On January 19th of this year--Martin Luther King, Jr. Day--I was pepper sprayed in the face by an officer of the Seattle Police department. Now, we are filing a lawsuit in a federal court to seek justice. At this year’s Martin Luther King Day celebration, I was deeply honored to be asked to deliver the …
Twelve national civil rights organizations released a statement today in opposition to parents and students who opt out of high-stakes standardized testing--what has now become a truly mass direct action campaign against the multi-billion dollar testing industry. I believe that their statement titled, “We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts,” misses the key role that standardized testing has …
Last weekend I spoke to packed audiences on my book tour for More Than A Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing in Milwaukee, WI for the Educator's Network for Social Justice conference, the Network for Public Education (NPE) Conference in Chicago, and to the Chicago Teachers' Union. My presentations during the weekend focused …
Continue reading Black Student Lives Are More Than a Score! (Video)
“…the Opt Out movement is a vital component of the Black Lives Matter movement and other struggles for social justice in our region. Using standardized tests to label Black people and immigrants ‘lesser,’ while systematically under-funding their schools, has a long and ugly history in this country.” -Gerald Hankerson, current President of the Seattle/King County …
Five years ago today, my wife, my one-year-old son and I survived the earthquake in Haiti. I will forever be grateful that my wife came back to the hotel early from her work that day and when the earthquake struck, we were all together. While we were lucky—part of lobby of the hotel collapsed but …
Continue reading Black Haitian Lives Matter: Haiti on the Fifth Anniversary of the Earthquake
I AM AN EDUCATOR 
You must be logged in to post a comment.