Past Speak Truth Seminars

Students participated in lively, respectful discussion on the below topics, which they chose.

Raise your standards, ladies. This topic will discuss the pros and cons of setting standards for relationships in high school, especially from the young woman’s perspective.

Student-Teacher boundaries. This topic will examine the boundaries that exist or should exist in a healthy teacher-student relationship and what happens when these boundaries are violated.

Should kids vote? This discussion will examine the pros and cons of lowering the voting age to 16 and what that would mean for our laws and democracy.

School shootings. We will examine how the topic of school shootings affects our community and what we can do to avoid damage that results when someone is killed by guns at school.

High school students from the DC area and across the nation participated in a series of virtual Speak Truth events focused on the rise of artifical intelligence and what the future of school may look like. The series was held Thursdays, May 25, June 1, 8, and 15.

In January, we hosted an online session featuring guest speaker Helanius J. Wilkins, choreographer, performance artist, and changemaker. The session focused on how and why to engage with people whose experiences, perspectives, and opinions differ from our own and included a deep exploration of the relationship between community and belonging. Watch a clip of that discussion here.

Dozens of students participated in this in-person event, which focused on four topics: Don’t Touch My Hair; Immigration & Deportation; Gotta Catch Em’ All; and Violence in School. The sessions were held in partnership with the school’s Intro to Black Law and LULAC after-school clubs. During the Violence in School discussion, student-facilitators led with questions such as: What does solidarity look like to you? Why do we think there is racial tension in school? How do we relate to each other as students of color?

The Pros and Cons of the High School Community Service Requirement

The Purpose of Higher Education
• How to Find Your Path After School

Strengthening the Speak Truth Program

America’s Modern-Day Slavery: The For-Profit Prison System

Covid Casanovas: A Hidden Silver Lining?
• Has the Pandemic Changed Dating Forever?
• Scroll to Thurgood Marshall Academy, Dating During the Pandemic

Grades and Intelligence: Pros, Cons, and Everything in Between
• Why Perfect Grades Don’t Matter
• Scroll to Skyview High School, Grades and Intelligence

Society’s Deleterious Impact on Some African Americans’ Intracultural Behavior

Our Future with Climate Change
• Kyoto Protocol Fast Facts
• Paris Agreement vs Kyoto Protocol [Comparison Chart]

WTF: Why The (pro-)Fanity? A Discussion on Everyday Profanity
• Swearing: A Long And #%@&$ History

Necessary Sacrifices in partnership with Ford’s Theatre
• Necessary Sacrifices – A Radio Play

Science versus Religious Belief

No Means No: A Conversation Defining Consent in the Modern World
• Consent And Communication
• Ruling On Tight Jeans and Rape Sets Off Anger In Italy

Learning Disabilities in the Classroom
• Bella Thorne Dyslexia Story
• Glee Ryder finds out he has dyslexia

The Normalization of Diet Culture
• What is Diet Culture and Why Should We Challenge it?

Bridging the Abortion Divide: A Conversation on Reproductive Rights
• The Redirect: Why facts matter on both sides of abortion debate

Cultural Appropriation
• The Dos and Don’ts of Cultural Appropriation

Human Trafficking
• What is Human Trafficking

Colorism

A Christmas Carol and Wealth Inequality – in partnership with Ford’s Theatre
• A Christmas Carol: A Radio Play

Modern protest in a nutshell

Cancel Culture
• What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Cancel Culture’

A Conversation on WAP and the Spectacle of Sexual Liberation
• WAP and the Spectacle of Sexual Liberation

Guns in America
• Boulder and Atlanta shootings rekindle debate over red-flag gun laws
• Analysis: Mass shootings signal a dubious ‘back to normal’ in America
• How should we interpret the Second Amendment?

Gentrification and the Lower and Middle Class
• The Effects of Gentrification on Lower- and Middle-Class Minorities’

Covid-19 and Voter Supression
• US democracy in peril: Covid-19 and the threat of voter suppression

What is Consent?

Are local and federal governments going about police reform effectively??
• Justice in Policing Act
• Justice in America Episode 21: Police Accountability

The Dehumanization of Black Women
• Black Women Are The Most Unprotected And Disrespected People In Society

Police in Schools and the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Police Training and Funding
Police Regulation, Legislation and Balances

How should school systems, colleges, and universities value this academic year?
• The School Year Is Far From Lost

Should Billionaires Exist? A Discussion About Extreme Wealth Inequality.
• Is Taxing The Ultra-Wealthy ‘Punishing Success?

Should the Second Amendment be Modified?
• The gun solution we’re not talking about
• The Constitutional Right to Bear Arms Has Outlived Its Usefulness

Should A Constitutional Convention Be Held to Amend the Constitution?
• How to Amend the Constitution

The Pros and Cons of Identity Politics
• Identity Politics May Divide Us, But We Can’t Unite Without Them

Desensitization to Violence Due to Social Media
• Exposure To Media Violence and Emotional Desensitization

Black Girls Missing
• Black kids go missing at a higher rate than white kids. Here’s why we don’t hear about them

Hip-Hop-Ology
• Why hip-hop needs to be taken more seriously in academic circles

Natural Hair in School
• “Stay out of my hair!”

What’s the “Right” Way to Protest?
• What Is The “Right” Way To Protest?

The N-Word in the Classroom
• Too Taboo for Class?
• Good Teachers Use the N-Word

Lack of Representation for Women Artists
• Why is Work By Female Artists Still Valued Less Than Work By Male Artists?

The Criminalization of Sex Work
• Sex Workers Say The Law Meant To Protect Them Could Kill Them

Toxic Parenting
• 15 Signs You Have Toxic Parents

Gun Violence
• America’s Unique Gun Violence Problem, Explained in 17 Maps and Charts

Healing the Wounds or Opening Pandora’s Box? A Discussion of Reparations
• The Case for Reparations
• Georgetown Students Agree to Create Reparations Fund

Saving the planet…One Straw at a time
• What Is a Green New Deal?
• Ban Plastic Straws. Just Don’t Use Paper Ones, Because They’re Awful

Squashing Stereotypes
• 20 Stereotypes to Remove From Your Vocab in 2019

Femininity, Masculinity, Equality
• How To Raise Boys

Gun Violence
• Gun Violence- National Institute of Justice
• America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 17 maps and charts

“Gotta Get In”: The Recent College Admissions Scandal and Affirmative Action
• What the college admissions scandal says about racial inequality
• The College Admissions Scandal
• How the College Admissions Scam Unfolded
• Elite College Admissions Were Built to Protect Privilege
• What the Scammers Got Right About College Admissions

Puerto Rico: Nation, State or Status Quo?
• Puerto Rico’s push for statehood, explained
• Reckoning With Colonialism, A Year After Maria Hit Puerto Rico

DC Gentrification
• The gentrification of Washington DC: how my city changed its colours

The Electoral College
• In Defense of the Electoral College
• Elizabeth Warren Gets the Argument Against the Electoral College Exactly Right

21st Century Beauty Standards: Is It Preference or Discrimination?
• Is It Racist to Have A Racial Dating Preference?

Dress Code Discrimination: Are Dress Codes Racially Discriminatory?
• ‘It’s About Power’: D.C. Students Seek To Remove Bias In School Dress Codes
• Black Girls Can’t Dress Their Way Out Of Racist or Sexist Policies

Globalization & Culture: Do They Conflict or Coincide?
• Protesting Climate Change, Young People Take to Streets in a Global Strike

Healing the Wounds or Opening Pandora’s Box? A Discussion of Reparations
• The Case for Reparations
• Georgetown Students Agree to Create Reparations Fund

Regulate Teens on Social Media?
• Do We Really Need To Start Regulating Social Media?
• An Internet for Kids

Saving the planet…One Straw at a time
• What Is a Green New Deal?
• Ban Plastic Straws. Just Don’t Use Paper Ones, Because They’re Awful

The Electoral College
• In Defense of the Electoral College
• Elizabeth Warren Gets the Argument Against the Electoral College Exactly Right

Affirmative Action
     • Asians Are Being Used to Make a Case Against Affirmative Action. Again.

“Career Ready” Myths About High Schools
     • ‘Career Ready’ Out of High School? Why The Nation Needs To Let Go of That Myth

• Peaceful Sudanese Protests Turn Violent
     • ‘We call it the Sudanese revolution’: Protests maintain pressure on Omar al-Bashir to step down
     • Sudan protests: Thousands move against Omar al-Bashir

• Clash on the Capitol: The MAGA Hat Kid & Native American Veteran Controversy
     • Outcry Results After Video Appears To Show Students Mocking Native American Man
     • Believing What We See: The Covington Catholic Video and Competing Narratives

Mandatory Black History and Ethnic Studies in Schools
     • Black History Month in Schools—Retire or Reboot?

 Who Helps Schools More: Counselors or Security
     • Counselors Versus Cops
     • More social workers, not officers, in schools

Strike One and You’re Out!  End Zero Tolerance Policies
     • ‘Zero tolerance’ policies disproportionately punish black girls, professor says
     • How Zero-Tolerance Policies Hurt Kids
     • Betsy DeVos Revokes Obama Discipline Guidance Designed to Protect Students of Color

Hire More Black Teachers
     • Hire More Black Teachers Now!
     • Study: Having Just One Black Teacher Can Up Black Students’ Chances of Going to College

How Do We Use Social Media Healthily?

    • Excerpt from Jean Twenge’s iGen

Living in Color: Colorism in Professional Environments
     • Schools’ Discipline for Girls Differs by Race and Hue
     • Darker-skinned Black Job Applicants Hit More Obstacles

Do Standardized Tests Impact the Demographics of DC Schools?
     • D.C. had a plan to diversify one of its most selective high schools

• Shades of Colorism
     • Let’s Talk About Why Black Men Avoid Discussing The “C-Word”
     • Dark-Skinned Girls On Colourism | Sister
     • What Dark-Skinned People Will Never Tell You

• History of Blackface and its Presence Today
     • Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype
     • These 5 politicians also recently faced their own blackface scandals
     • Erin Burnett: One of these people is the governor of Virginia

Ally or Accomplice? Where non-Blacks fit into BLM
     • Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice
     • What Is Performative Allyship?
     • Is This Your Queen? Ellen Pompeo, Growth and Performative White Allyship

Kamala Harris’ Controversial Criminal Justice Record
     • Kamala Harris was a Tough-on-crime Prosecutor in a Black Lives Matter Era
     • Can Kamala Harris Repeat Obama’s Success With Black Voters? It’s Complicated

• “Destroyed”:  Mishandling rape kits
  • Where police failed rape victims
  • Why did police departments throw out rape kits?
• What is Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome?  And is PTSS real?
  • Do you have Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome?
  • What is Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome and its effects

• The Murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Freedom of the Press
  • Jamal Khashoggi: All you need to know about Saudi journalist’s death
• Climate Change in a Cup: Starbucks’ Decision to Ditch the Straw
  • Starbucks banning it’s straws – but is it really a big win for the environment?

• Women of the 116th Congress
  • These are the women making history as the 116th Congress is sworn in
  • Why aren’t there more Republican women in Congress?
  • The most diverse Congress ever convenes
• Minors charged as adults in the criminal justice system
  • Minor damage: The criminal injustice of black youth tried as adults
  • Should juveniles be charged as adults in the criminal justice system?
• Racially restrictive housing covenants and their impact today
• Natural hair discrimination in schools
  • NJ school district embroiled in wrestling haircut controversy
• Shades of color(ism)
  • Let’s talk about why black men avoid discussing the C-word
  • Complicating colorism:  Race, skin color, and the likelihood of arrest
• The government shutdown
  • Millions face delayed tax refunds, cuts to food stamps as White House scrambles to deal with shutdown’s consequences
• Surviving R Kelly: Separating the art from the artist
  • Even if you separate the art from the artist, stop giving R Kelly your money
  • On the culture protecting R Kelly

• The Super ImPACt of Money Politics
  • It’s time for liberals to get over Citizens United
• “Checks over Stripes?”: Colin Kaepernick and the Nike Boycott
  • Trump: Nike ‘getting absolutely killed’ with boycotts over Colin Kaepernick’s ‘Just Do It’ campaign
• Impact of Social Media on Self-Esteem
  • Social Media’s Impact on Self-Esteem