The Conversation We Must Have with our White Children

I got this link to On Being from one of the facilitators of European Dissent NY.

http://www.onbeing.org/blog/courtney-martin-the-conversation-we-must-have-with-our-white-children/8806

Can Racism Be Stopped in the Third Grade?

This May 19, 2015 article by Lisa Miller in New York Magazine describes one progressive New York City private school's ambitious program to get real about race and racism with elementary school students.  http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/05/can-fieldston-un-teach-racism.html

Vigil for Tamir Rice this Sunday February 22

The vigil will take place at 5PM on Sunday at the Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Park, Gowanus Houses, Wyckoff between Hoyt and Bond in Brooklyn.

This from the email announcement sent by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network:

"On November 22, 12 year old Tamir Rice was executed simply because he was Black and playing with a toy gun in a park. Cleveland cops arriving on the scene took 2 SECONDS to gun Tamir down, shooting him twice in the stomach. Tamir’s 14-year-old sister ran to Tamir’s aid and was tackled by the cops, handcuffed, and thrown in the back of a police car as Tamir was dying. Tamir’s mother also tried to run to Tamir and was stopped. Four minutes passed without any attempt to administer first aid to Tamir who bled to death.

"The whole incident was caught on video. Yet still the cop who murdered Tamir walks free and has NOT been indicted. The police patrol inner city communities like an occupying army while the system gives them a license to brutalize and murder people. This Must Stop and WE must stop it.

"On February 22 - Remember Tamir and all children murdered by cops! We refuse to go back to the days when cops wantonly brutalize and kill Black and Brown people without people standing up. No More!"

What White Kids Don't Learn About Black History

By Josh Kruger

Appeared on phillnow.com on 2/4/15.  From their website: "PhillyNow is the daily blog of city life and culture brought to you by the journalists behind the acclaimed Philadelphia Weekly."

http://phillynow.com/2015/02/04/what-white-kids-dont-learn-about-black-history/

A letter at the Bank Street School for Children

Here's a message that went out in early December to families of students enrolled in the Bank Street School for Children, from the school's dean and diversity director.  It's worth looking at, especially for the resources provided at the end.

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9753f694b519562d956a21ac2&id=b1b6cdd674&e=b1adf159c3

MIssing from Presidents Day: The People They Enslaved

A great article from the Zinn Education Project

http://zinnedproject.org/2014/02/hidden-black-history-of-white-house/

Talking with white kids about race and racism - online resources

Dear families and educators,

Here are two posts by Bree Ervin from the Everyday Feminism website:
5 Reasons We All Need to Talk to Kids About Race in America (8/23/14) and 6 Things White Parents Can Do to Raise Racially Conscious Children (8/30/14)

And then there's Raising Race Conscious Children by Border Crossers founder Sachi Ferris, where the most recent post (2/13/15) is What I Say About a Children's Book When the Characters are All White

Please post your thoughts to the Comments section of this blog...and pass on the resources.

Steve