I’m Only 11-Years-Old and I Already Make You Uncomfortable

I am 11 years old and I attend the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy, a charter public school in the Dorchester community of Boston focused on culture-based education. On June 7, 2020, I decided to speak at Boston’s “Be The Change” Peaceful Children’s March. I started my speech that day by quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said,  “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that… Read More

Isis: A Black Girl Rising, Despite Covid-19

Before covid-19, when Isis left school, she would “just get off school.” She knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing and her teachers and principal knew as well. But in the final months of her Senior year, everything changed because of coronavirus.  Isis is eighteen years old and she just graduated as a member of the Class of 2020 from Frederick A. Douglass High School. As a member of Black… Read More

Even a Pandemic Didn’t Stop My Daughter’s Charter School From Building Our Community

When developing your playbook as an educator, you learn very early on that only two things matter: You are strong in establishing a well thought out plan for delivering differentiated instruction of which you are knowledgeable,  That you are even stronger at being flexible on the fly when that original plan must be completely thrown out for some reason or another.  In 2020, every aspect of our national education system from the… Read More

Imagine Being Free and Not Getting the Memo. It’s Still Happening Today.

Imagine this. Working. Toiling. Being oppressed and enslaved in Texas in June 1865. More specifically, on June 10, 1865. In that moment in time, you had no idea what was to come in 9 days, nor that others had been “enjoying” the sweet taste of freedom for almost 900 days. 900 days. On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Major General Gordon Granger delivered the news that the Emancipation Proclamation that went… Read More

Join Us for a Virtual Town Hall on #SeekingChildJustice

Justice for children sounds simple enough, but it’s not. It requires families, communities, nonprofits and others to come together. Education is a key pillar of this platform, but providing a proper education means holding leaders accountable to invest in it.  In that spirit, brightbeam (the parent organization of Citizen Ed), in partnership with Forward Promise, the Wayfinder Foundation and the Opportunity Institute, are hosting a virtual town hall called “Seeking Child Justice and Reimagining Whole Child… Read More

white supremacy & anti-blackness: a covert & overt beast

I share this in a moment where I am balancing feelings of intense rage and hope for a new future where BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) are able to survive, thrive, move, laugh, live, exist, make mistakes, and just be. This is an invitation for you to do your own work in unpacking how white supremacy and anti-Blackness manifests and how we all need to engage in the deep, personal work… Read More