Search

In the wake of racial violence in urban schools and society, we question, "Can the field of urban education love blackness and Black lives unconditionally and as preconditions to humanity? What does it look like to (re)imagine urban classrooms as sites of love? As educators, how might we utilize a pedagogy of love as an embodied practice that influences holistic teaching? How might we utilize a pedagogy of love to include Black youths' racialized and gendered life histories and experiences and their language and literacy practices? We outline and discuss five types of violence in schools (physical, symbolic, linguistic, curricula/pedagogical, and systemic school violence) which interfere with the creation and sustainability of revolutionary love in urban schools. We present examples of 'fake love' and provide the current backdrop. We operationalize revolutionary love and offer Afrocentric praxis and African Diaspora Literacy as antidotes to anti-Black types of violence that many students experience in urban schools.

Through a series of racialized stories, I illustrate the familial knowledge, racial hauntings, and educational experiences that forge(d) the beginning and the continuing of my racial identity as a Black male. To examine these stories, I employ racial storytelling as a theoretical, methodological, curricular, and pedagogical tool to assist me in a deep excavation of my past, present, and future selves and to illuminate the literacies that my Black male body brings to the classroom. Racial storytelling illustrates how my racial encounters from the past situate themselves in the current moment and still haunt me today. As such, I (re)enter these embodied stories to demonstrate how life moments impact how I think about racial issues in today's context. The questions that guide this line of inquiry are the following: (a) How can educators employ racial storytelling as a pedagogical and methodological practice? (b) How can language and literacy scholars of Color use the radical (self) imagination as a thought and concept to face our racial ghosts and to analyze our hauntings? In closing, I propose the radical (self) imagination as a recommendation for literacy scholars of Color and language and literacy education.

The recent deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and other Black males have generated new civil rights urgencies in Black communities and spirited academic discourses in higher education regarding the educational and social plight of Black males in America. Connecting the deaths of Black males to our lived experiences in the academy, we use a text messaging performative writing style to demonstrate how Black males are not only gunned down in the streets of America by police but also are metaphorically gunned down in the academy. That is to say, white colleagues and students attempt to use what we call the "bullet of rejection," the "bullet of silencing," and the "bullet of disrespect" to destroy us and our academic agenda. We conclude with a call to action for teacher education programs as a way to deepen their understanding of the racialized experiences of Black males in the academy and Black males in America.

Stemming from my personal encounter with what I consider a racial affliction imposed by a White female teacher, I provide a glimpse of my racial narrative as a young Black male to illustrate a reference point for thinking through how racism functions in homes and schools. It touches on the importance of race-based conversations within school and out of school spaces. In this article, I illustrate the creation of a "critical" relationship between parents, youth, and educators in that I used a critical family book club as a mechanism for engaging parents and students in discussions about race and racism. Drawing from interviews, memos, field notes, and other forms of research data, I analyze participants' experiences with race, racism, and power. I conclude with the pedagogical possibilities of enacting critical race pedagogy and critical family book clubs in K-12 spaces.

Nationally, the recruitment and retention of Black male teachers have become a crisis for public schools at all educational and academic programmatic levels. This is especially true for gifted and AP programs, considering that most Black males who enter the teaching profession are rarely selected to serve in such teaching capacities. However, what has been missing from the extant research literature is the role Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) play in the preparation of Black male teachers for the gifted classroom. In this article, the authors explore scholarship that focuses on the lack of diversity among teachers and specifically among males in general education to draw implications to the field of gifted education. The authors provide specific attention to reasons HBCUs play an important role in preparing Black males for the gifted classroom, along with providing recommendations for preparing Black male teachers in gifted education.

This article is an edited transcription of a groundbreaking multi-sector presentation on "Critical Race Theory in Schools?" by a prominent panel of PK-12 school educators, education organization leaders, legal advocate, teacher educators, and academic researchers. The presentation took place virtually as a public seminar in response to legislative bills in Michigan and other states that prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in schools and to the ensuing questions and concerns raised by many constituents in the PK-12 school and teacher education arenas. Over 200 individuals from Michigan, across the country, and even internationally registered, drawn to the webinar's goals of dispelling misinformation and providing facts and perspectives for meaningful discussions on the pursuit of more inclusive and justice-oriented curriculum, teaching, and learning in schools. Given the significance, urgency, and controversy over this subject, we offer this manuscript not only as an important documentation of the historic discussion among distinguished experts, but also as a much-needed resource for truth-telling against misinformation and disinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]