyd added.

Researchers should aim to genuinely want to improve lives, not simply get publications. Academia must grow humility along with its body of work.

Key Takeaways

A lot of research on high-risk communities is extractive instead of actively helping or uplifting these communities.
Many members of disadvantaged communities are not included in the research design, do not have access to research publications, and often do not get benefits from their participation.
Most researchers do not come from or have strong ties to the marginalized communities they study.
Community-based research models engage community members the most and help to empower their communities instead.

2/28/2021 | Learn from public syllabi.

8/17/2020 | Fight for equity in remote learning.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 7/14/21 Nicole Cardoza 7/14/21

Support anti-racism curriculum in schools.

We previously discussed how conservatives are rallying against “critical race theory” to prohibit educators from teaching about American systemic racism. Although critical race theory, an academic theory often only seen in law schools, isn’t being taught directly in most schools in the country, parents, administrators and legislators are using the term to hinder conversations on racism, systemic oppression, even socio-emotional learning and restorative justice (The74).

We asked educators to check in and let us know how they’re doing. Here’s some of the ways bans on critical race theory are affecting our communities.

Good morning and welcome back! Yesterday we received a ton of feedback from our educator readers on how critical race theory discourse is affecting them. Today, we're unpacking the issue further and highlighting their perspectives. Thank you all for sharing!

Every time we cover this issue, I can't help but reflecting on my own educational journey. History isn't something we just learn, but experience. And as a child, I only learned of the racism that's embedded in this nation as it was inflicted upon me each day. I wonder how I would have felt if I had the words and history to contextualize the pain and isolation I experienced. I think, at minimum, our children deserve the same. But, more urgently, they deserve to live in a world that's committed to minimizing that harm for generations to come.

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is fully funded by contributions from our readers. Make a monthly or annual donation to join in.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Encourage educators in your community to sign the #TeachtheTruth pledge at the Zinn Education Project. As part, they’ll receive diverse and culturally-responsive resources for their classrooms.
Use this map to learn more about the legislation pending or passed in your state.
Attend school and district board meetings to advocate for diverse and truthful curriculum.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her) and Andrew Lee (he/him)

When we released our last newsletter on the topic, Idaho and Tennessee had already banned instruction that acknowledged white privilege. Now, twenty-six states have introduced or passed legislation in an attempt to limit discourse on racism and sexism (Newsweek).

The effects of these retrograde policies are already playing out. A white Florida teacher was fired for putting a Black Lives Matter flag in her classroom. A Tennessee instructor was terminated after showing a video of a poem about white privilege. A Missouri school district’s sole Black administrator resigned after receiving threats so severe she hired private security guards. Educators, especially Black educators, are being pushed out of schools. Experts warn of a “brain drain” in an already understaffed field (Yahoo). In response, activists and educators are preparing to fight this legislation in court (Axios).

We asked educators to check in and let us know how they’re doing. Here’s some of the ways bans on critical race theory are affecting our communities:

1. 42% of our respondents stated that the discourse related to critical race theory is impacting what they can teach in the classroom.

“I am a D&I analyst (newly created position for an online school). I'm not even done with my first year and have gotten push back on sharing articles on AAPI discrimination, having pronouns utilized in signatures, and speaking on how the rhetoric of Trump has increased discrimination against minorities. Just recently a school in the area was dealing with parent pushback on CRT, which has in turned made parents and staff in my own district/school question our approach or stance on CRT/DEI. They often conflate the two and threaten to pull their children from our school if the material is covered.”

"I am not a teacher, but I work as a support staff member for all schools in my District. Our District had a new goal which included anti-racist language, but it caused such a backlash with the white community, that they were forced to remove the language "white advantage". Our state (FL) has also proposed a rule to ban CRT."

"It is unreal to watch how quickly groups of parents in my district mobilized to monitor and brigade any teacher whose lessons explicitly mention terms such as 'equity, inclusion, white supremacy, systemic racism,' and anything else they deem out of the teacher’s jurisdiction as an educator. In a district that already struggles to practice what it preaches regarding equity, this does nothing but stifle the important conversations that need to happen because central office now feels the need to play it 'safe' to avoid drawing unwanted attention."

2. Others mentioned that the mere *perception* of pushback from parents and administrators is affecting the classroom.

“I teach 4th grade. We have a very outdated curriculum, however, my district has been doing work training teachers on cultural proficiency for a few years. My principal is supportive on teaching based around current events and social justice (I teach 4th grade). However, this is not a mandate and many teachers feel uncomfortable doing this as they are afraid of the backlash they may get from families and they feel there is no curriculum.”

"I teach an entire senior elective centered on CRT. So far, I haven't heard anything directed at my school or my class, but I did drive by a group of people protesting CRT two towns away last week. I am worried."

“Hard to say if this is true or false just yet, but I believe the impact is strong around the FEAR of what teachers/district leaders might get in "trouble" for, which leads to a scaling back of these important topics. Funding by private organizations will also impact what resources/partnerships schools have access to.”

3. This discourse is causing specific lessons and curriculum to be banned from the classroom.

“I teach African American History. I have to remove The 1619 Project from my curriculum due to a new state law [...] I don't know how to teach any class on history without discussing the role of race. Racism is embedded in US history and it can't be removed.”

"I am concerned that I won't be able to teach persuasive writing specifically focused on elected officials, which is something I had hoped to do this year. I'm in Texas, and the bill that was passed during our regular session states that you can't give credit or extra credit for political activism, including writing to elected officials."

4. However, many educators note that their schools and communities are more intent on diversifying their curriculum. These educators, though, were mainly at charter or private schools.

"I work in a Charter School with a principal, superintendent and board that is very supportive of making sure our students get an education that recognizes their identities. We are able to rewrite our curriculum to focus on anti-bias and anti-racism as we teach Social Studies and ELA. The only impact from the CRT is that we are trying to do better about what our students are learning."

"I am a 5th grade teacher in a Catholic school. I teach 4th and 5th grade Social Studies. I try to teach history as honestly as I can---I wouldn't call it "critical race theory" because that is way too complicated for elementary students. But I am pretty much allowed to teach what I want and have received no pushback so far for teaching students that the Founding Fathers were racist, indigenous genocide, etc. It probably helps that my school is majority Mexican; I think white parents would react differently."

What can we expect as the school year unfolds? It's unclear – nearly half of respondents that haven't run into an issue mentioned that it might be too soon to tell. But it's clear that this coordinated attack will have lasting implications for students in the years ahead.

This recap highlights a sample of 90 survey respondents from the U.S. 55% represent K-8 educators, and 45% represent 9-12th grade educators. All responses are anonymous.

Key Takeaways

Discourse around critical race theory is making it difficult for educators to teach content related to racism and systemic oppression in their classrooms.
Twenty-six states have introduced or passed legislation in an attempt to limit discourse on racism and sexism (Newsweek).
In our survey with educators, we found that 42% are being impacted by these conversations today.

Learn about critical race theory and the conservative efforts to mislabel it.

Repeal the Trump Equity Gag Order.

The Trump administration kickstarted the latest attack on racial discourse. Read more about those efforts and their implications.

Stop white centering.

The harm of centering whiteness and white privilege in curriculum.

Support the 1619 Project.

Analyzing the lack of truthfulness in history books and the importance of resources like the 1619 Project.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 7/7/21 Nicole Cardoza 7/7/21

Unpack the history of Indigenous boarding schools.

Residential schools were administered by various Christian denominations and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They were designed to force Indigenous children into assimilation by making them abandon their languages and cultures. Their hair was cut, their clothing was exchanged for uniforms, and they were banned from speaking their languages. These children were cut off from their families and often experienced physical and sexual abuse (The Atlantic). Many children disappeared entirely from these schools. The new discovery of unmarked graves offers a grim explanation.

Good morning and welcome back! The recent news on the atrocities that occurred at several Indigenous boarding schools isn't new, and reflects a long history of intentional erasure of those native to what's now referred to as the U.S. and Canada. As you read more about it in today's newsletter, consider: how else are schools used to erase or censor the diversity of our youth?

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is made possible by your support. Make a monthly donation to support our team.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Directly donate to survivors of residential boarding schools by donating to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
Sign this petition for a national day of mourning in Canada for the lost children of residential schools.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

In recent weeks, the bodies of some 1,200 Indigenous children have been discovered in mass graves at residential schools in Canada (Star Democrat). The US announced that they would be executing a similar effort to search former boarding schools for bodies in light of the discovery (NYT).

The first boarding school for Indigenous children in the United States was established in 1860 and schools remained open until 1978. By the 1880s, there were 60 schools for 6200 students including day schools and boarding schools. In 1879, Col. Richard Henry Pratt established an off-reservation boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania under the premise that full assimilation would best be completed away from the reservation. His motto was “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” and the schools sought to achieve that purpose by stripping Indigenous heritage entirely and replacing it with white culture. The schools also forced conversion to Christianity, and when parents resisted placement in the schools, rations were often denied to Indigenous communities (Native Partnership).

Canada established a similar network of schools with the mission to “kill the Indian in the child.” In the 1880s, the Canadian government began establishing residential schools and the 1920 Indian Act made it illegal for Indigenous children to attend any schools but these. Similar to the U.S., children were forced to cut their hair, wear uniforms, and were often identified by number. The children were physically and often sexually abused and suffered poor health. In 1907, it was reported that 24% of previously healthy children were dying in these schools. It is also important to note that this does not include children who died after being sent home due to illness. Anywhere from 47% to 75% of children died soon after returning home (Indigenous Foundations).

While Indigenous schools are often talked of as a thing of the past, they are a recent part of history. It wasn’t until the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act in the U.S. that Indigenous parents were granted the right to deny placement of their children in these schools (Native Partnership). In Canada, the last residential school did not close until 1996 (Indigenous Foundations).

In a previous issue, we covered inequities in the child welfare system (ARD). The boarding schools might be closed, but Indigenous children in Canada account for nearly half of the 30,000 children and youth that are in foster care in Canada (Imprint News). British Columbia did not end its controversial practice of “birth alerts,” which flagged at-risk mothers and disproportionately targeted Indigenous children, until 2019 (CBC).

On June 11, 2008 the Canadian government formally apologized for its involvement in the residential boarding school practice and in 2005, the Canadian government reached a settlement to compensate boarding school survivors as well as fund the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and form the Truth and Reconciliation Commision (Indigenous Foundations). In lieu of the recent discovery of children’s remains in Canada, Justin Trudeau made a public statement that Canadians are “horrified and ashamed” (PBS).

Although the U.S. interior secretary Deb Haaland has directed the government to take action in response to Canada’s discovery and investigate the boarding schools in the U.S. (The Guardian), the U.S. has not yet provided any form of reparations to boarding school survivors, nor issued a public apology. Although President Obama signed off on the Native American Apology Resolution in 2009, tribal citizens have stated that the quiet apology is a watered-down apology with no real public action (Indian Law). The Catholic Church also has not apologized for the genocide of Indigenous children (Washington Post).

The U.S. government and complicit churches must formally apologize for the systematic abuse of Indigenous children through boarding schools and offer reparations to survivors.

Key Takeaways

Boarding schools were established in the U.S. and Canada to assimilate Indigenous children. These schools stripped children of their language, clothes, and customs.
The schools perpetrated systematic abuse of Indigenous children for a hundred years. Many children were lost and recently their remains have been recovered in unmarked graves at former sites of residential schools.
Although Canada has publicly apologized for the abuse perpetuated by these schools and provided some compensation to survivors, the U.S. and the Catholic Church have not formally apologized or provided any form of reparations.

12/17/2020 | Respect Hawaii’s sacred land.

11/24/2020 | Stop violence against Native women.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/28/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/28/21

Compensate student-athletes.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court made a decision that could significantly impact the lives of student-athletes. The Court ruled against the National College Athletic Association to allow student-athletes to receive education-related payments of up to $6,000 a year and unlimited non-cash education-related benefits (CNN). College sports bring in billions of dollars of revenue each year. The 2019 March Madness tournament was estimated to have brought $1.18 billion in advertising revenue for CBS and Turner Sports, with networks paying about $800 million for the rights (CNBC). Given the profitability of college athletics, it would be expected that athletes receive fair compensation for the labor that they perform.

Happy Monday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! The conversation around compensation, value and worth for athletes in the U.S. – particularly student-athletes – is certainly not new. However, last week's decision by the Supreme Court re-ignites conversations about the role of race and equity in collegiate sports. Read more in Nia's recap below.

Are you a student-athlete? I'd love to hear your thoughts – reply to this email.

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is made possible by your support. If you can, consider making a donation to support our team. You can start a monthly subscription on Patreon or our website, or give one-time using our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the #paytheplayers petition to demand fair pay for college athletes in every state.
Support the College Athlete Advocacy Initiative, which advocates and provides legal support for college athletes.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

In reality, college athletes are not compensated at all beyond scholarships and possibly a stipend. College athletes could be compensated similarly to professional athletes if not for NCAA amateurism rules barring payment by their schools. College athletes are not considered employees and are therefore not protected by federal employment laws that allow other workers to unionize and demand fair compensation for their labor (CNBC).

College athletes sign their name and likeness over to the schools they play, but are not permitted to receive compensation for playing (The Guardian). Student-athletes work full-time hours, often 30-40 hours a week on top of their academic course load. With only 1.6% of college football players and 1.2% of college basketball players getting drafted into major professional leagues, the majority of them will not go on to a career in professional sports. Though are “compensated” with scholarships, graduation rates are significantly lower for student-athletes than non-student athletes and many report lackluster academic support and challenges finding post-college employment (The Guardian).

These athletes often suffer chronic injuries playing for coaches who are the highest-paid public employees in 39 states (IPS). A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that athletic department revenue doubled in the last 14 years – along with salaries for both coaches and athletic department administrators. While athletic staff is generously compensated, revenue-generating athletes are considered “amateurs” and therefore receive little to nothing in what’s been described as “the injustice of fake amateurism” (The Nation).

Black students comprise only 5.7% of the population at Power Five schools, but makeup 55.9% of men’s basketball players, 55.6% of men’s football players, and 48.1% of women’s basketball players. On condition of anonymity, many student-athletes discussed what The Guardian described as “the racist dimensions of their experiences at Power Five PWIs” (predominantly white institutions). Many described the power imbalance between schools and Black athletes and reported feeling exploited and pressured to not express opinions or take on interests outside of the sports they played (The Guardian).

Both professional and college athletics have a history of racism and exploitation. Initially, professional sports were segregated, with Black players excluded from Major League Baseball until 1946 when Jackie Robinson joined the Montreal Royals and later the Brooklyn Dodgers. The National Hockey League still has a majority of white players and when Black players do come onto the rink, they are often subject to racist abuse from fans (McGill Tribune).

The recent Supreme Court decision will not lead to full compensation for student-athletes as it only applies to payments and benefits related to education. However, it invites further challenges to the NCAA ban on paying athletes. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that “nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate” (NYT). Effectively, if this decision were to be successfully challenged further in the Supreme Court, it could entirely change the way that student-athletes are compensated and open up the door for more opportunities for them.

Student-athletes are workers and should be compensated as such. They should be permitted to earn money from their names, images, and likenesses that bring in billions of dollars of revenue for the NCAA, schools, and the broadcasting industry. A 2020 survey found that two-thirds of adults believe that college athletes should be able to reap some of the profits that are generated by their hard work (Forbes). The NCAA must change their unfair policies regarding student-athletes.

Key Takeaways

The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from receiving compensation as “amateurs.”
College sports are a billion-dollar industry. Coaches are generously compensated; players receive little more than a scholarship.
A recent Supreme Court decision allows education-related compensation for college athletes, though the NCAA still bans direct payments.

10/21/2020 | Change racist sports team names.

2/2/2021 | Rally against racist sports mascots.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/24/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/24/21

Unpack the history of IQ testing.

The 19th-century pseudoscience of phrenology used skull measurements to “prove” that Indigenous people were less capable of developing knowledge, justifying a genocidal westward expansion. The phrenologists “proved” African people were more suited to being enslaved, thereby making chattel slavery seem a natural outcome of innate biological differences in mental capacity (Vassar).

Happy Thursday! What does it mean to be intelligent? Academically-inclined? Emotionally resourced? Multilingual? Today, Andrew shares ways that racism has perpetuated our perception of intelligence – and how the field of measuring intelligence has been influenced by racial bias.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Demand actively anti-racist policies in schools.
Vigorously oppose racism from teachers and school administrators.
Support the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing, New York Collective of Radical Educators, Abolitionist Teaching Network, Teachers 4 Social Justice, and the Institute for Teachers of Color so teachers and students of color can thrive.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

The NFL just stopped requiring Black football players to exhibit worse cognitive function than white players to receive compensation for brain injuries – under the assumption that Black players had lower cognitive function to begin with.

Last month, the ARD explained how “racial correction factors” in the diagnosis of kidney and respiratory diseases lead to Black patients missing life-saving treatments. The NFL used race-norming when measuring intelligence, as well. “That’s literally the definition of systemic racism,” said Najeh Davenport, a former Packers running back suing the league (Yahoo News).

The NFL using race-norming to limit payouts to the 70% of its players who are Black (Yahoo) follows a long American tradition of using ”intelligence” to justify structural racism.

After phrenology fell out of favor, the science of eugenics arrived, which sought to improve populations by ensuring individuals with desirable qualities reproduced and those with undesirable characteristics did not. Though today associated with Nazi mass sterilization and extermination campaigns against Jewish, Roma, and disabled people, eugenics was wildly popular in the United States in its day, with President Theodore Roosevelt among its enthusiastic supporters. Nazi eugenics policies were in fact based on mass sterilization campaigns in California state hospitals. The idea of ensuring racial hygiene by killing undesirables in gas chambers was proposed by a U.S. Army disease specialist in 1918 (SF Gate).

One Stanford University psychologist wrote, “High-grade or border-line deficiency … is very, very common among Spanish-Indian and Mexican families of the Southwest and also among Negroes. Their dullness seems to be racial. They cannot master abstractions but they can often be made into efficient workers. From a eugenic point of view they constitute a grave problem because of their unusually prolific breeding.” This man, Dr. Lewis Terman, popularized a test he believed would make these racial differences clear: the IQ test (Business Insider, Stanford Daily).

In 1994, The Bell Curve argued that aggregate IQ differences between Black and white people were due in part to genetic causes. If we follow this reasoning, the fact that Black people die sooner (US News), have higher unemployment, work worse jobs, and have an order of magnitude less wealth than white people (Brookings) might not be due to structural racism. America could be entirely fair meritocratic and produce these exact outcomes if it’s true that Black people, as the NFL believed, have “lower cognitive functions” than whites. IQ is here being used for its original purpose: to justify racial oppression.

The “model minority myth” holds that some combination of Asian genetics and culture explain why Asian Americans have higher IQs and annual income than white people, “proving” that other minority groups have only themselves or their genes to blame. This myth was popularized explicitly to attack Black people. It ignores the pervasiveness of anti-Black racism (NPR) and labor market pressures that encourage East and South Asian immigrants with higher educational attainment (Pew, Pew). There is more economic inequality among Asian people than any other racial group in America (NBC). Laotian and Bhutanese Americans are only half as likely to get a bachelor’s degree as the average American, while the poverty rate for Mongolian and Burmese Americans is double that of the national average (Pew). Asian students from these nationalities also suffer from race-norming when held to unreasonable academic standards because “all Asians are smart.”

IQ and standardized tests depend on the idea that intelligence is a single, objective numerical variable. IQ tests weren’t developed because intelligence was discovered one day but because eugenicists wanted to justify ethnic cleansing. And thinking of intelligence based on classroom performance demands we believe educators are objective when dealing with students of different races. We have hard evidence that this is not the case (Forbes).

What IQ tests actually measure, rather than innate intelligence, seems to be largely how motivated students are when taking the test (Science). Though there is no measurable correlation between intelligence and future wealth (Scientific American), people thinking about financial stress perform significantly worse on intelligence tests (PBS).

In the aggregate, IQ tests largely measure not intelligence but oppression. The results are then turned around to justify poverty, injustice, and even reduced compensation for athletes suffering from brain trauma. There’s a long history of pseudoscientific racism lurking behind the purported objectivity of numerical scores.

Key Takeaways

The NFL held that Black athletes started with lower cognitive abilities than white athletes to avoid compensating players for brain injuries.
IQ tests were popularized by advocates of eugenics, whose wide popularity in the U.S. served as a model for Nazi Germany.
Though it’s unclear what IQ tests actually measure, student motivation and poverty have significant effects on scores.
The model minority myth was developed to combat the Black freedom movement and ignores wide disparities among Asian communities.

9/18/2020 | Reject racial gaslighting.

5/18/2021 | End “race norming” in healthcare.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/22/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/22/21

Learn the cost of college remediation.

Less than a quarter of community college students who take remedial courses go on to complete college-level courses. At four-year colleges, just over a third of students assigned to remediation continue to take college-level courses. The majority of students assigned to remediation at two-year colleges or universities will not graduate within three years or six years, respectively (Complete College America). Students who take remedial courses pay just as much for these courses as students who begin with college-level courses and are often left with student loan debt for coursework that did not lead to a degree.

Good morning and happy Tuesday! Today we're diving into the racial disparities in higher-level education, particularly, the barriers that college remediation courses can create for underestimated students. Nia joins us today to dive deeper.

ps – Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is made possible by your support. If you can, consider making a donation to support our team. You can start a monthly subscription on Patreon or our website, or give one-time using our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to the Center for American Progress to support research on fixing inequality in education.
Support equitable funding for all public schools.
Advocate for fixes to remediation and public school inequality in your community.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

College enrollment rates have nearly doubled since the 1960s, and people of color now attend college at a significantly higher rate (Education Data). Upon entering college, students often take an exam to assess their readiness. If they perform poorly, their school will recommend they take remedial classes to help them catch up before beginning college-level courses (Brookings).

Suppose high schools are not preparing students for a college education. In that case, it could be helpful for colleges to offer students an opportunity to begin their college career with a refresher course. But it is estimated that these courses cost students $1.3 billion every year, even though they do not count towards their degrees (American Progress).

Almost 68% of Black students who attend community college are assigned to remediation, as are 40% of Black students at universities (Complete College America). Black students are also overrepresented among those who fail remediation in college and ultimately do not complete their education (NCBI). There is also evidence suggesting that many students are assigned to remedial coursework they do not need (Brookings). Since education is strongly tied to lifetime earnings (SSA), it is essential to ensure that students who are seeking higher education are able to complete the ultimate goal of gaining a degree.

There are two potential solutions. The first is to improve primary and secondary education. In a previous newsletter, we discussed the effects of racialized tracking, the phenomenon of sorting minority students out of gifted and talented programs (ARD). Providing supplemental instruction to high school students who would need remediation upon entering college is another solution that has been implemented in Washington State. This eliminates the need for remediation altogether (Inside Higher Ed). Classes should be built into curriculums and allow students to gain credits while they complete them (Complete College America). And multiple modes of assessment should be used to assign students to remediation, ensuring students aren’t placed there unnecessarily (Brookings).

Part of the reason remediation is necessary for so many students of color is because of wildly different levels of resources given to different public schools. Because schools are funded by local property taxes, wealthier areas get well-resourced, better-performing schools. If education dollars were distributed fairly across school districts, schools in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods could offer more equitable education to their students (The Atlantic). Remediation courses are a bandage that educational institutions apply to a deeply inequitable system.

While we work to make primary and secondary schools more equitable educational institutions, we must enact strategies that eliminate the necessity of remediation or find a way to make it count so that it is not an additional burden to students who are pursuing an education. Applying strategies to integrate remediation into the curriculum and to ensure that we are not placing students in remedial courses who do not need them is the first step to providing an equitable college education which provides a pathway to graduation.

Key Takeaways

A large number of students being placed in remedial courses to make up for what they did not learn in high school.
These courses cost students over a billion dollars annually and do not count towards college credit.
Black students are placed in remedial courses at a disproportionately high rate compared to white students.
Schools should receive equal amounts of resources. Remediation should be eliminated and replaced with a more equitable practice.

3/30/2021 | Support the mental health of students of color.

12/14/2020 | Understand racialized tracking.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 5/26/21 Nicole Cardoza 5/26/21

Promote agricultural education.

Agriculture is in full focus this year with people gaining awareness about how their foods are cultivated. As people across the country found themselves spending more time at home, home and community-based gardening started to rise (MLive). This trend is not limited to adults. It also includes the education provided for students. Agricultural education is a powerful component of racial equity that should be promoted for students across the country.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back. After months spent at home, many people discovered their green thumb, buying plants and starting gardens to bring the outside in. Today, Tiffany shares more about the importance of agricultural education to deepen our collective connection to the food systems and the earth.

Thank you to everyone that makes this work possible. If you want to support, give $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate $10 to Great Kids Farm, which supports agricultural programming for Baltimore City Public School Students.
Look at the Federation of Southern Cooperative’s work for Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives doing agricultural education.
Watch Stephen Ritz’s TedxTalk about urban school farming, A Teacher Growing Green in South Bronx.
Support Urban Creators (Instagram), the group that runs Life Do Grow Farm in Philadelphia.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

This trend is not limited to adults. It also includes the education provided for students. Agricultural education is a powerful component of racial equity that should be promoted for students across the country.

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives’ Darnella Winston told Anti-Racism Daily that “[many people] don't see the other side [of farming], or the beauty of being able to grow what it is that you want to eat, to be able to sell it at a price that you want, to be able to sell it regardless of market expectations.”

The Baltimore City School System operates Great Kids Farms as part of their school curriculum (Great Kids Farm). Miami-Dade County has a Food Forests for Schools program that helps students plant and maintain edible gardens on school grounds (Education Fund). The Green Bronx Machine is a school-based curriculum to teach students how to grow vegetables in their schools and communities (Green Bronx Machine).

Agriculture education is undertaken outside schools by groups like Urban Creators, a North Philadelphia organization started by youth organizers that operates the Life Do Grow Farm (Urban Creators).

At a basic level, agricultural education involves teaching students the science of growing and cultivating foods. Connecting students of color with this knowledge supports healthy communities today and begins to right historical wrongs.

There were 1 million Black American farmers in 1920 but only 45,000 in 2019 (The Guardian). In 2012, less than 60,000 Indigenous Americans worked as farmers (Census of Agriculture), a steep decrease for communities in part historically focused on sustainable agriculture.

Some of this decline can be attributed to negative modern ideas about agriculture, particularly in communities of color with histories of forced farming. Teaching young children of color farming helps them to connect with history that has been systematically stripped away over many years. Many food trends of today emerged only 50 years ago. It’s important for children to learn that while you can get an apple from a supermarket, you can also grow one like many of their ancestors did.

Agricultural education also helps low-income communities of color access healthy food. In the mid-twentieth century, supermarkets became the predominant way for Americans to buy food (Washington Post). Their rise largely bypassed low-income communities and communities of color (CNN). Even in neighborhoods with similar levels of poverty, communities with more Black and Latinx people have fewer supermarkets and less healthy food offerings (Johns Hopkins). When grocery stores do come to low-income Black and Latinx neighborhoods, the relatively high cost of healthy produce still keeps families buying lower quality options (The Counter).

“It's not so much that we want to [just] teach about agriculture, but we want everybody to see and understand and feel the ways that food and agriculture and land are tied into every part of who we are and what we do and how we learn,” Laura Menyuk, Farm to School education specialist at Baltimore City Public Schools, told Anti-Racism Daily.

“And no matter their culture and heritage and family background, if [kids] live in the United States, they are part of a society that has forced a disconnection with land and food in large part upon us by how our food system operates.”

Less healthy food translates to worse health. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx youth have a significantly higher prevalence of chronic conditions due in part to food inequality (NIH). Food injustice denies children of color the right to develop physically and mentally in the healthiest way they can. It’s a particularly insidious form of systemic oppression.

This is why teaching students about agriculture and how to grow healthy foods such an important aspect of undoing deep-seated racial discrimination. Teaching children of color about growing foods teaches children that they can be part of solutions to food injustice.

Key Takeaways

Unequal access to healthy foods impedes the health of children of color.
Agricultural education teaches children how to grow healthy foods that many cannot afford to access in supermarkets.
Schools and community organizations are creating programs to help students reconnect with farming and food production.

RELATED ISSUES

12/23/2020 | Combat food deserts.

11/23/2020 | Fight food insecurity.

3/2/2021 | Advocate for clean water.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 5/14/21 Nicole Cardoza 5/14/21

Support workers’ rights for educators.

Hate crime charges serve as a sentencing enhancement when someone acts with bias while committing a crime. This bias must be against members of a protected class – such as a specific race, religion, or sexual orientation – and it must be a motivating factor for the crime (Time). It seems reasonable that a crime is more odious if it occurs solely because the victim is a member of an oppressed community.

It's Friday! Welcome back to the newsletter. Yesterday, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people can be indoors and outdoors in most places without a mask (NBC News). This news has prompted many industries to call for a full re-opening of businesses, including public school classrooms across the U.S. (Politico). Today, Andrew shares the perspective of educators – particularly those of color – and how we can support their wellbeing through this transition.

Thank you to everyone that gives a little when they can to keep this newsletter going! If you can, consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. This newsletter will continue to be a free resource because of this collective support.

Nicole

ps – apologies for the incorrect takeaways yesterday! I'm still trying to get the hang of this new platform. They're correct on the web version of our archives.

TAKE ACTION

Support a progressive teachers’ union in your community, like the Philadelphia Caucus of Working Educators, for example.
Advocate for school reopenings alongside the wishes and interests of educators and students.
Educate yourself about the toll COVID-19 placed on teachers – and how retaining Black teachers will help Black students succeed.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

We’re a long way from the early days of the pandemic when the nurses, grocery store clerks, and pharmacists who kept society running were praised as heroes (Newsweek). Instead of celebrating essential workers, some now focus on punishing those workers “too lazy” to return to what are often menial, low-paying jobs (Jacobin).

Teachers fall into both categories. They’re celebrated and considered essential while at the same time scorned if they don’t want to return to dangerous work conditions. Educators can provide the next generation with the skills and knowledge they’ll need for the rest of their lives. Nearly all of us were raised in part by teachers. Those who have or plan to have children will see them spend a majority of their waking lives under the supervision of teachers. Almost everyone would agree that teachers are crucially important.

That sentiment is a far cry from actually supporting educators. In March, Los Angeles’ largest teachers union decried plans to reopen schools as “a recipe for propagating structural racism” (Politico). According to the United Teachers of Los Angeles, it was largely wealthy white parents who pushed for school reopenings. This put both education workers and working-class students of color at risk, given that poorer neighborhoods have much higher rates of COVID and school staff were not yet fully vaccinated.

Right before Philadelphia schools reopened, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ Caucus of Working Educators shared photos of classrooms with mouse droppings and mold. This was despite previous assurances by the school district that schools were clean and ready for students (Chalkbeat). “We feel lied to and betrayed seeing the condition of our school,” said one educator. The rush to reopen clearly put both teachers and students at risk in a school district where most students are students of color (National Center for Education Statistics).

In May 2020, 7 out of 10 teachers reported their lower morale due to the pandemic, though at that point stay-at-home orders in most states were less than two months old (EdSurge). Now, teachers are even closer to the breaking point (NPR). One said the past year was harder than teaching in New York City after 9/11. Another, a Black teacher in Virginia, said that the combination of COVID and ongoing police murders have left her at “points of lowness [she] hadn’t experienced before.”

At the beginning of this school year, a quarter of teachers said they intended to leave before its end (Rand Corporation). And even before the pandemic, Black teachers in poor work environments were dramatically more likely to leave than their white coworkers (Chalkbeat).

Teachers are under pressure from parents and administrators alike. They were already dealing with poor salaries and working conditions, resulting in teachers–especially teachers of color–being squeezed out of the profession. This is an outrage for racial justice and a shameful way to treat educators, who are lauded in the abstract but ignored in real life.

Right-wing propaganda has long claimed that teachers' unions are bad for students and society writ large. And it’s true that there are bad teachers in teachers’ unions. There are bad bus drivers in bus driver unions and bad nurses unions and bad flight attendants in flight attendant unions because that’s how people are. Of course, we should vigorously oppose racist, queerphobic, and patriarchal behavior by those in positions of power in schools, just as we should struggle against their existence in any institution.

But at a time where teachers are pushed out of the field and schools are reopening in dangerous ways, groups of educators in progressive teachers unions are leading the fight for the wellbeing of their colleagues and students. Organized, progressive teachers are demanding safe, well-resourced classrooms and living wages for those who teach them. Supporting these struggles is how we ensure working-class students of color can succeed academically and educators of color can succeed professionally.

We need to support teachers’ rights.

Key Takeaways

The pandemic squeezed teachers to the breaking point.
25% of educators plan to leave their profession, and Black educators are leaving at higher rates than white ones.
Progressive teachers unions have led the fight to ensure school re-openings don’t put students at risk.

3/17/2021 | End standardized testing.

2/23/2021 | Rally against anti-trans legislation.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 5/7/21 Nicole Cardoza 5/7/21

Advocate for critical race theory education.

Yesterday, the governor of Idaho signed a bill into state law designed to prevent critical race theory from being taught in schools and universities. Specifically, the law bans discourse on the notion that any members of any race, sex, religion, ethnicity, or national origin are inferior or superior to other groups and that certain groups benefit from privileges based on society’s perception of their identity (The Guardian). A similar law was also enacted this week in Tennessee, and other states – including Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Florida – have proposed to do the same.

It's Friday! Welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. We briefly touched on this topic last fall, but as the conversations heat up again in schools, it's important to revisit the foundation of critical race theory. If you're reading this email, you're already familiar with the framework – we touch on many of the themes regularly. Take action to protect this necessary curriculum in schools.

This newsletter is possible because of our gracious supporters! Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

The Department of Education has a list of proposed priorities for creating a more culturally-responsive American History and Civics Education. They are requesting public comments from the community to gauge sentiment. Take a few minutes to review the curriculum and leave a (positive) review. The majority are negative.
Read this introduction to critical race theory to get a comprehensive overview.
Research specific bills that have been proposed or passed in your state, and the best way to take action.
Consider: How has your education so far informed your perspective on racism and systemic oppression? If you experienced institutionalized education, what has it contributed to what you know now?

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

This is the latest iteration of a long conservative tirade against the notion of educating on race in schools and organizations, accelerated by the Trump administration. Former President Trump wielded conservative sentiment around critical race theory to his advantage, using his platform to admonish the idea of diversity and inclusion trainings, the 1619 Project, and talking about racism in school (PBS). During its time, the Trump administration passed an executive order banning the federal government and its contractors from using curriculum that examined systemic racism, which was reversed by the Biden administration immediately after taking office (USA Today).

A common refrain against introducing critical race theory in schools is that it “indoctrinates” kids into racism. But in reality, critical race theory is a framework designed to help identify and understand how racism plays a part in our society. It helps provide insight and understanding of how racism can be studied, processed, and dismantled. It was created during the 1970s by a group of lawyers, activists, and legal scholars. Although it began as a theory for legal studies, critical race theory is widely taught and studied across disciplines, including education, sociology, and medicine (Critical Race Theory).

There are six key tenets to critical race theory:

Racism is a normalized and commonplace part of society. It is not just reflected in individual actions but embedded in our cultural and political practices and systems.
Consequently, whiteness is a “property” – something with tangible value – that offers white people unearned privileges and opportunities not afforded to people of color at the same level, like access to wealth, safety from law enforcement, opportunities for academic success, etc.
Because of this, the notion that all are treated equally, and have the same rights and opportunities, is a myth, challenging concepts like colorblindness and meritocracy.
Since racism benefits those with power and privilege, there is little incentive to solve it – unless it benefits both people of color and dominant members of society. This is also referred to as “interest convergence.”
Intersectionality is critical for understanding racism. Everyone has intersecting identities based on their racial/ethnic background, socioeconomic status, gender identity, etc., which means that each person experiences racism in unique ways.
The personal experiences of people of color are worthy and legitimate forms of discourse in the conversations on racism, especially when countering the default narrative.

There are several variations of critical race theory that focus on specific ethnic/racial groups, or intersectionalities within ethnic/racial groups – including critical race feminism (CRF), Latino critical race studies (LatCrit), Asian American critical race studies (AsianCrit), South Asian American critical race studies (DesiCrit), American Indian critical race studies (TribCrit), and disability critical race studies (DisCrit).

Our social world, with its rules, practices, and assignments of prestige and power, is not fixed; rather, we construct with it words, stories and silence. But we need not acquiesce in arrangements that are unfair and one-sided. By writing and speaking against them, we may hope to contribute to a better, fairer world.

– Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge (Third Edition)

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for some time, you’ll notice that we cover all of these topics regularly. Explore our archives to find many of these topics covered in previous newsletters. And if you’re interested, you can find a more comprehensive overview of critical race theory here.

When understood from this lens, it’s clear how necessary this discourse is within our schools and universities. Like any other subject, racism needs theory to help understand it in practice. And students are already learning about racism in practice, whether it’s on the syllabus or not. If they are a person of color, they are impacted by it directly. And either way, it’s unlikely they do not hear about racist incidents through the news, social media, or other aspects of their everyday lives. I think our youth are due, at minimum, a framework for contextualizing the world they live in.

This conservative attack isn’t just for the sake of education but one of many attempts to delegitimize the notion of racism and, consequently, the policies and practices to change that. We must advocate for this, not just in education, but normalized in all aspects of our society. As Justice Harry Blackmun stated, “in order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.”

Key Takeaways

States across the country have proposed or passed legislation to ban critical race education in schools and universities
Developed in the 1970s, critical race theory is a framework created by activists and scholars to understand how racism persists in the U.S.
This is part of a broader campaign to discredit the concept of racism and its influence in U.S.

9/7/2020 | Learn about critical race theory.

9/21/2020 | Support the 1619 Project.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 5/3/21 Nicole Cardoza 5/3/21

Demand cops off campus.

Today is the first day of a series of actions organized by the Cops Off Campus Coalition, a network of students, educators, staff, and community members passionate about abolishing policing at all levels of education. I chatted with Alecia Harger (she/they), a sophomore at UC Berkeley and representative for both UC Berkeley Cops Off Campus and the transnational Cops Off Campus Coalition. We discussed today’s Day of Refusal, Abolition May, and the significance of getting cops off of campuses.

It's Monday and we're back with another issue of the Anti-Racism Daily! Thank you for being here, and staying committed to this work. I am so inspired by the campaign that the Cops Off Campus Coalition created for Abolition May, and excited to share their work below. Today is the Day of Refusal, and it's still early enough to join in! Learn more in the interview below.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Take the pledge to participate in the Transnational Day of Refusal. You can use this resource of sample messaging to share with students/faculty that might be interested.
Review the various actions you can take to support the Cops Off Campus campaign through the month of May.
Follow the campaign on social media on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Today is the first day of a series of actions organized by the Cops Off Campus Coalition, a network of students, educators, staff, and community members passionate about abolishing policing at all levels of education. I chatted with Alecia Harger (she/they), a sophomore at UC Berkeley and representative for both UC Berkeley Cops Off Campus and the transnational Cops Off Campus Coalition. We discussed today’s Day of Refusal, Abolition May, and the significance of getting cops off of campuses. This is a snippet of our conversation – the full story will be released in an upcoming podcast episode.

Thank you so much for being here. I know you just got out of class, and it's finals week. And you have a pretty big day of action coming up on May 3rd.

Yep. May 3rd, we are having a Transnational Day of Refusal. We are encouraging people to withhold their labor in whatever form that may take, whether that's paid labor, that's compensated by the university, academic labor, like turning in assignments and going to class, or the labor of graduate student instructors who are grading assignments. For one day this month, we’re encouraging everybody to withholds their labor in solidarity with activists and organizers who are trying to get cops off campus. And this is clearly connected to May Day; which was May 1st. It's just the first school day after May Day.

Can you explain May Day for people that might not be familiar?

Yeah. It's a day of solidarity between workers that often takes the form of labor refusals and strikes. In the Bay area, there are always a lot of protests. And I know that across the country, it's often used as the date to bring solidarity across many issues – labor issues, human rights issues, the issues of political prisoners, racial justice, environmental justice, etc. Learn more about May Day, or International Workers’ Day.

Yes, thank you. Refusing labor has been a powerful act of protest across social and political movements throughout history.

Absolutely. And by withholding our labor, we demonstrate how we hold universities up. It is our labor that maintains these universities – our sweat, our blood. They cannot function without the underpaid and exploited labor of graduate students and other underpaid staff.

Talk a little bit more about getting cops off campus. That's something that we had discussed at length here at the Anti-Racism Daily. It's certainly a small, substantial step towards abolition. Can you share a little bit more about how this is affecting your school?

I go to UC Berkeley and the UC schools has its own police department. It is a statewide police department with statewide jurisdiction. There are very few departments with statewide jurisdiction, except for, like, the California Highway Patrol. And on the UC Berkeley campus, there have been several instances of police brutality across the decades – like the fight to liberate People's Park in Berkeley in 1969, which was met with extreme amounts of police violence. We have seen this pattern of violence continue to the present. Our institution of higher education functions as a carceral branch of the state when our campuses are infested with police officers who brutalize and victimize marginalized students and community members.

Yeah. And by centering this directly into the academic environment, it acts as education that safety is correlated with law enforcement, right?

Absolutely. There's a 2019 survey of UC Berkeley students that showed the majority of Black and trans students do not trust the campus police department. And that's not a surprise. When we define safety on our campuses, we're defining safety based on the safety and comfort of privileged students, namely white students. We completely ignore what safety looks like for marginalized people. When we say get cops off campus, we mean re-imagining safety to being inclusive of everyone, and creating a space that's genuinely safe for even the most marginalized and victimized people.

I'd like to hear a bit more about how y'all organized this coalition. Y’all have created such a depth of resources that empower anyone to take action. What has that process been like?

So initially, our transnational coalition was two different groups. One was primarily students and one was primarily faculty. At some point, we decided to merge groups. We all came together under the charge of creating abolition. The coalition has grown organically, and rapidly.

How can parents, family members, or community members support?

I think that we all know college students. Simply spreading this information is incredibly helpful. Additionally, if you live in a town with a college, you are welcome at our actions. You don't just have to be a university student. We want to draw on community members because campus policing affects everyone in a campus community. It does not just affect students. I believe at UC Berkeley, Black and Latinx drivers are more likely to be stopped by UCPD. You don't have to be a student to get stopped by UCPD. These are issues that affect our entire community. And when we say Cops Off Campus, we don't just mean to limit it to institutions of higher education. We mean, we want cops off of high school campuses. We want cops off of elementary school campuses. We want cops off of diversion schools for youth who are considered to be wayward. We want cops out of our hearts and cops out of our minds. So this is not just a fight for college campuses. This is a full on abolitionist fight that just so happens to start in our institutions of higher learning.

Our goal is to see cops off of this earth and that's why that's our social media handle – @copsoffearth – because this abolition does not stop at our campuses. We know that abolition is the only thing that can keep us safe. Everything else just kicks the can down the road, and continues to endanger Black, Brown, Indigenous, disabled, and queer people. Abolition is the only path to our safety and we know that to be true. That is our goal.

Key Takeaways

This month, the Cops Off Campus Coalition has organized a month-long series of actions to advocate the removal of police from school campuses.
Today, May 3, is the Transnational Day of Refusal, a day for students, teachers and staff to withhold labor from their higher institutions in protest of policing.
This series of action is part of a broader call for abolition, urging institutions to adapt alternative practices that reimagine safety for those most marginalized.

7/2/2020 | Remove police from our public schools.

7/15/2020 | End racial bias in school discipline.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/28/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/28/21

Demand the repatriation of human remains.

Last week, Abdul-Aliy Muhammad published an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer outlining some disturbing news: Penn Museum and Princeton University has been holding the remains of two children killed in the MOVE bombing of 1985 hostage for 36 years – without the consent or consideration of their family.

Happy Thursday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Today's story still haunts me since I first read it last week. But it's a dialogue we must continue to have – not just for the remains of our ancestors long gone, but establishing a precedent for the sanctity of our remains today and in the future. The desecration of our remains after death mirror the same violence we experience as marginalized communities in life.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the petition to demand the immediate return of the remains of Delisha Africa and Tree Africa to The MOVE Family.
Watch the press conference, held by the family of the victims, hosted on April 26th.
Support the global movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist, and former Black Panther.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

The MOVE bombing occurred in 1985 when the Philadelphia Police Department bombed a residential home belonging to a member of MOVE, a Black radical group. The attack started with an armed standoff, where police officers spent over ten thousand rounds of ammunition. When the residents did not exit the home, police dropped a bomb on the premises. The resulting fire killed six MOVE members and five of their children and destroyed 65 houses in the neighborhood - fires that were left to spread intentionally by law enforcement (Blackpast).

The sheer lack of respect for the victims of this bombing was evident 36 years ago. Abdul-Aliy Muhammad notes that many of the bodies decomposed in a city morgue for six months after the incident, instead of being returned to family members. And Penn Museum and Princeton University are both guilty of the same carelessness and lack of accountability. The remains that passed between the two institutions are of Tree Africa and Delisha Africa, who were 14 and 13 years old, respectively, when they died. These remains were even featured in a Princeton University’s online course, where a professor can be seen handling and examining a badly burned femur and pelvic bone.

In a public press conference held by the victims’ families, the pain and heartbreak that they’ve experienced is visceral. They discuss not just the state-sanctioned violence they’ve experienced since the bombing in 1985, but the horror of learning about their remains.

“

Those remains are not my sister, Tree Tree. My sister Tree Tree was flesh and blood. I’ll never have her back...They can’t give me back my sisters, my brothers. They can’t repair what they have done. There are no demands that they can meet to rectify this situation. Nothing.

Janine Africa, at the MOVE Family Press Conference

This wasn’t even the first time that Penn has been careless with remains. In 2020, the museum announced that it would remove its Morton Cranial Collection from view (Penn Museum). The collection included hundreds of skulls, many proven to be from enslaved Africans, Native Americans, and Cubans (The Daily Pennsylvanian). The skulls were collected by Samuel George Morton, a 19th-century, University of Pennsylvania-educated man who believed in the pseudoscience of phrenology – that some races are inferior to others based on the size of their brains (Hyperallergic). Phrenology is not just scientifically inaccurate. It offered a “scientific” rationale for the systemic oppression of people from marginalized races and ethnicities (Vassar) and laid the foundation for 20th-century eugenics.

Advocates demand that Penn Museum begin the process of repatriation of all its contents. Although a committee has been created, these steps have yet to be taken as of April 2021 (Penn Museum). But when you read much of the press surrounding the latest allegations, many articles center their apology and intentions rather than the demands of the family harmed.

These issues aren’t unique to Penn, though. Museums worldwide hold human remains, including skulls, skeletons, bone fragments, and even preserved heads – both on display and in storage. The practice is rooted in colonization; throughout the 19th century, European settlers would “collect” body parts of non-European communities, either as keepsakes or for “scientific purposes,” akin to the phrenological purposes noted above. These remains were often taken forcefully, without consent, and disregarding the cultural and spiritual practices of honoring the remains of the dead. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa estimates that the preserved tattooed heads of at least 600 known Māori and Moriori ancestors are located in European museums. Over the past decade, they’ve been able to repatriate at least 500 other remains back – a time-intensive and costly process that the source communities are responsible for (Artnet).

Although museums in the U.S. have human remains of Indigenous communities from around the world, they hold far more remains of Indigenous communities who stewarded the lands now referred to as North America. They also host remains of enslaved African American people. Earlier this year, Harvard University announced that amidst its collection of 22,000 human remains, at least 15 were the remains of enslaved African people. They issued an apology and committed to creating a committee for properly addressing these remains (Harvard). The Smithsonian Institution houses the nation’s most extensive collection of human remains, many of which are located at the National Museum of Natural History. They, too, are expected to make a statement on their role of holding African American remains (NYTimes).

Although repatriation is a clear path to address these wrongdoings, it’s not straightforward for African American remains. Many remains were collected without information about where they came from and who those people were. In addition, it can be challenging to trace lineage to present-day descendants. Beyond that – where do the remains belong? Laid to rest here in the United States or sent back to their country of origin? And who has the power to make that decision if no descendants can be identified? But practices can follow the process of The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Enacted in 1990, the law requires institutions that receive federal funding to consult with the Indigenous communities where the remains are from to repatriate them publicly (NPS). No similar law exists for African American enslaved people – yet.

But there is a clear and direct way to address the harm inflicted on the Africa family. Today, take a moment to complete the action items above. And, more broadly, stay engaged in the unfolding conversations on remains housed in public institutions. Notice how artifacts were gathered and whether or not they’re displayed in partnership with the Indigenous communities they represent. And rally for the repatriation of those remains whenever called for by their families.

Key Takeaways

Penn Museum and Princeton University has been holding the remains of two children killed in the MOVE bombing of 1985 hostage for 36 years – without the consent or consideration of their family.
Across the world, museums hold the remains of marginalized communities, often without the consent or consideration of the communities they come from.
Public institutions deserve to be held responsible for the harm they inflict with storing and/or displaying the remains of people without consent.

9/4/2020 | Tell museums to replace stolen artifacts.

8/25/2020 | Rally against racism in America’s art museums.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/12/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/12/21

End solitary confinement.

Last week, the HALT (Humane Alternatives to Long-Term) Solitary Confinement Act was signed into law in NY (Bronx Times). This law establishes a series of limitations for the use of solitary confinement, particularly to protect vulnerable individuals from its adverse health effects (NY Senate). It also prevents the denial of essential services to those experiencing solitary confinement, requires due process for solitary confinement sentencing, and mandates the use of rehabilitative programming for those that experience it. This is a small but necessary step forward in reshaping the role of incarceration in our society.

Happy Monday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. The passing of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act in New York last week is symbolic, especially considering the stories of Kalief Browder, Layleen Polanco, and so many others that have lost their lives after experiencing solitary confinement in NY state prisons. Today's email explains more about the harmful practices of solitary confinement and encourages us to learn more about the practice in our states.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Listen to first-hand accounts of those directly and indirectly impacted by solitary confinement, including Ian Manuel, Darlene McDay, Dyjuan Tatro, and Akeem Browder.
Research the status of solitary confinement in your state and act accordingly. Review the tools provided by the ACLU to help inform your advocacy efforts.
Support the work of Black & Pink, a national prison abolitionist organization dedicating to supporting the safety and liberation of the LGBTQIA2S+ and people living with HIV/AIDS impacted by the criminal justice system. You can make a donation or become a pen pal with someone incarcerated.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Solitary confinement is the most extreme form of isolation in a detention setting, and can include physical and social isolation in a cell for 22 to 24 hours per day. During this time, those in solitary confinement receive very little human interaction (and always behind a barrier), have no or little natural light, are stripped of any reading materials or entertainment, and are severely limited from communication to the outside world (ACLU).

There’s a misconception that this form of punishment is reserved for violent offenders. In reality, most of the individuals held in solitary confinement have a cognitive disability or mental health condition. Many others impacted are those unfairly penalized for a low-level infraction (ACLU). In four of the five facilities that participated in a study with the Vera Institute for Justice, low-level, nonviolent offenses were the most common infractions to result in solitary confinement (Vera).

A 2018 study found that men of color were much more likely to be placed in solitary confinement than white men. Although women, compared to men, are less likely to experience solitary confinement overall, they’re more likely to be sent there because of a low-level infraction (Vera). Prisoners between the ages of 18 and 36 were more likely to be segregated than were older individuals (ASCA). And incarcerated individuals that identify as LGBTQ+ are more likely to experience solitary confinement. A national survey of LGBTQ+ people that have been held in state or federal prisons found that 85% of respondents spent some time in solitary confinement during their time behind bars – some because it was “safer” than the abuse they experienced in general lockup (Solitary Watch). At least 80,000 people are held in “restricted housing” each day (Prisons Within Prisons: The Use of Segregation in the United States). A more recent study found that nearly 2,000 prisoners have been held in isolation for more than six years (NYAPRS).

Solitary confinement is detrimental to the health of those that experience it. Psychologically, the social deprivation caused by solitary confinement can rewire the brain, creating long-lasting neurological damage. Individuals who experience prolonged social lack can experience “social pain,” which the brain processes in the same way as physical pain. Young people, who are still in the formative stages of their physical and mental development, are particularly vulnerable to this. Individuals who experience solitary confinement can suffer from hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, and exacerbated pre-existing health conditions. It’s also directly linked to premature death. In New York State, the rate of suicide was 5x higher for those that experienced solitary confinement than the average prison population (Vera).

It also harms those that experience it indirectly. Family members of those held in solitary confinement experience added levels of duress when they couldn’t be in contact with their loved ones, which has lasting implications (Vera). Staff members often experience higher stress and anxiety levels when working in restrictive housing units (Vera).

And not only is it cruel, research indicates that it’s ineffective to change behavior. Studies show that the practice does not significantly reduce misconduct, violence, or recidivism. In fact, in some cases, it might increase the likelihood for people to re-offend, especially if they transition directly from solitary confinement to release (Supermax incarceration and recidivism). It’s also costly, calling for 2-3x the costs of housing an incarcerated individual in the general population (Solitary Watch). Facilities could instead leverage these resources for safer and effective forms of care.

There are alternative options that center the wellbeing of those incarcerated while maximizing safety for all parties involved. Alternative practices have included severely limiting the time of solitary confinement, divesting some of the time/energy in solitary confinement towards mental health care, and fostering social interaction in a more healthy and generative way. They also rally to end the use of solitary confinement entirely for young people, pregnant women, and those with severe mental health conditions. You can read specific tactics taken by five facilities in a partnership with Vera, and review the Restrictive Housing Assessment Tool they created to guide other facilities to adopt similar practices.

Solitary confinement is a public health issue that needs to be addressed. No one person’s wellbeing should be at the expense of the illusion of safety.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Last week, the HALT (Humane Alternatives to Long-Term) Solitary Confinement Act was signed into law in NY (Bronx Times). This law establishes a series of limitations for the use of solitary confinement, particularly to protect vulnerable individuals from its adverse health effects (NY Senate).
Solitary confinement is detrimental to the health of those that experience it and their loved ones, and the staff that participates in it. It's also not proven to reduce levels of misconduct, violence, or
recidivism.
There are alternative options that center the wellbeing of those incarcerated while maximizing safety for all parties involved.

RELATED ISSUES

1/29/2021 | Abolish prison labor.

1/12/2021 | Abolish the death penalty.

1/6/2021 | End felony disenfranchisement.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/9/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/9/21

End exploitative internships.

This week, Condé Nast resumed its internship program after shuttering it due to a class-action lawsuit in 2013. That controversy sparked a national dialogue on unpaid labor, one that’s important to revisit in these uncertain times. Currently, about 43% of internships at for-profit companies are unpaid (Washington Post), and new research indicates that number may be increasing (NBC News). Yet at the same time, a young workforce is eagerly looking for potential opportunities to gain experience this summer after a year disrupted by COVID-19. How do we reconcile the inequities of the industry with the desire to learn and grow?

Happy Friday, everyone! A dear reader reminded me of this topic this week, which I've been meaning to write about all month. I really dislike how much youth are expected to prove themselves to get a job while they redefine culture and society from their smartphones. I can't stop thinking about how many teenagers have testified during the Derek Chauvin trials. And yet somehow we're still creating barriers to entry-level employment?!

I wrote this today because I've been researching how we can continue to support young writers over here at the ARD. I don't have anything formed yet, but I DO have an open inbox for young BIPOC writers looking for advice. Just reply to this email.

Tomorrow is our weekly Study Hall where I answer questions from the community about what we published this week, or how this work is showing up in your life. Reply to this email to submit your own.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support Pay Our Interns, an organization advocating for paid internships across all work sectors.
Donate to organizations offering funding to ease the burden of taking internships, like the Black Girl 44 Scholarship and Latinx44 Scholarship Program.
Advocate for the compensation of any unpaid interns at your organization.
If you have the capacity, consider offering mentorship to those entering a new career path so they can generate experience with more flexible terms.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Unpaid internships blossomed in the 1970s, where there was a higher rate of college graduates than ever before. The rise of increased supply was well-timed with a workforce that needed less labor-intensive roles than ever before, thanks to the rise of technology. Internships became a way for companies to get more hungry and skilled workers on projects at a much lower cost, effectively replacing the entry-level job (Time). Over time, entry-level employers grew to expect employees to have this experience.

But these came to a head after the lawsuits referenced above. In 2013, two former interns from W and The New Yorker sued, citing that they were underpaid for the work they contributed at their offices (one individual was paid $1/hour to organize accessories in the fashion closet) (Reuters). Similar lawsuits in fashion and entertainment led to a shift in the industry, and the unpaid internship became less popular, moving to college credit or a small stipend. However, the U.S. Department of Labor still allows employers to offer internships without pay as long as they meet allow employers to offer unpaid internships, on the condition that they can be proven as “educational” (dol.gov). And often, the light compensation does little to change the conditions that make these opportunities untenable.

It’s clear that working an unpaid internship takes a lot of privilege. Many people can’t financially afford to work for free, and are forced to either decline opportunities or work an additional job to sustain themselves (The Eyeopener). It also takes a lot of time privilege; people with kids at home or other time-consuming responsibilities might not be able to get away. But internships like these have more lasting implications, too. Often, entry-level roles are filled from unpaid internships, which means that those with the most privilege to weather these roles are first to be hired (NACE). This can accelerate the lack of diversity and representation at major companies.

But on a broader scale, it starts creating a narrative of worth and value around our youth. There’s a correlation between knowledge and capabilities with having an internship. Young people that can’t get access to an internship may not be perceived as someone that deserves the same level of recognition. When access to internships is already to center those privileged, it’s easy to see how those from marginalized backgrounds can suffer from the insinuation that they are “less than” in the workforce. This subtle form of bias adds to the layers of discrimination that people with marginalized identities face in the workplace.

Important to note that many internships require candidates to be in school, which even further excludes youth that aren’t pursuing a degree and older people that might be starting their careers for the first time.

Some internships offer college credit as compensation. Although that offers some sort of recognition for work completed, it often costs more than it might be worth. Most students still have to pay the university for those credits accumulated, which increases their financial burden instead of eases it (Washington Post). You can argue that they would have had to pay for those credits anyway, but is that justification to extract labor? Some colleges have waived these fees.

"
Experience doesn't pay the bills. An intern cannot go to the grocery store, go to the checkout line, and when the cashier says cash or credit you can't pay with experience. You can't go to your landlord and pay your rent with experience. That's the key thing here. No one is denying that the main purpose of education is to get experience. It is. But people need a paycheck to pay for bills while they're getting that experience.

Carlos Mark Vera, co-founder and executive director of Pay Our Interns, for NBC News

Some people are quick to defend unpaid internships for a few reasons. First, there’s the perception that people have to earn their dues before being compensated for their labor. This reasoning tends to ignore that students who receive internships while in college already earn those dues in class all day – often racking up tens of thousands of dollars of debt in the process. Others admonish that unpaid internships are the only way that smaller businesses with tight budgets can gain extra labor. We know that small organizations often thrive off of volunteer support, and are often necessary to reach scale. However, the normalization of unpaid internships is reinforced by large, multimillion corporations, not small businesses.

If you want to participate in an unpaid internship, by all means. But let’s shift the expectation that everyone can, and must, to thrive. If you’re an employer hiring someone new to your industry, consider placing less emphasis on internship experience during the interview process. If unpaid internships are absolutely necessary for your work, ensure you’re offering as much care and attention to the burden it places on its participants. And most importantly, notice how our appreciation of labor shapes our perception of the worth and value of entire communities.

11/17/2020 | Cancel student debt.

8/17/2020 | Fight for equity in remote learning.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/30/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/30/21

Support the mental health of students of color.

Everyday, millions of minority students suffer in silence, struggling to cope with the formidable hurdles they face on their path to receiving a higher education. Combating direct and indirect racial discrimination is an all-encompassing battle that continually dares people of color to survive. Carrying this weight while balancing a rigorous curriculum can often come at a serious cost to the mental health and well-being of students of color. In addition to this, the pandemic and the rise in white extremist violence and police brutality has added more strain to the life of students of color. This college mental health crisis is only exacerbated by the lack of support students of color receive from their institutions who fail to provide sustained efforts for equity, and the tangible resources needed to thrive (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

Happy Tuesday! Today is publication day for my first book, which offers accessible mindfulness resources for kids. I've spent the past decade working in schools to help mitigate the impact of what we're discussing today: the difficult emotions that students are processing while trying to get an education. I'm grateful that Kholiswa shared her perspective based on her experience.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

If you need mental health care, visit findtreatment.samhsa.gov or call 800-622-HELP (4357).
Petition local school boards to hire more counselors and advisors of color to help support students of color who have mental health needs related to exposure to racism. 14 million kids go to school that has cops, but no counselors.
Donate to Active Minds, a nonprofit that partners with students on campus to address mental health.
Visit the Equity in Mental Health website and support by donating to The Steve Fund and The Jed Foundation—partners in the Equity in Mental Health Framework—to support the advancement of programs and services dedicated to supporting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of young people of color nationwide.

GET EDUCATED

By Kholiswa Mendes Pepani (she/her)

While transitioning to college is a challenging time for all who are privileged enough to experience it, the adjustment is even tougher for students of color, particularly those who arrive from low-income backgrounds and are first-generation college students. Most college campuses that are not historically Black carry legacies and traditions indicative of white supremacy. From buildings named after racist figures to the white students who go unpunished for racist acts, the message being sent to students of color reverberates clearly, you do not belong here (The Hechinger Report).

The alienation of entering a space inherently designed for white students is only worsened by incidents of racial discrimination from peers and the institutions themselves. Students of color have, for years, been reporting incidents of racial hostility both subtle and blatant that includes microaggressions, racist vandalism, verbal slurs, and physical assaults (Inside Higher Ed). Such incidents are compounded by a lack of intervention from institutions that fail to condemn or address racism on their campuses. Take Colbie Lofton—a Black student at the Appalachian State University—for instance, in 2018 on the first week of class, Lofton sat in her macroeconomics class and proceeded to ask her professor a question. Behind her, she heard some of her white classmates make the racist comment, “I guess n*****s don’t understand.”

Lofton was unaware of the process of reporting the comment to her university and kept the disturbing insults to herself and neither did her college professor have the heart to take up for her. This left Lofton with the heightened awareness that there are deep prejudices that some people hold against Black people and therefore left her feeling unwelcome and ‘out of place’ in a predominately white school. More often than not, students who are struggling with racism on campus are left feeling invalidated, ignored, and undervalued by administrators who minimize the experiences or redirect injured parties to seek reparation through bureaucratic and time-consuming processes, especially those campuses that cater mostly to white students (Inside Higher Ed).

Many students have stories of being called a racial slur directly or seeing it through racist posts by students on social media. But these types of incidents don’t only happen on college campuses. It also exists in high schools as well. In April 2020, two Georgia high school students posted a disturbing, racist video on TikTok that implies the contents that Black people are made up of. Some of the words and phrases used include ‘Black,’ ‘don’t have a dad,’ ‘rob people,’ ‘go to jail,’ and the last comment implies that Black people always make bad choices (New York Times). Though the students were expelled, there were no evident steps taken to ensure the mental wellness of their black schoolmates was taken care of. It is people who think and act like this who helped ignite the national racial movement, Black Lives Matter.

The outrage over the police killings of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people has given the students’ cause momentum and has forced school administrators to act with urgency and speak out against racism and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. But the efforts of these students have come with a heavy price. During the 2020 protests, two Black college students were repeatedly stunned by tasers and arrested for being in traffic past the nine o’clock mandated curfew. The students were tased because officers felt like they might have had a gun. Turns out the two students were unarmed and were simply driving by the chaotic protests near downtown Atlanta. Later in an interview after the students were released from jail, they said that they felt like they were going to die and that, “it was a blessing that they are still alive.”

The mental healthcare problem in universities has been further exposed by the global pandemic as COVID-19 has cast light on the deeply ingrained racial inequalities that exist in American society. In a recent study done by the United Negro College Fund, one student described their experience saying, “Dealing with COVID-19, the police brutality, and trying to come up with money to pay for fall semester is [causing] me a lot of stress and anxiety because either way, it’s the stress of trying not to get sick, not getting killed by police or finding a way to pay for school that has me on edge (UNCF Student Pulse Survey).”

Thriving under these conditions is not just exhausting, but also psychologically destructive. These adverse conditions mean that Black and brown students experience depression, anxiety disorders, burnout, and other mental illnesses at a rate higher than their white peers (The Harvard Gazette). Studies show that students of color are more likely to feel overwhelmed at college and keep their struggles to themselves. Before the pandemic began, twenty-three percent of Asian-American students, twenty-six percent of Black students, and thirty-three percent of Latino students with mental health problems sought treatment versus the forty-six percent of white students (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

The rejection and lack of trust and belonging felt by students of color create huge barriers in their ability to seek help from their institutions. In addition to this, the cost, lack of access to counselors of color, and the stigmas associated with therapy prevent minority students from getting the life-saving care they need (The Atlantic). John Silvanus Wilson, former president of Morehouse College, describes how this student health crisis puts an emphasis on getting colleges to foster an environment that allows students of color to feel safe.

“This really brings into focus the institutional responsibility,” Wilson says “If I don’t believe you want me here, I’m not inclined to come in and use your services. So trust is how this is going to change.” (The Harvard Gazette)

To close the divide between students of color and wellness, organizations like The Steve Fund are committed to working with universities to promote programs that build understanding and assistance for the mental and emotional health of young people of color. This task force recommends that institutions take a ‘trauma-informed response’ to decision-making to show empathy and build trust with students of color (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

The subtle and often seamless ways illnesses like depression and anxiety work their way into the mind leaves people feeling dangerously isolated within the mental anguish they experience. One bad day quickly becomes a bad week that begins to feel like a bad life. Seeking help when struggling with feelings of depression and anxiety is the only remedy to an illness that wants to swallow you in a quicksand of grief, panic, self-loathing and suicidal ideation. If you are currently struggling with mental illness, please know that it is nothing to be ashamed of. Mental illness is a disease and one that you can survive. If you or anyone you know is struggling to cope with feelings of depression and anxiety, please reach out for help. You are not weak and you are certainly not alone.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Students of color are at a higher risk for developing mental health issues due to systemic racism and intergenerational trauma.
The systemic inequalities and racism on college campuses leave minority students feeling alienated and mentally overwhelmed.
Students of color are less likely to seek help from academic institutions due to a lack of trust and belonging.

RELATED ISSUES

3/17/2021 | End standardized testing.

10/19/2020 | Support restorative justice in schools.

8/17/2020 | Fight for equity in remote learning.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/17/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/17/21

End standardized testing.

Education is a fundamental human right. But when racial and socioeconomic fences sequester millions of Black and Brown students from the resources and privileges that are required to succeed, who protects their rights?

For decades, the racial stratification within the United States’ educational system has been a powerful tool to uphold intergenerational privilege and white supremacy. Standardized testing is used across the nation as a proxy for intellectual merit, even though results always correlated with race and socioeconomic background rather than academic achievement (Teachers College Press).

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Over the past few weeks, teachers have been advocating for canceling standardized testing this spring after a tumultuous year. These conversations only emphasized the inequities of the process. Kholiswa joins us today to educate more on the history of standardized testing.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to FairTest, the National Center for Fair and Open testing to help support efforts to eliminate the racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers to equal opportunity posed by standardized tests, and prevent their damage to the quality of education.
Contact your local state legislators and representatives and urge them to act on banning standardized testing. Demand an equal distribution of resources in schools.
Follow the latest news about Spring 2021 standardized testing at #CancelTheTests.

GET EDUCATED

By Kholiswa Mendes Pepani (she/her)

“Since the beginning of standardized testing, students of color, particularly those from low-income families, have suffered the most from high-stakes testing in U.S. public schools,” writes senior editor and writer John Rosales in his article, “The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing (National Education Association).”

Race and wealth play significant factors in standardized testing for a number of critical reasons. Schools are funded by property taxes which, in turn, determines the economic and racial makeup of a neighborhood—two factors that have been further stratified by segregation and white flight. Students from affluent, white neighborhoods get access to better funded schools that put them on the path to success. In contrast, Black and Brown students from lower income schools are forced to struggle within a system that does not provide them with the resources needed to compete (Other Words). This system of separate and unequal education is a direct product of enduring racism and discrimination toward people of color.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the damaging social theory, known as eugenics, made its way to the U.S. This dogmatic pseudoscience, which was regarded as scientific inquiry, became a popular prescription for ranking and ordering human worth (Pencils Down). During that time, psychologist Carl Brigham, a supporter of these racist notions wrote that African-Americans were on the low end of the racial, ethnic, and/or cultural spectrum. These deeply oppressive views made their way into the educational system as Brigham contributed to developing aptitude tests for the United States Army during World War I, as well as helping create the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) (National Education Association). Decades of research found that assessments like the SAT and IQ tests are not an accurate measurement of a student's success in college or life. Instead, they present a clear bias toward Black and Brown students from early childhood.

“According to FairTest research, On average, students of color score lower on college admissions tests, thus many capable youth are denied entrance or access to so-called “merit” scholarships, contributing to the huge racial gap in college enrollments and completion,” Rosales writes (National Education Association).

Students of color who come from low income backgrounds are disproportionately placed or misplaced in special education that are frequently based on test results. They recieve a “dumbed down” curriculum that ensures that they will fall further behind from their peers. In contrast, white students from middle and upper class backgrounds are generally placed in gifted, talented, and advanced programs that challenge them to read, explore, investigate, think and progress rapidly. In effect, the use of high-stakes testing perpetuates racial inequality through deliberate marginalization (FairTest). The dangerously flawed standardized tests are not only discriminatory but they are easily corruptible. Affluent students already benefiting are able to cheat and pay their way out of the oppressive system and into the nation's best institutions thus, securing a path toward an immensely privileged life (NBC News).

In recent years, a push to finally bring an end to this legacy of racism in education began. On May 26, 2020, the University of California’s Board of Regents voted to discontinue using SAT and ACT scores (Teachers College Press). UC Berkeley’s Chancellor, Carol T. Christ, and UC Provost Michael Brown stated at a conference in November 2019, that research had convinced them that performance on the SAT and ACT was so strongly influenced by family income, parents’ education, and race and using them for high-stakes admissions decisions was simply wrong (Teachers College Press).

Earlier this month, democratic U.S. representative from New York’s sixteenth district, Jamaal Bowmen called out standardized testing as being “a pillar of systemic racism.” This comes as President Biden’s administration refused to grant waivers for standardized testing in the wake of the global pandemic ( target="_blank"New York Post). On March 9, Rep. Ilhan Omar joined Rep. Bowmen in an effort to provide students with waivers for the test this academic year, writing to newly appointed Secretary of Education Cardona, and urging for suspension of testing. Rep Ilhan Omar wrote that they should be prioritizing the students’ academic and emotional well-being, not arbitrary standardized testing goals (Twitter). The Biden administration has yet to respond.

Years of racial stratification in higher education comes at a serious cost to Black and Brown students. Without the fountain of resources that are needed to succeed, students of color and low-income families face tremendous challenges in gaining entry to top colleges. These separate higher education pathways are critical because having access to quality resources—those typically available at top universities—are vital to securing path-dependent occupational destinations. More often than not, those occupational destinations determine how easy or difficult it will be to escape cycles of generational racism and poverty (Separate & Unequal).

While the school system cannot single handedly dismantle generations of inequality and white supremacy, it plays a key role in creating an equal and equitable environment that guarantees all students an opportunity to thrive. We must ask ourselves, if standardized testing does not accurately measure intelligence or determine college success then, what are they really for and why do we keep them around? Standardized testing at its core is a pillar of white supremacy and it’s time for it to fall.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Standardized testing represents a legacy of racial inequality toward Black and Brown students and perpetuates intergenerational privilege and white supremacy.
In recent years, the call to dismantle standardized testing has gained more traction and is currently being pushed for suspension by Democrat representatives due to the global pandemic and its deep-rooted racism.
Schools must adopt better curriculum and assessment practices that more accurately demonstrate a student’s academic abilities.

2/9/2021 | Decolonize sustainable + ethical fashion.

12/17/2020 | Respect Hawaii’s sacred land.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 2/28/21 Nicole Cardoza 2/28/21

Learn from public syllabi.

As an educator who teaches courses on histories of race in the United States, I am all too aware of the deep need to address how current events impact the things we talk about in the classroom. A week before the quarter began this year, for instance, I emailed my students in order to address the January 6 insurrection. I touched on how it would likely impact the way in which we engaged with our course, as well as why learning about histories of racial formation and activism were so critical to moving forward. As writer and professor Rebecca Schuman puts it, “college, with its structured reading environment and safe discussion spaces, can give an entire generation the tools not just to begin to understand our violent, incomprehensible world—but to make it a little bit less violent, and a lot more comprehensible” (Slate). I see my courses as giving students those tools to take with them as they move beyond the university.

Happy Sunday! Today is Ida's third publication of a three-part series on how to diversify our education. I really appreciate this one; this newsletter has acted as my own public syllabi, in a way. I get to dive deep into diverse topics and constantly get introduced to new sources and inspiring people. But the sources that mean most are the *actual* syllabi that educators share online. I'd love to hear where else you're learning from and what this email inspires.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Explore curriculum guides & public syllabi curated by academics, such as the #StandingRockSyllabus, #ImmigrationSyllabus and #IslamophobiaIsRacism syllabus, among many others.
Read or view at least one of the syllabus items that intrigue you.
Create a regular reading group with friends or colleagues to go through some of the syllabus items and have collective discussions about the texts.

GET EDUCATED

By Ida Yalzadeh (she/her)

Unfortunately, most do not have access to these kinds of spaces that allow us to collectively process and work through the historical underpinnings of what’s going on right now. Most don’t know where to turn in order to figure out, “What got us to where we are today?”

In previous issues, I’ve written about the importance of new media & zine culture as two different yet converging mediums that allow for information and knowledge to be more easily distributed among those advocating for structural change. Today, I wanted to talk about online & crowd-sourced syllabi as a source that puts a new spin on the traditional college course. By using current events as framing sites for deep dives into histories of the United States, scholars, researchers and activists are curating online syllabi to distribute foundational texts and accessible content that help others process what’s going on and how we got to these moments.

The first real instance of an online syllabus going viral was in 2014, with the instigation and organization of the #FergusonSyllabus on Twitter by Marcia Chatelain, an African American Studies and history professor at Georgetown University. The Ferguson unrest was prompted in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown, and had many, including Chatelain, wondering what they could do. She began the hashtag as a way of crowd-sourcing texts that could speak to the reasons for the unrest and its historical context (The Atlantic). While Chatelain curated a list of books, essays, images and videos that lives on The Atlantic, searching the twitter hashtag yields thousands of results.

Since then, many other historians and scholars of the United States have collectively developed syllabi in order to help other communities make sense of the historical and political underpinnings that frame our current circumstances. Syllabi have been written to further contextualize the horrific Charleston church shooting, anti-Muslim racism, immigration, Standing Rock and the rise of Trump. These syllabi have the common goal of serving as a tool for those interested in social justice to educate themselves on the deeper contexts that underlie our most pressing issues of the current day.

One point I’d like to emphasize, though, has less to do with the content itself and more with those who are organizing it. Most all of the syllabi I listed here are curated by scholars of color. Back in November, I wrote about the importance of creating a more diverse professoriate in academia, as with their research comes asking a “more diverse set of questions—questions that are critical of using whiteness and capitalism as the norm by which all other subjects and ideas are measured.” That scholars of color are leading the way in these initiatives to digitally distribute knowledge across communities should come as no surprise. Community-based projects are central to the practice of collective liberation as we work to move our research beyond the Ivory Tower.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

By using current events as framing sites for deep dives into histories of the United States, scholars, researchers and activists are using online syllabi to distribute foundational texts and accessible content that help others process what’s going on and how we got to these moments.
The first real instance of an online syllabus going viral was in 2014, with the instigation and organization of the #FergusonSyllabus by Marcia Chatelain, an African American Studies and history professor at Georgetown University.
Syllabi written to contextualize the Charleston church shooting, anti-Muslim racism, immigration, Standing Rock and the rise of Trump have the common goal of serving as a tool for those interested in social justice to educate themselves on the deeper contexts that underlie our most pressing issues of the current day.

RELATED ISSUES

2/10/2021 | Celebrate zines.

1/21/2021 | Invest in new media.

11/8/2020 | Rethink what a professor looks like.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 2/23/21 Nicole Cardoza 2/23/21

Rally against anti-trans legislation.

Right now, there are over 50 pieces of anti-trans legislation under consideration in states across the U.S. All are designed to strip away the limited rights and protections that currently exist for transgender people (LGBTQ+ Nation). Seventeen states are all considering bills that would ban transgender girls and women from school sports this year, and some of the bills also ban transgender boys and men. These states are Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. This week, hearings are scheduled in South Dakota, Kansas, Tennessee, and South Carolina to act on anti-trans legislation that will disproportionately impact trans women and girls. Amplify the work of state and federal organizers fighting for their rights.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign up to phone bank with NEAT, the National Equality Action Team, to defend trans youth in key states.
Review the anti-trans legislation by state on the ACLU’s tracker. Then, contact your local legislators and urge them to block anti-trans bills from passing. Find your state representatives here.

Donate to trans-led organizations in your community. To make a donation that will be distributed to local orgs, donate to the Trans Justice Funding Project.

Action items inspired by the work of Chase Strangio, deputy director of transgender justice for the ACLU.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

In addition, 15 pieces of legislation designed to prevent transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming healthcare. Like HB 1/SB 10 in Alabama, these bills seek to impose criminal penalties on medical professionals and parents that offer transgender youth medical care. Arizona’s SB1511 wants to make it a Class 2 felony – punishable with up to 12 years in prison (Human Rights Watch).

Together, this legislation drafted in 2021 is a coordinated attack against trans rights, which activists feared after the Trump administration’s continued attacks on the trans community and growing anti-trans sentiment. Although President Biden signed an executive order to protect LGTBQ+ people in federally funded spaces, including education, it’s insufficient to ban state legislation on this topic (them).

These bills don’t necessarily reflect the sentiment of each state’s voter base. The Human Rights Campaign and Hart Research Group conducted a study across ten swing states on LGBTQ+ rights. They found that 87% of total respondents believe transgender people should have equal access to medical care, with many states breaking 90% support. They were also asked to prioritize banning transgender people from participating in sports against other policy issues. This issue came in dead last, and only 1-3% of respondents prioritized the issue (Los Angeles Blade).

In fact, much of this legislation has been drafted not by legislators, but Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit organization that aims to protect "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family" (Southern Poverty Law Center). As Nico Lang reports for them, the ADF has been fighting against equal rights for queer and transgender people for years. The organization has lobbied in favor of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Colorado, Idaho, and South Carolina and advocated for the use of “religious freedoms” to justify discrimination against LGBTQ+ people (them).

This is also happening in a time of rampant violence against the trans community, particularly the Black trans community. And many of these deaths were directly caused by police brutality; the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts the Black trans community (Vox). This is exacerbated by the systemic injustices that the Black trans community experiences, including unprecedented unemployment rates, high levels of houselessness, and low household incomes (Harvard Civil Rights). The Human Rights Watch noted a 43% increase in the formation of anti-LGBTQ hate groups in 2019.

This legislation is yet another form of policing the health and safety of trans youth, particularly trans women, for it’s important to emphasize how gender influences these harmful narratives. A common refrain from proponents of this legislation is that it’s necessary to protect women in sport because people assigned male at birth are “inherently” better at sports, purporting the notion that “women are weak and in need of protection.” It also insinuates that trans women athletes have an unfair advantage (this has been proven untrue). Throughout history, women’s protection, particularly white women, has been used to justify unnecessary harm against other marginalized communities (Washington Post). And more generally, the government continuously tries to control women’s bodies (Institute for Women’s Policy Research).

"
These bills cloak transmisogyny in inflammatory language and scare tactics that distract from the policies’ discriminatory intent. Notably, many do not lay out restrictions for transgender boys and men, focusing solely on regulating women’s bodies.
Excerpt from Fair Play: The Importance of Sports Participation for Transgender Youth by the Center for American Progress (CAP), via them.

As hearings unfold this week, I urge you to take direct action on this legislation right now, even if it doesn’t affect your state. And, more broadly, continue to amplify and advocate for the needs of the trans community, particularly trans youth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A series of anti-trans legislation is being discussed in state legislators across the U.S. this week.
This legislation is a part of the violence and discrimination that trans communities experience on behalf of our government, particularly trans communities of color and the Black trans community.
This is especially harmful for trans women and girls, who experience added discrimination because of stereotypes about the role of gender in society

RELATED ISSUES

11/20/2020 | Honor Transgender Day of Remembrance.

6/13/2020 | Center Black trans lives.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 2/5/21 Nicole Cardoza 2/5/21

Stop white centering.

On February 2, the School Library Journal, a publication for librarians and information specialists that reviews and recommends children’s books, released the cover of their February issue, which drew immediate criticism on social media.

Happy Friday, and welcome back! This one is personal. For my 9-to-5 (I don’t run this newsletter full-time!) I run a company that creates diverse mindfulness content for kids, and I just published my first children’s book with the same intention. For both of those projects, I’m committed to centering Black and brown kids because of how often they’re overlooked. Today’s topic – during Black History Month no less – is infuriating.

Thank you all for your support. This newsletter is made possible by our subscribers. Consider subscribing for $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community.

Nicole

Ps – be sure to sign up for 28 Days of Black History.

TAKE ACTION

Support the work of We Need Diverse Books, which advocates for essential changes in the publishing industry.
Buy books that center children of color, particularly books beyond “issue books” from independent writers and publishers—recommendations on our Bookshop.
Consider: How do you center the “benefits” of diversity, equity, and inclusion at your office? In your community? At your school? Does it align with centering the needs of those most marginalized or the white community?

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Screen Shot 2021-02-04 at 8.03.49 AM.png

Before we dive in, the statement on this cover isn’t factually wrong. The article highlighted on the homepage names the challenges that libraries in majority-white school districts experience when diversifying their collections. It’s correct that, as the article states, centering whiteness in children’s media can promote an ethnocentric, superior mindset against other communities of color. You can read the full article here.

But this is a disappointing example of white centering – when the case for change has to be rooted in the benefit of dominant culture. It’s a violent manipulation of privilege, a way to disregard the sentiments of a non-white person or community and prioritize white feelings instead. White centering is often found in tone-policing, racial gaslighting, and in the refusal of apologizing or holding oneself accountable for their actions. It creates the assumption that diversity is only important when it benefits white people.

The illustration, personally, makes this positioning most damning. The cover depicts a white child holding up a Black face speaking Spanish over their own. The two images merge, so the Black face becomes theirs, too. This is a form of blackface (Anti-Racism Daily) and normalizes the idea that white people can adopt the culture of non-white people for their own gain – as if it’s automatically theirs to own. It perpetuates the idea that the experiences of non-white people should be designed for white consumption, white empowerment, and white advancement. This notion is the foundation of white supremacy.

Rebekah Borucki, author, and publisher at Wheat Penny Press, emphasizes that “what happened here was no accident or oversight. The decision to center white children and their needs in an educational institution’s cover story, written by a non-Black woman, during Black History Month, is exactly why we desperately need more Black authors, publishers, and librarians creating and curating content for our children. Black creativity and labor does not exist for white people’s benefit.”

This perspective on books is quite common in the publishing industry. We already know that the industry is largely white, and the books written by people of color that succeed are “issue books,” books that educate and illuminate their struggles. We wrote about this in more detail in a previous newsletter. Consider the controversy around “American Dirt,” a novel that glorified the trauma of immigration written by a white woman. Publishers celebrated it and accelerated its rapid success without listening to the Latinx voices adamant about its harm (Vulture).

And this is reflected in the children’s book publishing space. A 2019 study by We Need Diverse Books found that 71% of the characters found in children’s books are either white or non-human (BookRiot). It’s 2.5x more likely that a children’s book character will be an animal than Black/African American, and only 1% of characters are of Native background. Currently, there are several top bestselling kids’ books featuring kids of color. Still, all but one of them reflect the inauguration of Vice President Harris (there’s also one that celebrates President Biden). We can’t wait for another inauguration to see this type of diversity (Barnes & Noble).

I was one of the few kids of color at an otherwise all-white school. I'd go home and wrap a towel around her head to pretend to have the long locks of my peers. I tried everything I could to fit in. Abby, an American Girl doll that represented a nine-year-old enslaved child, was the only Black doll I owned. In the first pages of the book that accompanied the doll, her overseer forced her to eat a worm found on the tobacco plants because she wasn’t removing them fast enough (Paris Review). Who was that doll created for? Who was that story created for? Was it designed to offer this young Black girl representation, vision, and hope, or make the horrors of slavery consumable for a broader audience? And would the diversity efforts of my school actually support me and my experience?

As of now (mid-day Thursday), the School Library Journal has yet to respond to the feedback on their cover. It’s clear that it’s up to us as individuals to stay educated and aware on how to center diverse kids’ books – by centering the experiences of marginalized children that deserve to be seen, heard, and celebrated.

We’ve created our own recommended reading list of diverse children’s books for Black History Month. You can explore the collection in our Bookshop.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The School Library Journal released an off-putting cover in February that centers the need for diversity in children's media for the benefit of white students
This is an example of how white centered diversity efforts only perpetuate white supremacy
The publishing industry is notoriously white, and often only celebrates diverse stories when they seem to have a benefit for white readers.

ARCHIVES

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

KEY TAKEAWAYS

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

Key Takeaways

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

KEY TAKEAWAYS

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

KEY TAKEAWAYS

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

TAKE ACTION

GET EDUCATED

KEY TAKEAWAYS