A professor of sociology at UT Austin, Dr Chantal Hailey studies how micro decision-making contributes to larger macro segregation patterns and how racism creates, sustains, and exacerbates racial, educational, and socioeconomic inequality. Her study complicates and expands the Black/White binary, and it is essential for the conversations we need to be having in order to dismantle anti-Black racism.

Last episode, Carol Anderson on White Rage, was a lot, so we're taking today's episode to discuss.

"Since the days of enslavement, African Americans have fought to gain access to quality education. Education can be transformative. Education strengthens a democracy." - Dr. Carol Anderson, author of White Rage joins us to discuss the White rage backlash to the Brown v. Board decision, and how we are still living with its impacts.

The Center for Antiracist Education (CARE) has released a framework to support educators with the will and knowledge to end racism’s destructive legacy. Val’s day job is as their academic director. We’re joined by her colleague, Brittany Brazzel to discuss the framework and how we can all take steps towards antiracism.

Dr. Susan Faircloth, an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe, and a professor of education at Colorado State University joins us for a long overdue conversation on Indigenous education. Going deep into history, Dr. Faircloth ties past struggles to the current realities for the more than 650,000 Native students in our public schools today.

The idea of a zero-sum version of prosperity that assumes advances for some must come at the cost of others, is based on the lie of racial hierarchy upon which our country was founded. Heather McGhee's book, The Sum of Us, illuminates this issue, and calls us to imagine something better. The paperback version was released today, so we are revisiting the episode with new commentary from Andrew and Val.

Chrissy Colón Bradt is an Afro-Latina mother of 2, married to a White man. She has thought a lot about how to support her kids in their own racial identity development. She is the co-author of the Parenting for Racial Justice chapter in the new book, Parenting for Social Justice. She joins us to discuss.

As we come to the end of 2021, Val and Andrew answer listener questions.

Despite a feeling of normalcy around schools this year, teachers are screaming that the crisis is not over. For many, this school year is the hardest yet in the COVID era. We revisit a conversation with teachers from April of 2020 and provide some updated perspectives.

We're joined by educator, speaker, and professional development specialist Dr. Sarah-Soonling Blackburn to discuss the myth of the "Model Minority." Dr. Blackburn talks about the personal and societal trauma of our racial hierarchy and what may be gained from unpacking and disassembling these old narratives in a way that gets us closer to collective solidarity.

Tomás Monarrez's work at The Urban Institute focuses on school segregation. As an economist, he brings quantitative skills and a deep respect for data. However, his work is also infused with a deep belief in the power of data science to be used for good. From his Segregation Contribution Index to his recent project on school boundaries, we discuss the ways we have thought about segregation are problematic, and where the low-hanging fruit is to try to improve desegregation through the country.

Stefan Lallinger's grandfather argued the Brown v Board case at the Supreme Court. He has stepped into that legacy in his own work as a teacher, a school leader, and now leading The Bridge Collaborative at The Century Foundation. We discuss how his family history has shaped his approach to integration, and what gives him hope for future generations.

We’re joined by two White mothers who recently moved. Anna and Sarah have been part of the Integrated Schools community for some time and had the opportunity to really think about their values as they chose new cities, new neighborhoods, new houses, and new schools.

We kick off Season 7 with some big changes for the podcast! Val, a Black mom from North Carolina, joins Andrew to co-host this season. We discuss why she cares about school integration, and what we hope to accomplish through our multiracial discussions.

Mother, journalist, and author Courtney Martin’s new book, Learning in Public, is at once a deeply personal memoir of the “journey of a thousand moral miles” that led her to enroll her daughter in their neighborhood “failing” school, as well as a full-hearted endorsement of public schools as the foundation of our fragile democracy, in all of their nuance and complexity. She joins us to discuss the book, and integration more broadly, with one of the key characters in the book, Mrs. Minor, a Black teacher who left the public schools to start her own private preschool, and brings a healthy degree of skepticism of the value of desegregation.

In our season 6 finale, we're looking back at the infamous "separate but equal" case - Plessy v Ferguson, and how we continue to live with many of the ramifications of that decision today. Attorney Paula Forbes joins us to discuss the importance of reckoning with our past and repairing in order to create the future we desire.

Greg and Carol, two Black parents from different parts of the county, share their experiences in mostly White schools. Through them, we can see how far we have to go to created truly integrated schools.

Part 4 of our Brown v Board at 67 series pushes back on the narrative that desegregation is solely about Black and White kids. David Hinojosa helps us better understand Latinx perspectives on integration from before Brown through today.

Dr. Amanda Lewis joins us to discuss the legacy of Brown v Board, and how the stories we tell about it, allow even our most desegregated schools to continue to impact kids in very racialized ways.

Today we revisit Part two of Brown v. Board at 65: The Stories We Tell Ourselves, featuring Dr. Noliwe Rooks. She helps us tell the full story of Brown v Board, including the harm it caused, particularly as it relates to Black teachers and Black schools.

Brown v Board at Sixty-Seven - The Stories We Tell Ourselves - Revisted. All this week we will be re-running our BvB@65 series with new edits and new commentary. In this first episode, we're joined by Dr. Rucker Johnson, author of Children of the Dream: Why Integration Works.

Parents and caregivers have the potential to be key drivers of school improvement. However, who makes up that empowered group is a key question. Aurelio Montemayor has been organizing parents for decades, and he joins us to share his experience and advice.

Today we present an edit of our first ever webinar - The Integrated Schools Movement: Where We Begin in anticipation of our follow up, How We Show Up (part 1), happening April 19th at 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT.

The conversation around schools can often feel like the goal isn't "good" schools, but simply "better-than" schools - schools that will give our kids a leg up on the other kids. The idea driving this mindset, a zero-sum version of prosperity that assumes advances for some must come at the cost of others, is based on the lie of racial hierarchy upon which our country was founded. Heather McGhee's new book, The Sum of Us, illuminates this issue, and calls us to imagine something better.

Law professor, Elise Boddie, has said that the biggest stumbling block to advancing school integration is the White progressive liberal. She joins us to talk about a vision of integration that allows for all kids to thrive not because of race, not in spite of race, but in full view of race.