JPB Gerald began his career as an English language teacher. Bothered by the inherent racism he saw in the field, and reflecting on his own upbringing in predominantly White, “good” schools, he broadened his academic interests to race and Whiteness. Currently a doctoral student at CUNY — Hunter College, JPB has been writing and doing interviews for many outlets in the midst of conversations about school in the fall. While he has great insights into the challenges to equity presented by COVID, he also brings a deep understanding of many of the issues we address at Integrated Schools.

This conversation was going to be about “Pandemic Pods” and equity, but we quickly found ourselves zoomed out to a broader conversation about meritocracy, “THE SYSTEM”, and Black Lives Matter signs in gated communities. With insight, humor, and authenticity, JPB helps us think about what it means to take care of our kids in a way that doesn’t harm other kids.

LINKS: 

• Unstandardized English – JPB Gerald’s Podcast (and you can support his work on Patreon)
• The Ezel Project – JPB Gerald’s course on whiteness
• JPB on Twitter
• Combatting the Altruistic Shield – JPB Gerald’s article describing the concept
• JPB Gerald and Mira Debs on Pandemic Pods in The Washington Post
• Cheryl I. Harris – Whiteness as Property (1993)
• JPB was inspired by Nelson Flores and Jonathan Rosa who have written several pieces together, including Undoing Appropriateness, and Unsettling Race and Language

Use these links or start at our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us.

Register for our upcoming bookclub in early December. We’re reading Mia Birdsong’sHow We Show Up.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – @integratedschls on twitter, IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us [email protected].

We are a proud member of The Connectd Podcast Network.

The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits.

This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

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