Transcripts For CSPAN2 Author Discussion On Education 20240712

Before i introduced the amazing eve ewing. We have to think the organizers of this event they been doing 70 fantastic events like this. Theyre having a 50 off sale on our website. You can actually go to haymarket books. Org this is critical. It required reading in its 50 off right now. And what else i get to do besides read and turn off the netflix. They have other events lined up coming up this week. Check out their website for the full schedule. Haymarket books. Org. At 7 00 p. M. Eastern there will be a special homemade poetry reading. And then next tuesday may 19 at 5 00 p. M. Eastern there is an event about abolish eyes. It is not just a slogan immigrant justice with authors and activists. These are great events such act them out. Im also really excited to plug a new venture that weve been working on. Its a partnership with fax 32 fox 32 and my fox chicago. They help students in chicagoland who do not had access to online digital curriculum. They can tune in and see the occasional content from educators and other partners so please there is something for every age. We have a little bit of housekeeping to do obviously there are many of you joining this call today. There could be technical difficulties. We encourage you to bear with us. And if your street gets choppy at all. We would encourage you to reduce your image quality. This video will be recorded and it will be shared afterwards on the haymarket books youtube channel. Do please pose questions on the live feed from wherever you are watching and we will capture some of those questions. With that out of the way. Im so excited. Through our social media. She doesnt have to be that generous but she really is. Her timely contributions in both academic and Creative Spaces is inspiring in her commitment to Racial Justice is unquestionable. While most of you probably artie know where i will do a quick read of her bio she is a sociologist of education and a writer from chicago. The author most recently of the poetry collection 1919 in the nonfiction work. Her first book the poetry collection received awards from the American Library association and the Poetry Society of america and was named one of the best books by npr. Shes great. We are so excited. Our plan today is to have a sober but engaged conversation about what school means. They know that school is a racialized experience. If youre not in chicago. You should know 90 of Chicago Public School Students our student of color. Nearly half identify. In a city that was this segregated. They could go through an entire career teaching without having teachers of color. I was often the only educator that some of my students ever saw. If her to be using race. We think that is appropriate for that time in that contact. Its a weird time. But were glad to be with you. You wake up and you check the weather. Over the time i got really good at waking up checking the weather. And what is my level of capacity. And moving forward accordingly. It doesnt hurt that the actual weather is not so bad. It brings me joy to see you. I am so glad to be here. Ive been in meetings all day. Lets kick it off for those who do not know ear school a your School Background can you describe your relationship with chicago schools. The first aspect of my relationship is that i grew up in Chicago Public schools. From kindergarten through 12th grade. And i have a pretty early understanding of the ways that schools are unequal and unfair. And then playing basketball at other schools. Noticing differences in the ways that i was they were specifically black and mexican boys. And started to notice those things at a very young age. Before i headed language for them. And then attended high school. It was a selective enrollment school. These are called specialized schools. The Public Schools in name but they are very restrictive in terms of test scores. The little bit of Hunger Strike happened. My brother attended a different high school in chicago where he often felt very unsafe. He was belittled by teachers. The environment was not affirming or inclusive. And i went to a school where we had seven different languages that we could take. Have a very early age i have a selfawareness of the fact that i had access to things that people do not had access too. Particularly when some of those i worked at Chicago Public schools throughout college. And then after college became a Public School teacher. My therapist would have to explain. Now im a professor at the university of chicago. And i studied Chicago Public schools. I try as often as i can two just be in classrooms. Ive have a chance to travel around the country in the world. Im obsessed. Im obsessed with schools in a weird way. I totally get it. What you think it made you attuned to the inequality that you start even at an early age. I think some people can go through a whole schooling experience and not recognize it. As an educator though you sought up close. He recognized you recognize it early on. A lot of people have the experience. What i love about middle school is whether you are that age. The principles that you had been raised with. And your own moral compass. A lot of it you see this. And so i think that is a really come and experience i think a lot of young people start to ask those critical questions but we dont necessarily provide platforms for diving more deeply into them. And i was really blessed to participate in programs as a young person a lot of people are familiar with. A program that i was involved with as a young person as well as mix a challenge. I have adults around me that when i was like this doesnt work. And here is more. You should think about this. I have an undergraduate student come to me last week and asked me if i would be her advisor and she also got to northside. She is fat from the southwest side of chicago i think a lot of us to go to schools like this start to notice and ask critical questions i think there is an unwitting thing that is happening where some intentional and critical consciousness. I also think that the commuting with the facial part of it is also a big thing. When you go to a school thats very far from where you live. I commuted 60 to 90 minutes every day to get to my high school. Why is there anything like this where i live. I have similar students who traveled to ours. One of his initial popular poems was about his trade right to the west side to the school where i taught. When i get out of my community youre able to make that contrast and see. And some of our young people dont get to have that experience. And can apply to your other brook. Im sorry to do this. I have to go show everybody the paperback. Its exciting. This is new it just came out. It just came out is the brandnew paperback edition im really picked about this. Im very excited. Its less expensive. I will let you say what work in essay. I think if people it people havent read this book they really need to i think of it as a elegy to black schools. You go through the history of the struggle for they do it through the voices of actual people who experience the fight. And those of you outside of chicago in 2013 the ceo and then mayor closed about 50 schools impacting and of those it was a hugely traumatic experience. And this massive closing still feels we are in the strange moment now. How would you describe in this moment the impact of the 2013 closing. That we been through multiple schools being closed because there was smaller number of the School Closings leading up. I really appreciate you making it connection. Number one young people across the country are experiencing this disruption. I think its really important that parents and teachers in young people themselves had been uplifting the narrative of exactly how it traumatic this is. In particular how dramatic it is to not be connected with friends and family and how traumatic it is with friends and teachers who feel like family. End of the year. Was such an abrupt way. I think its important to remember that for many young people this is not new as usaid what the Current School closures mean is that we have a generation of young people that had had severe School Disruptions over multiple times. What are we doing to recognize and acknowledge that kind of wall, what are we doing to not just hold them accountable but to hold policymakers accountable for the kind of education that we had denied them. I think Something Else that is pondering a lot is the last chapter in the book is about collective morning i had been thinking about that concept quite a bit as i am speaking with students they are losing moments they could never get back. That is just really sad. And not only that if were honest with we are honest with them as adults we have to face the fact that this is not something we have ever experienced. That breaks my heart that if you are a young person right now that says im not can you get the graduation the way i expected there is not and exalt adult anywhere you love and trust who can tell you what that was like for them. We can make analogies and comparisons but is not the same particularly because its not just about whats happening internally in the school. And this is really sad. I think part of what i try to do in the book a lot of them i did was this is the only way that it makes sense for me to do it. One of the things that i knew was really important to me was trying to make space for feelings. And to say when we assess the impact of these policy decisions we have to include an assessment of how these things make people feel and at that as a legitimate form of knowledge and its a legitimate piece of evidence when we make policy decisions its very different than the kinds of evidence that are usually used. I think in this moment that we make space for feelings both for ourselves and for our students and that we acknowledge the ways in which the grieving is can have a profound impact on their ability to learn but also that there is something to be said about acknowledging collective grief and where is a lesson in that. In not pretending like you know everything. Also saying yes, everyone we know is going through this right now including me as an educator and thats okay. I think there is some potential there to teach some important lessons about acknowledging trauma and harm and sadness and loss in contending with them in an honest way if we choose to take that on. See mac i think thats brilliant. I think it is a challenge to push School Policy in the direction of feelings because it feels like it cut cant be quantified. If you cant quantify it then we cant measure it and we cant value it. Our way of valuing things has to be outside of that set of parameters. It is a much broader thing. For me she talks about and the black mother within me says i feel therefore i can understand. It is in the book sister outsider. It is in the essay poet street. I think it is actually part of what i can teach us is the practice of making space for feelings. And i think the thing as the students are having all of these experiences of whether or not we choose to ask acknowledge them. I believe there is a lot to be gained i think its totally a spot on. In this moment it is exposing the things that we value and the things that we dont with schools. I think there are some things that i already knew are being reinforced in ways that give me petty feelings and then there are couple of things that are new for me. One thing that i feel like i already knew but other people are learning is the first thing that happens if organ a close schools the very first question was how are we can feed children. Because as it turns out for many children in this Country School is the primary source of their nutrition and food literally the most elemental thing that they need to live. Maybe second to water. The most basic element that they need for survival through no decision of their own. They are reliant upon schools for food. The second question that emerges. And i want to give a lot of credit to i think yesterday i heard the figure 12 million meals to millions given away not only to children but to people and communities. Thats amazing. The next question we add the Remote Learning how are we getting it the devices. That is an issue by the way that is not only in k12 schools where we have already known that there was this need and weve been talking about it for years. It reveals a huge amount of inequality at the University Level and that the elite universities in the class differences like to make low income students feel very alienated your people at Ivy League Schools that are struggling in the same weight way with devices. The mcdonalds parking lot trying to get wifi. What this reveals for the first time the title of the talk. The teacher opens the cartridge and then they have received the knowledge and they leave. Thats what a lot of people think a school is. The presumption is per revealed in so many bad ideas and so many misunderstandings of how schools function. If i have a dollar for every time someone told me you could just give all kids ipads than i would actually had enough money to give all kids ipads. Just the provision of technology. When in a just be more efficient if we got rid of the teachers altogether and just allowed more efficient downloading of knowledge. And this moment for many people for whatever reason revealing for some people for the first time that schools are one of the last remaining front lights of any kind of social safety net. Any kind of public engagement. Any institution that tries to have a near universal impact on our failing and broken society what we had decided is a morally morally acceptable to be unspeakably affluent. To have people suffering without the most basic resources. The labor that is happening when their shoes are falling off their feet and they dont haves shoes. Its a teacher that is providing for them. When a kid comes to school and theyre not safe at home its a teacher that is making sure they have a safe place to go at night. When a parent calls im depressed or i dont know how to parent my kids or have a job. It is school that is the frontline of handling all of these things and yet so many people are mostly unaware that the fact that the pandemic is the first time they have to face this reality. They are doing basic reinforced provision. And we have the nerve in the plot twist like the real kicker is that all of those things were already happening in all those problems were already in place. Are still expecting kids to do xy and z. And still shutting down schools when they fail to perform in the way that we want them to you on on the very narrow metrics. Were you hungry, did you have shoes. All the sudden when there is a pandemic all of that is stripped away and it makes national headlines. We literally had to how to feed kids. And i hope for some people as an eyeopener to really stop and think about all of the things schools have been doing all this time and yet what such a narrow idea is and im very proud of myself i just finished a draft of the paper today. Im trying to play with this idea. We refer to this type as the era of accountability. Just before no child left behind. What does it look like for us to hold all of those other people accountables that have made the decisions. They have made the decision to result in that child not having a safe place to sleep at night. Its certainly not the children. Thats something i feel like other people are learning right now and because i am a little bit of a petty person get on board. Better late than never. The thing im learning is just how much im learning anyway helping to reinforce for me, two be asked of kids and how ridiculous it is. I have a conversation with my cousin last week. Shes ten years old. She does not go to school in chicago she lives in massachusetts. She attends a very nice private school and her parents are very educated and she has her father, her mother is a dr. She married into our family. I can help you with your racism cant help you with anything else. We can ring the bell and we can help you. Her mother as a dr. Her father and grandmother our home with her all day. She has wifi and everything you could possibly ask for in the time of a Remote Learning situation and shes really behind on her schoolwork. I said whats up. She said normally when you go to school you get there and they tell you the schedule and in the give you work if you do it and when you get home if he didnt do it work at school you finish it. Now, she logged into her google classroom and she starts clicking around and this is my schedule and i have to do this. I was watching this child that i have held in my arms as an infant whose diapers i have changed. I was watching her the Little Office worker. It was so distressing and inappropriate and that is the thing what we are asking kids to do right now regardless of their circumstance before we even get to the internet stuff. Before we get any of those things all kids right now what were asking them to do as a level of executive function in time management that is horribly developmentally inappropriate what we usually do is we really dont ask people to do it until they ask them to be 18. We kind of note that they are to fail. A lot of people go to college in their first term. We have a lot of supports in place to catch them and to teach them the skill of time management and we have all of these people hovering and checking on them. Were now asking little kids to do that. That is before we get to whether we are providing the supports that arts students with disabilities are supposed to be doing. That is before we get to whether any of our kids have computers. If they have a quiet and safe place to learn. Just the basic developmental tasks that were asking is unreasonable and absurd and yes not doing it is also really costly because i am very worried about what it means for my nieces reading and her math for her to not get instruction. I know a lot of parents said it will come out in the wash. There are a lot of kids where it is going to impact their life potential to not get 36129 those are like two terrible choices. This is a real rock and hard place. And some of it is unavoidable. Some of it would be a lot better if we have done our jobs on all the other stuff. If we have the social safety net in place. So that we could be at home with their child helping them even knowing that its all impossible to do there are things that we could do better so that it wasnt a choice of my going to earn income today were am i gonna stay home and supervise Remote Learning. If we were providing the basic infrastructure and internet. And never mind that medical infrastructure of testing and other basics. It is another example of how our failures and all those other readers come back to buy s when it comes to our kids. And that is terrifying. It reminds me that im not a policy person. I dont have the answer to this. I dont know the right thing to do. I do get a lot of really bad choices. See mac thats what were here to do. I think its hopefully enlightening people that those of us who have been fighting for medicare for all and student loan forgiveness or universal pre k for things like Sustainable Community schools are not crazy but have we won those things before it would be better off than we are now. It would still be imperfect but when we fought the schools. The community told us members we need to be partners in education. There is information to protect dollars. Hopefully we get people to see. It doesnt make sense to hold back. Community and parents being involved every day in education. I am hopeful that the groundwork that Community Members have laid it will pay off. We did just go on strike this year just to get a single nurse in every school in a fiveyear time. Rick and anita more than a single nurse in every school in several months. And social workers. When i was a cps student we joke only get sick on tuesday. That was the one day that the nurse was in school. When you asked earlier how do they become aware you watch want full house and tv. The school who. Thats a joke. As a teacher its felt so irresponsible. Let me go get you that ice pack. I feel really obligated to ask about this. It is the fiveyear anniversary of the passage of the reparations ordinance. The first ever in americas history. When the survivors of Police Torture one monetary operations. It was now open for three years. The promise of a public memorial to the torture they experienced under other police officers. It also included this when around curriculum. I was lucky to be a tiny little part of overseen. It just makes me think about the public pressure that it took to get something here were now in this moment where we have black and brown young people at home trying to learn from a computer is still technically required. What you think teachers should think to themselves when grappling with whether they should continue to teach what is required. Its so prevalent. Weve seen Breanna Taylor be shot at her home. Police and over policing black communities during a social distancing. You cant not teach Something Like this. How would you advise teachers to think about how to approach this moment in terms of what you said before. We also had to knowledge the reality of the racism of this moment what advice you have. This is my disclaimer. Im not on anybody what to do about anything right now. Im not trying to be the jerk who is like here so you should do the things that ive never done. Under these circumstances. I think that there are a couple of things one clear what continues to be hounded is that if you are a white teacher and you are not comfortable talking about race with biological reality. You need to get your life together now. Yesterday. Our students need you to be honest and informed and ready to have these conversations. In chicago you said about 50 of Chicago Public School Systems are white. If you are a teacher and youre watching this. The odds are you are white. You need to get your act together. I would hope that for those teachers who feel equipped to do so in and are knocking to do more harm than good because they dont have their life together there are so many connections to be made between the legacy of what happened with john burge and the regime of torture that was implemented here. And what we are seen here. One of the biggest lessons that is important for everyone to understand is that despite our countrys obsession with individualism its not about a few bad actors. And what is important to me and the important thing to learn about the legacy of john version the department of justice their own examination of history tell us that the Chicago Police department has a systemic per basis legacy and basic functioning that is rounded in racist violence. Is not about individuals is about the regular functioning of the subsystem. That is also the kind of thing we need to understand to see why covid19 is killing people the way it is right now. Theres a way of saying Something Like a virus doesnt discriminate. When you place an equal opportunity harm on an unequal landscape the verifications are unequal. Thats why hurricanes work the way they work in this world. It is true that nature does not discriminate but man does. So i think there are a lot of important connections to be made and i also think is i like data and spreadsheets. Something i always advocate for as all of the analysis that i did is not that you learn when youre like 12 or 13. If you can divide and add if you can find an average you can do a lot of the analysis from chicago we have to do this analysis. Of where cases are get the data to the students. And use it. You can do data gallery locks. My first idea was a thing you can do. Assign students to do news review and that they have to bring a pizza data to class. Help them make these critical connections and do the analysis because they can do it and they can make these connections. The other thing i want to say about that curriculum is that weve been talking a little bit about how parents and guardians are not really stepping up in terms of being educators. And thinking extensively as i deeply involved on tea. I also mean all the other mothers. Aunties in the uncles. The dude on the black they just knows things. There really stepping up as educators right now. I think that is really powerful in the context of Police Torture because guess what in a lot of cases the parents who doesnt have a social studies degree or whatever is not licensed to teach social study maybe will know more about the history and their own perspectives on policing in chicago and perhaps the teacher that doesnt know anything about it. Who has maybe have a great training in the curriculum. Who doesnt know somebody. If you are black chicago and i can certainly speak that. Every single one of us has a story about being harassed by the police. Were ourselves being wrongly arrested. Be wrongly arrested. Maybe this is an opportunity its really an amazing opportunity and that killing and grief. We can do this in a way that is traumatizing to you. We are not going there. It doesnt cut it. I think we need to proceed with caution and like anything in the curriculum we just head to hope that doesnt happen this way. Dash cap in this way. A lot of creative ways engaging around this. With the ability to honor the activist who fought to get this in place and figure out what it needs to look like. So that it doesnt cause it to end. And many of the same folks who thought that fight are fighting the fight right now. What we understand from the scholarship in the theory and the organizers on the front line is that this is a continual many scholars myself included have moved away. We talk about the school to prison exit. Its not about something that just takes place over here. It is about the logic the policing and surveillance. I would love to see folks making an extension. Are there folks who have been incarcerated. In their lives are imperiled by the coronavirus. I have a student write a really good paper. In predominantly white schools. In one of the things that they kept saying. Meaning the torture victims. As a really fascinating. One of the methods i use is critical discourse analysis. Number one in fact by definition they were not. The person who broke the law is john burge which is why he was convicted in a court and sentenced to incarceration. That criminalization is so tight. It supersedes any logic. That logic and the default quick snap judgment is operating right now. In 70 different ways. The same old same old. And then operating in new ways. If you are a teacher and you are ready to have that conversation i think you should have it. The schooling experience was already secondary. The primary experience of being behind bars. Im thinking about how in aquatic dash in adequate. Thinking of the positives that you cited earlier. Those who are making food in Chicago Public schools every day and serving millions of meals. They are putting their lives at risk. I believe there had been cases among the School Employees both of the folks that we have not done a service to end the other ones. In trying to connect. How do we envision a new schooling world where we do it justice to those young people were where innocence is in a condition for treating someone with humanity. And where workers like that are not put in harms way. And their work is valued. With one of the liberatory School Systems. What does that actually look like if you could just dream one up. Not the one we have but the one we need. To paraphrase what i consider perhaps a bitter medicine. I think that we know the answer. With affluent schools. Many of you americans except in the heart that children of color deserve what they get. And they do not have the basic belief that our children our children and that they are humans. Thats why they are are acceptable for folks. I also want to kind of call in organizers because of what you just said it was really illuminating to me and part of what i think is so powerful in the last decade or so. With the haymarket conversation that were on. And a labor lens. In conversation with the education and liberation its very important and i think unfortunately there are many folks on the left who unfortunately they are very passionate about labor and freedom from the perspective of thinking about workers who unfortunately had internalized some of the bad messages that we put out there about teachers in schools which is that its an issue that is over here for these people what you are saying and bringing to the forefront in the example of black women cooking food and putting their lives and families at risk underpaid to feed our kids and provide the basic service that no one else is providing and not getting the social support. As such a complex into reading. That lack of a basic social safety net. With experiences of color. Of undocumented women. All of those things come to bear when it comes to the question of has George W Bush ask our children really learning. It is solely about Graduation Rates. The really wellmeaning folks. On the left. And there is miss opportunities to missed opportunities to really see the connectivity there. If a kid is not learning to read because they have not been fed or because their parent doesnt had work if they dont have a safe way to get to school because of this if they are not getting basic healthcare all of those things are really inter woman. I started a lab at the university of chicago. Now the director on the left. And how we enter we. If we look at them from a topical perspective if we look at them from a human perspective thats all one battle. You and i are both obsessed with the schools. I love kids. I love children. And if you look at a child this whole child it is impossible not to see the way all of these other policy decisions are harming. With the positive and imaginary way. My affirming and answer. I dream of this. We use this special bead who is was doing this incredible thing that we call learning with this miraculous incredible brain that does magic step every day which is what kids do. If we put that magical human at the center and we say we are here for you to make sure that you are cared for. I actually think that we could solve pretty much everything. And a parent that would be attentive to you. And they need Mental Health care. And you need dental care and medical care. All the sudden all of these other things become illuminated if we just ask the basic question how do i show the most love and nurturing tenderness in to get them whatever they need for their brain to do the thing. Were they come to and they say look at this picture that i drew. If we try to create the conditions for that kid to be set and a child is an intersectional being. With the different identities in expectations. For them to see them as such. And the fight that they head in all aspects of their life are fights we need to be a part of. That is really awesome. Im get a try my best to pick some questions from the chat that have been given to me. Apologies to those watching. We can get to all of your questions. We have with some have been shared with me so im going to ask some. Thanks everybody. So k graves at educators. To break down school inequities. Speemac think she just nailed it. There are schools that create a lot of barriers and boundaries between parents and Community Members and teachers. In some of those like any divisive tactic. Their baked into the pie. How do you get low income workingclass white people or they hate immigrants. You tell them that they are just doing their jobs. Part of the highstakes accountability era is that we make teachers and we punish teachers for outcomes in Graduation Rates and test scores in ways that intense incentivize teachers. I need to do whatever i need to do to protect my job and my family. They become an obstacle. And meanwhile parents often had their own trauma around school. Not a safe place for many parents. As black people we dont even know about that. I dont trust you i dont know you. I think that the place that uniting can happen is around specific issues and the issue based organizing how can we come together and identify the things that we both really care about and i think its also important in teachers perspectives to have some self reflections. You had been endowed by the school space. If you are white you now had to also contend with that. You are a white person interacting if you are middleclass if youre coming from affluence. Or someone that is new to the community. Thinking about all of these things. To do the reflective work. And understand that you may be entering from a space of equal care. What that means is that you have to be the guy on the side you have to be willing to step back and maybe do a lot of listening so that there is coalition building. I would say the instinct would begin from a place of listening and learning. When it these parents want to come to the meeting that we have. Thats right. It is an interesting benefit of this crisis right now. No one can travel and parents connections has to be done remotely is telling us that maybe we can do it more connection with the parents. It doesnt require them to travel or works with their work schedule. And more of us should learn spanish. The qwest center has been teaching a spanish course to educators. Their neck and then i can get bilingual in ten weeks. Practical pieces of advice. So in today theyre using the pandemic to make drastic cutbacks in education. No one knows when students obey returning to school and he says do we need a new Political Economic system . Yes. [laughter] great question yes we do. I dont if i have anything to add to that, i think everybody should be really alert right now for me with the pandemic shows is what we need an education and other places theres a way of using this as an excuse to pull away Public Investment which is irony, so yes is the answer i think the yes and of that as we all need to be really conscientious. Which is hard because im very exhausted right now im sure a lot of other people are really exhausted. Thats not good to be a thoughtful media consumer, most of us, i just want to watch comedy central, i think we do need to be conscientious in educating each other about policies we see coming to the floor when i will have longterm detrimental effects. One of the biggest pieces of rhetoric as outlook we kind of done all of the stuff remotely all along anyway. Thats why think on the one hand its really important for a disabled people for the Disability Justice lends people have really forced inperson interactions when they were not necessary in ways that have limited access for disabled people people in rural communities. And also im really wary about the endgame of this can all be zoom. Which is just not true when it comes to socializing and development of children. All of us are feeling that right now we feel that doesnt feel good you cant see people to interact and love. We need to be really judicious we are in chicago our School District has mandated special educators literally do 50000 Remote Learning meetings in the next five weeks. Because they are more worried about compliance with what they perceived to be their interpretation of law and actually getting students with disabilities and challenges access to learning. That is the kind of think we absolutely need the investment so we can reimagine what is it look like to connect with a child with cognitive disabilities in the moment not necessarily scheduling a meeting for that is what theyre capable of but the doing will throw out a policy make some compliance rather than getting investment that reaches the child. A reaches the parent really. Great. So im going to go to another question. Are there measures etiquette educators i am not being for all educators but are there measures educators are taking this time to maintain equitable experiences that you found good or not. Have you heard of things that are exciting and positive like virtual lessons live or not . I think youre the best person to answer. I shouldve seen that coming. I can say anecdotal things but its your job to answer that question. It was a gargantuan task to ask educators to do this proficiently immediately which is what they have been tasked with doing. There are folks who are learning from each other just action where the most powerful things coming out of this that people are sharing, creating lessons i think what i have heard that is really positive especially for small children not being so stuck on a large amount of screen time but creating a manageable chunk of time when a parent is available to give them tools for how they can creatively engage in everyday lessons. Not necessarily the kinds of lessons you do in school but what can you do around your home . What can a junior backyard . And honestly booktv show weve been running as im getting a window into the creative juices they are doing videos or students can watch whenever they need to, when a parent is able to help them. They are doing things that are more socioemotional like making puppets, singing songs, that will uplift children and they are asking kids to think about and reflect on what their current experiences during this moment are some of the most powerful lessons ive heard about art journaling and then to your point earlier cant imagine what that would mean we need to catch up the road skills to get a child ready for standardized test this test dont exist right now but what is it we need children to process while this pandemic is happening so we do eventually get back they have a critical lens to process their experience they can read and learn its not the same of the content would be focused on. At this moment we realize standardized tests whenever we melt down i think its so right because one thing we do know from research is helping children making meaning of situations is really vital. And how traumatic, how traumatic something is in your life is not always tied in direct relation to the event itself, its actually how youre able to process and make meaning of it. How the adults in her life assist you with that. Something like we know this again its like a divorce may be cataclysmic, and not so much for other children so is the loss of a pet. I think that skill of meaning, reflections, selfawareness, selfanalysis, that is really helpful. Not also for us as adults. No joke. Spew what im going to try to ask this question from a smart human moment pretty intimidated for aspiring scholar stomach im not a scholar. Yes you are. Stewart for an aspiring how do you differentiate from discourse the remained dispatch and it during critical to pass a systemic value . I dont feel particularly guest in academia people want you to pretend you are objective and objectivity and as a human in the world, critical perspectives right . I think i dont think i tried very hard to bounce them. Se, and very straightforward about the fact that i am a human and i have i dont research the things i research because theyre interesting although they are, or because they get rewarded for them at work or anything like that. I think these things are matter of life and death, wasting my time and area of researchers but i spend that time on those that i think are critical for the kind of world i want to live in. I do so with the understanding that the world is very bad and it took a lot of time and many people to get up there and its going to take a lot of time and many people to undo it. And so my job is to show up and be the person with the chisel to sit there and poke poke poke poke poke however much i can tell i keel over and die the next person is going to come behind me into the same thing with the be a few of us at the same time that start chipping away also draw heavily like a black feminism, Like Research im not the first scholar to say i do not have an objective perspective on this and here are the ways in which my own humanity has influenced the point of view that i bring here. That is very encouraging something i have to invent i dont really try because neurologic activities not my thing i think its fake and im not the first person to think that. So i heavily site all the other people have said it in a smarter way. The only thing i do is i am a stickler for evidence. I dont feel i dont try to evidence my feelings. It is sufficient and i think its to write that and say it. When i say the decision to close Chicago Public schools was racist, i have a lot of evidence. A lot of evidence. I really believe i think im trying think the way they framed educators scholar, if you think of yourself as it activist, organizer, learning to synthesize critical understanding of injustice when theres a careful marshaling of evidence is a really good skill, really helpful. There is a shortage of it in the world. You can become a person whos good at that, its really helpful to a lot of people. I think we all have different lanes. Their people who see injustice and making credible art about this people to see injustice and making credible spreadsheets about it. And to show up at the meeting there people who are really good planners to do this work think thats brilliant as black women i think people pretend that what happens a black people is not an consequence. Host its urgent and if not on the right side right now you better get on it. Guest one my favorite quotations from one of my best friends, email signature its from a fellow chicago and she said we do this because worldly women is house on fire and the people we love are burning in it. I literally especially with young people in my life who i have been a teacher to children of my friends in my Community Members im trying to make sure that kid is is okay as they can be. Host were coming to the close and ask you one more school question a medical something a think you will enjoy. The last kind of school question is from natalia. How do we resist the reimagining that bill gates and other reformers are up to for further privatization of the Public Schools which will surely speed up the response of this crisis. He already said he is working with cuomo in new york to reimagine and new york has announced budget scott cuts to their schools of 25 . Thats a really good question. Guest i think philanthropic money and often times not a lot of evidence and unfortunately insight from people who are most impacted by the policies that stand to be shaped. That goes back to things weve been talking about which is the humans who are doing the work are often women, the humans are most impacted by the work are black latino, asian, because of that bananas to me a lot of these policies it never occurred to them to ask teachers if they think these things will work. Sometimes when they see things like this i think its the root of the problem. And has to do with racism and misogyny as well. When i was reviewing sixthgrade teacher i was pretty much the same person as i am now. I learned some things in grad school but if you wouldve asked me what he thought about schools, or some of it i wouldve given you i was not invited even as a sixthgrade teacher. I was not asked i think that thats very tempting because money comes with it and also because these folks are talking a good game. I think that, this is possible we need to apply critical questions and say in what ways is us responsive to the demonstrated and stated needs of the people who are most vulnerable right now . This people or children teachers communing members family members. The thing like the Gates Foundation they had their shot. The 90s into thousands we really saw lots and lots of private money from philanthropic folks making big moves, making big headlines, its 2020 and schools are pretty much the same as they were. I would like to know what happened to all of those trillions of dollars. School is still mostly how they are. Think part of the issue is a lot of these folks their analysis of the problem does not include a basic understanding of racism, supremacy and that dehumanization of children weve talked about. So, i will if i had a billion dollars far be it for me to it tell these people to do with their money, i think all this, especially when it comes to Public Officials who are accountable to us we need to really ask critical questions and try to member with the person actually asked and that was answered. Youre saying on the one hand, but also Vice President mrs. Gates is always good about saying we dont need the rich people involved, we need the rich peoples money. Its your time to contribute to the collective society we have. We need your tax dollars when you have a fair tax in illinois then we need to have the community do it theyd to do. Schematic thats a really important piece i think a lot of folks if youve never been involved with nonprofits its not a lot of people think about. My husband is an economist is something we talk about a lot. Folks like bill gates make those big tremendous gifts, they get to benefit financially from doing so and they also get to control the narrative. So they get to tell us, they control the narrative and frame and they are solving a problem that they get to frame where as when we seize the assets that are owed to the rest of us as a country, from the accumulation of massive wealth these folks have pulled off on the backs of their workers the backs of the Education System on the Public Resources we as taxpayers we could to set the terms and agenda. And its not ultimately beneficial to them. The only good thing that came out of the comical bloomberg for president was we got a lot of people to stop and think how much a billion dollars really is it is so much money. It is unfathomable its beyond the scope of what you can possibly even its beyond the limits of human cognition quite frankly. Schematic people were celebrating when ken griffin made that celebration for Food Assistance in Chicago Public schools. It was a drop in the bucket. Theyre going through the provide the food anyway we dont need your chump change major tax dollars. One thing we could really be all doing right now fighting for broader imagining of what it looks like to serve our public. Through public effort and not celebrate and pat on the back philanthropist. A lot of us, america is in love with the money on these folks. Thats and true in communities of colors as well they love the image of black millionaires theyre gonna solve our problems or black capitalism and things like that. That is something thats really easy for a lot of folks to succumb to and i understand that. Especially if you have not had anything its rational it makes sense. I hear you. Okay try to do a little closing here your poet 50 off haymarket books to mecca to make another plug if you go to haymarket books. Org 1919 has a free teachers guide you can download it as a pdf that i created in collaboration with the teachers i should say she created in collaboration with me she did the heavy lifting is free you can download its a pdf and has all of your comments and noise in there, and sit haymarket books. Org. Theres also an audiobook i read them i read both of the audiobooks. But you think is the role of poetry right now in the Creative Work . How does poetry and creativity help us think about this time and get through this time . Thats a way to get to world you are not in. It is a free way of imagining wish you could have them create. I think that is really, really essential. Ive been reading a lot some poems and some other things. I also really encourage people youve never written a poem before, this is your time theres lots of free prompts and things you can find online check out the Poetry Foundation website, check out the poetry societies of america, the balkans of great resources. No one has to see it on as an its free it doesnt cost anything. Brilliant. So the pros close is the last question. It says it is from we gotta bring in the comment this happen naturally i did have my comic book ready. Many of you guys know eva is a poet in addition to a scholar shes also a comic book author so the last question for today comes from triple s says i am an 11 year old boy, i learned a lot from reading iron heart thank you so much for writing a comic book about a black girl. What made you write a comic book and how can that be part of learning . Wow assist set up for me to it cry on this. Its very deeply unfair. Its perfect it ties learning and schools to comic book. Thank you so much for that question. Triple s thats a cool name im double lisa shadow triple s. I dont use curse words when i do videos. Reporter the first question is why today want to write a comment . I wanted to write comic books because when i was growing up i like to read a lot of comic books. Scene like an Incredible Opportunity to tell stories to young people like you whod read them all across the world the kids to read iron heart and all Different Countries its in multiple languages. I love superheroes its really fun to be able to tell those stories. I also think when i write comic books i can trick people into thinking about things that are may be difficult to think about and if not been brought up before he slide them into a comic book there are open to hearing them kind of like putting kale in your smoothie is a banana and a bunch of fruit. So an iron heart its a story about a girl who fights crime and is a superhero and can fly into all these great things. Its also a story about a girl whos had a really hard life and who hasnt taken the time she needs to heal who is not opened yourself up to friendship and doesnt really have friends its about her learning she is not perfect. That its okay to make mistakes. That it is important to take time to heal from the things that have hurt you. And we all need friends. So i like to get to sneak that message in there. The second question was how can comics be used for learning is that right . One of the first things i ever got published when i was nine years old the Chicago Tribune published an article about comic books are bad and violent they are not good for kids i wrote a letter that said comic books can be good until i agree with triple s and i think a lot of teachers are starting to use comics more in their learning which i appreciate. I think some kids can learn to read really well through comics because there are pictures that go along with the words. I think comics can help you learn to be a better writer as well because writing a comic book teaches you how to structure a story teaches you how to build the different story elements and also some teachers are using comics to teach history like john lewis had an amazing graphic novel called march about his life theres an amazing graphic novel about frederick douglass. I think that there comics about everything. And, i think there is learning you do in school. But the best learning that you can really ever do is on your own pretty few read something and you love it and you treated with care youre going to learn something from it. Might not be something your ever tested on, but it is somethings going to help you grow as a person. Thats the most important kind of learning any of us can do. I really appreciate you reading, thank you very much. So thats brilliant my dad is an avid, book reader has been reading them for 60 years. I think my inheritance of a thousands of comic books. Hopefully. Theres a really great graphic novel called incognito about the history of race and lynching i use use in my classroom. Thank you triple x. Thank you for having as close with comics the connection to learning in this moment. Weve really enjoyed this time and i have enjoyed this time grateful to spend the afternoon with you. We hope our audience have taken something away that gives them hope but also grounds them and the challenges of our reality. We hope to be back in our physical schools when the time is right got to keep making sure were doing what we can were looking at peoples humanities and safety first. So we can recover strong and equitable one have more equity not less coming out of the sink thank you for joining us. I just want to say thank you to you for taking the time and care for this conversation thanks for everybody at haymarket books. For always supporting me and thanks to the many of you have been really engaged in trying to use this time as an opportunity to get into some deep conversations i really appreciate you so thank you very much. Take care everyone. Heres a look at some Publishing Industry use. Jonathan karp is the new ceo of Simon Schuster he joined the publisher in 2010 and was previously the president and publisher of the companys adult publishing division. He succeeds carolyn who died last month the New York Times report on a busier than usual fall publishing season with edition of books in the spring that were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The expected logjam has many publishers concerned about Media Attention and sales. President and publisher of grove at atlantic weight and set all the decisions we make our guesswork none of us know what we are doing. Former wall street journal toward young author died in may at the age of 61 she was the author of several nonfiction books for children which include histories of roe versus wade in the 19209 stock market crash. Also in the news npd book stand reports print book sales were up 11 for the week ending may 23. Adult nonfiction sells up 2 for the week remained down 8 for the year. And the library of congress has announced from the virus pandemic this Years National book festival will take place virtually from september 24 to 26. I will include talks by authors such as jon griffin, Melinda Gates just to name a few. Book tv will continue to bring you new programs and publishing news you can also wash all overall crime programs anytime booktv. Org. Best selling author James Patterson is on book tv, the author about 150 books or so, mr. Patterson your most recent is a nonfiction. Guest yes ive done a little nonfiction. Welcome to my house we are sheltering, sheltering in