2017-2018 Speak Truth Seminars
May 23, 2018 at Cesar Chavez Public Charter School (Capitol Hill Campus)
Discussion Topics & Readings:
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Kanye West and the Rules of Black Celebrity Politics – I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye
April 18, 2018 at McKinley Technology High School
Discussion Topics & Readings:
- Urban Students Punished For Suburban Student Violence – Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies Won’t Fix School Shootings & Zero Tolerance, School Shootings and the Post-Brown Quest for Equity in Discipline Policy: An examination of How Urban Minorities Are Punished for White Suburban Violence
- Guns and Domestic Violence – To Stop Violence, Start at Home & The Boyfriend Loophole
- Mark(er) Your Spot In History: Student Activism and Gun Violence – What Will Nationwide School Walkouts Accomplish? & Schools That Silence, And Schools That Collaborate, Can Hurt Student Activism
- Gun Violence Abroad – US Gun Policy: Global Comparisons & How to Buy a Gun in 15 Countries & Australia’s Gun Laws are Not a Model for America
- Never Again, For Who? Gun Violence in Communities of Color – How the #NeverAgain Movement is Disrupting Gun Politics & We Need to Talk About Black Lives Matter and Gun Violence After the Florida Shooting
April 5, 2018 at Georgetown Day School
Discussion Topics & Readings:
- Interracial Relationships – How Interracial Love is Saving America & As Get Out Shows, Love Isn’t All You Need in Interracial Relationships
- Intersectionality – The Urgency of Intersectionality & Age, Race, Class and Sex Redefining Differences
- Political Gaslighting – What is Gaslighting? & Sean Hannity Cranks Up The Gaslight
February 21, 2018 at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School
Discussion Topics & Readings:
- Aziz Ansari, Sexual Assault & Cultural Norms – I Went on a Date With Aziz Ansari. It Turned Into the Worse Night of My Life & Aziz Ansari is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader & The Aziz Ansari Story is Ordinary. That’s Why We Have to Talk About It & The Female Price of Male Pleasure
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Gentrification in the District – Old Confronts New in a Gentrifying DC Neighborhood
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Black Toxic Masculinity – Reconstructing Black Masculinity & Boundless Black Masculinity
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Scientific Racism – Racism is Creeping Back into Mainstream Science
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Black Diaspora in the US – Too Black, But Not Black Enough & Amara La Negra Responds to Blackface Rumors & Amara la Negra Deserves Better
February 8, 2018 at Edmund Burke School
Discussion Topics & Readings:
- Half a Century Later: Housing Discrimination in DC? – Gentrification in DC Raises Property Values, But Does It Also Push People Out? & Old Confronts New in a Gentrifying DC Neighborhood & Black Branding – How a DC Neighborhood Was Marketed to White Millenials
- Mental Illness & Race In the US – Why Mental Health Organizations Should Endorse The Movement for Black Lives & A Movement Against Racism Should Be a Movement for Mental Health
- What’s Now & What’s Next for BLM? – BLM Is Democracy in Action & Can Black Lives Matter Win in the Age of Trump
- The War on Drugs – Want to See Proof of Institutional Racism? Let Weed Open Your Eyes & A Billion-Dollar Industry, A Racist Legacy: Being Black and Growing Pot In America
- The Intersection of Race & Gender – Women and Black Lives Matter: An Interview with Marcia Chatelain & Black Lives Matter Organizers Hold a Rally in DC for Black Trans Women
- #BlackLivesMatter: Social Media & The Movement – #BlackTwitter After #Ferguson & Social Media Helps BLM Fight the Power
December 14, 2017 at Georgetown Day School
Discussion Topics & Readings:
- The N Word – Coates on the N Word & The N Word
- Confederate Memorials – Mayor Landrieu Speech
- Protesting for Rights – Civil Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular
- Black History Month – Coates on BHM & the History of BHM
- Interracial Friendships – Can My Children Be Friends With White People
October 18th, 2017 at The SEED School of Washington, D.C.
Discussion Topics & Readings:
- Orange is the New Barack – The First White President
- AP Classes – Who Benefits From the Expansion of A.P. Classes
- The Past, Present, and Future of the DACA program – A Nation of Immigrants, ‘A Nation Of Laws’
- Mass Incarceration – “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration”
- Confederate Memorials – Four Perspectives on Removing Confederate Monuments & Confederate Monuments Are Coming Down Across the United States…
The classroom should be about more than just teaching and listening. It should be about creating a space for curiosity and action.
