True Social Justice & Racial Equity Is Hard Work
March is Women’s History Month. For those of us who are history buffs and/or have the job of teaching history, these themed-month celebrations are really handy for helping students learn about important people who might be totally new to them. However, as much I love Black History Month and Women’s […]
November 6, 2018, is the day my daughter was officially diagnosed with autism. That’s the day my world collapsed. For the first hour of her three-hour IEP meeting, I was doing OK. We were reviewing her old goals and some of the new testing that the school had been doing […]
In Chicago, we don’t have political parties; everyone is a Democrat. However, we do have Chicago political tribes. I will give a detailed overview of our political tribes, we don’t have political parties; there are not enough Republicans in the city to even really discuss them. Chicago political parties Chicago is […]
Growing up, I was starved for accurate information in schools about who I am. I ached to hear stories about people who look like me, or see the names of Black scholars in math or science, or even to talk about Africa, without talking about poverty and slavery. One of […]
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address. Like many other U.S. citizens, I see our current president as deeply flawed, lacking in empathy, racist and unable to take responsibility for his actions. But as a Black woman, I view Donald Trump as just another tone-deaf, […]
One of my dreams as a child was to know what part of Africa my family was from. I grew up in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, which was full of immigrants and ethnic Whites who had strong ties to their “homelands.” I am proud of my Arkansas heritage, but that’s not […]
The most difficult part of this whole, “admitting I am disabled” journey, has been, well, admitting I am disabled. And, since I don’t “look disabled” usually I can pretend. I just hang out at home, or church, or at my “office” the wonderful LIVE cafe, and mostly in my bed, […]
This week, the Twitterverse exploded when Chrissy Teigen—supermodel, social justice activist, wife to the first Black male EGOT winner, John Legend, and Twitter bad-ass—confessed, that for the last 10 years, she has been too scared to correct people on the pronunciation of her name! Teigen’s, last name is pronounced “Tie-gen” […]
Serena Williams, decidedly the greatest athlete of our generation, is no stranger to the obstacles of being a strong, Black woman. This past weekend at the U.S. Open in the final match between her and Naomi Osaka, Williams—who was competing for her 24th Grand Slam tournament win—was charged with three […]
Dear Fellow Parent Warriors, While every parent has strong feelings as a new school year approaches—excitement, nerves, even a little worry—our special tribe of parents with children who have IEPs (Individualized Education Plan) or 504 plans feel all those feelings plus some. Our worries are much more complex than just […]