Foreword: The Crisis in Black Education

Abstract

4 | BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 79, NO. 2 79 No.2 FOREWORD: THE CRISIS IN BLACK EDUCATION By Alicia L. Moore & La Vonne I. Neal “When children attend schools that place a greater value on discipline and security than on knowledge and intellectual development, they are attending prep schools for prison.” Angela Y. Davis African Americans have endured centuries of racial barriers to education. In each century, African Americans have deployed different strategic and tactical methods (e.g., movements, legislation, presidential executive orders, etc.) to storm all of the educational gates to gain access to education. For example, during the twentieth century, Dr. Carter G. Woodson posited, “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.”1 &RQWURORI%ODFNWKRXJKWLQWKHWZHQW\¿UVWFHQWXU\LQFOXGHV VFKRRO¿QDQFH OLWHUDF\ WKHVFKRROWR prison pipeline, (4) criminalizing behavior of Black children in schools, and (5) curriculum, just to name a few. Throughout this issue, guest editor Alfred W. Tatum introduces new scriptwriters—doctoral students who are deploying new actionbased research initiatives (e.g., textual lineage of Black students, racialized neoliberalism, educational policy, youth identity development, social justice, necropolitics, etc.). These scholars are reimagining counterstrategies against controlling Black WKRXJKWXVLQJVFLHQWL¿FDQGVRFLDOWDFWLFV7KHLUFROOHFWLYHLPDJLQDWLRQLQFOXGHVLQYHVWLJDWLQJ WKHFDXVHVRIPDUJLQDOL]DWLRQ DQGPHWKRGVWRVSDUNJHQLXVWKURXJKFXUULFXOXPUHGHVLJQDQGSHGDJRJLFDONQRZOHGJH ZKDWPDNHV%ODFNHGXFDWLRQ %ODFN WKHQXDQFHVRIRSSUHVVLRQH[SHULHQFHGE\%ODFNJLUOVDQG WKHUHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQVRYHUHLJQW\DQGSRZHU :HOHDYH\RXZLWKRQH¿QDOWKRXJKWIURP:RRGVRQ³5HDOHGXFDWLRQPHDQVWRLQVSLUHSHRSOHWROLYHPRUHDEXQGDQWO\ WROHDUQWREHJLQZLWKOLIHDVWKH\¿QGLWDQGPDNHLWEHWWHU´ The new scriptwriters have inspired us to continue to storm the gates to make it better. Teacher Resources:‡:KLWH+RXVH,QLWLDWLYHRQ(GXFDWLRQDO([FHOOHQFHIRU$IULFDQ$PHULFDQV http://sites.ed.gov/whieeaa/³2Q-XQH3UHVLGHQW%DUDFN2EDPDVLJQHGDQ([HFXWLYH2UGHUWRHVWDEOLVKWKH:KLWH+RXVH,QLWLDWLYHRQ(GXFDWLRQDO ([FHOOHQFHIRU$IULFDQ$PHULFDQVWRUHVWRUHWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVDVDJOREDOOHDGHULQHGXFDWLRQ3UHVLGHQW2EDPDWKURXJKKLV YLVLRQDQGXVHRIKLV3UHVLGHQWLDODXWKRULW\VRXJKWWRVWUHQJWKHQWKHQDWLRQE\LPSURYLQJHGXFDWLRQDORXWFRPHVIRU$IULFDQ Americans of all ages and to help ensure that this population would receive an education that prepares them for college and productive careers to contribute to the wellbeing of society.” • School Funding Fairness: http://www.schoolfundingfairness.org/National_Report_Card_2016.pdf http://www.schoolfundingfairness.org BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 79, NO. 2 | 5 79 No.2 LA VONNE I. NEAL, Ph.D., is Associate Vice President--Administration & Finance and Professor of Special Education at Northern Illinois University; Email: lneal1@niu.edu ALICIA L. MOORE, Ph.D., holds the Cargill Endowed Professorship in Education at Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas; Email: moorea@southwestern.edu³7KH ¿IWK HGLWLRQ RI WKH 15& XVHV IXQGLQJ GDWD IURP WKH &HQVXV ¿VFDO VXUYH\ WKH PRVW UHFHQW GDWD DYDLODEOH The report goes beyond raw per-pupil calculations to evaluate whether states are fairly funding their public schools by GLVWULEXWLQJIXQGLQJUHODWLYHWRVWXGHQWSRYHUW\7RFDSWXUHWKHGLIIHUHQFHVLQVWDWHSXEOLFHGXFDWLRQ¿QDQFHWKH15&XVHV four interrelated ‘fairness measures’—Funding Level, Funding Distribution, Effort, and Coverage—that allow for state comparisons while controlling for regional differences.”‡%ODFN/LYHV0DWWHU http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ “Black Lives Matter is a chapter-based national organization working for the validity of Black life. They are working to (re)build the Black liberation movement. Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where %ODFNOLYHVDUHV\VWHPDWLFDOO\DQGLQWHQWLRQDOO\WDUJHWHGIRUGHPLVH,WLVDQDI¿UPDWLRQRI%ODFNIRONV¶FRQWULEXWLRQVWR this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”‡0\%URWKHU¶V.HHSHU,QLWLDWLYH https://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper³3UHVLGHQW2EDPDVLJQHGD3UHVLGHQWLDO0HPRUDQGXPHVWDEOLVKLQJWKH0\%URWKHU¶V.HHSHU7DVN)RUFHDQLQWHUDJHQF\ HIIRUWFKDLUHGE\$VVLVWDQWWRWKH3UHVLGHQWDQG&DELQHW6HFUHWDU\%URGHULFN-RKQVRQWKDWZLOOKHOSXVGHWHUPLQHZKDW public and private efforts are working and how to expand upon them, how the Federal Government’s own policies and SURJUDPVFDQEHWWHUVXSSRUWWKHVHHIIRUWVDQGKRZWREHWWHULQYROYH6WDWH...