We keep a running list of ideas for episodes – topics to cover, guests we’d like to interview, conversations with parents we’d like to have – and near the top of that list, for far longer than we’d care to admit, has been a conversation about Native and Indigenous education. Finding the right voices to tell the right stories is always a challenge, but, if we’re being honest, it felt somehow acceptable that we hadn’t gotten to it yet.

The conversation we haver to share today completely changed that for us, and is a great opportunity to recommit ourselves to knowing better and doing better. Dr. Susan C. Faircloth is an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe, and a professor of education at Colorado State University. She has spent her career working on Native issues, and brings a wealth of historical knowledge, as well as family history that brings to light the challenges facing Native people, especially students, today. From Native boarding schools to her own struggles finding a school for her Native daughter, she shares deeply personal stories that force us to reckon with the repairs that are needed to begin the healing process for the sovereign Native tribes and nations on whose land we currently reside.

LINKS:

• We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy – Kliph Nesteroff
• An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States – Kyle T Mays
• Richard Henry Pratt
• The Coharie Tribe
• Native Land Finder
• List of Federally Recognized Tribes
• The East Carolina Indian School
• American Indian Leadership Program
• John Tippeconnic
• The Trail of Tears

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

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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

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Heather McGhee has been in public policy for the past 20 years, largely focused on economics. After nearly 16 years at Demos, a “think-and-do” tank, including four years as president, she realized that despite incredibly compelling economic research, at times, decision makers made decisions counter to what the best evidence showed. She took a leave of absence as president, and embarked on a journey to try to answer a simple question – Why can’t we have nice things? We, being all Americans, and nice things being things that most developed nations have managed to provide for their people – health care, parental leave, a social safety net, and, of course, a good school in every neighborhood. Her journey took her across the country for conversations with all sorts of people, and led to the new book, The Sum of Us, which was released on paperback today, Feb 8th, 2022, and includes a new afterword. We revisit the episode with new commentary from Andrew and Val. If you heard the interview already, the new commentary starts around the 50 minute mark.

LINKS:

• The Sum Of Us
• Our Bookshop.org Storefront
• Demos – Public Policy “Think-and-Do” Tank
• Ta-Nehesi Coats – The Case for Reparations
• Dr. Gail Christopher
• HealOurCommunities.org
• Adrian Piper – Conceptual Artist
• Sherrilyn Ifill
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• Black Doll Test
• Debra Holoien
• Chase Bellingham and Matthew Hunt
• Kellogg Foundation
• The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander
• The Color of Law – Richard Rothstein
• Bryan Stevenson of Equal Justice Initiative

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

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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Angela Berkfield, a White woman living in Brattleboro, Vermont, was deeply committed to social justice. In 2013, she was a co-founder of The Root Social Justice Center, a hub for social justice organizing in Vermont. From food insecurity, to youth empowerment, they have been focused on racial justice organizing, community advocacy, and relationship building for nearly a decade.

In 2014, a friend of Angela’s, Annique, asked her if she would be willing to do trainings for parents about how to talk with their kids about topics like racial microaggressions, gender-neutral pronouns, and Black Lives Matter — topics she was discussing on the regular in adult contexts.

Her boys, River and Birch, were 3 and 6 at the time. Although the concept of translating social justice concepts into language that would work for kids their age was daunting, she saw the value, and her friend helped her to see how her years of community work naturally fed this new focus.

Thus began Angela’s journey of parenting for social justice — starting in her own home.

She had some good support from truth-telling authors like Jacqueline Woodson and Kate Schatz, whose books opened up powerful conversations with her kids, and she recognized and took more opportunities for social justice chats with her family in the day to day.

Angela felt eager to connect and share ideas with other parents. In 2016, she and dear friend and parenting book co-author Abi Healey started a blog about how they were bringing social justice into their parenting, and that same year started hosting Parenting 4 Social Justice (P4SJ) Chats for parents and caregivers looking to share and receive this support. The response was positive and the idea for a book was born. In June of 2021, Parenting 4 Social Justice was released to the world.

Tragically, in September of 2021, Angela died from breast cancer. While the community in Vermont, and across the country reeled from her loss, the Parenting 4 Social Justice team wanted to continue to share her message. Chrissy Colón Bradt is the co-author of the chapter on parenting for racial justice, and agreed to come on the podcast to share a bit of Angela’s spirit with us. As an Afro-Latina and mother of two, she has thought long and hard about how to instill a positive racial identity in her own kids, and shared much of that ongoing journey in book.

LINKS:

• Parenting 4 Social Justice from Bookshop.org
• The Parenting for Social Justice website
• The Root Social Justice Center
• Angela Berkfield Tributes
• JPB Gerald – Checklists and Merit Badges
• I’m Your Peanut Butter Big Brother – by Selina Alko

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

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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

NOTE: In the original version of this episode, we got the origin story of the Parenting 4 Social Justice workshops mixed up. We have updated the episode. Our apologies to all at Parenting 4 Social Justice.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Listeners regularly reach out with questions – things that they are seeing in their own neighborhoods, things that we haven’t addressed, but should, etc. For the final episode of 2021, we thought we’d answer as many as we could. Thank you to everyone who sent in questions. If we didn’t get to your question, or if there is something else on your mind, let us know so we can include it in a future “mailbag” episode – [email protected].

As we enter the holiday season and folks are thinking about year-end giving, we’d like to ask for your support of this work. If this podcast brought value to your life, made you think in a new way, helped you have conversations in a different way, or just brought you some joy, we’d be grateful for your support. You can join our Patreon – Patreon.com/integratedschools. Thank you for your support and we look forward to more great conversations in 2022. LINKS:

• Teaching Hard History Podcast
• Learning For Justice
• White Awake’s – Before We Were White course

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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Back in April of 2020 we had a conversation with two teachers, Kara in the Minneapolis area, and Zoe in Philadelphia. They shared their struggles with shifting to remote school, trying to reach their students to provide devices, hot spots, and food, and the challenge of supporting the students with the greatest needs through the early days of the COVID crisis.

Today, it’s easy for parents to feel like things are almost back to normal in schools. However, in many ways, teachers are feeling the cost of the crisis more acutely now than at any point in the past two years. From staffing shortages to second hand trauma, teachers are under increasing stress and pressure to the point that many are considering leaving the profession.

We revisit some of the conversation from back in April, and then talk about the current realities and what parents and caregivers might do to support public education in these trying times.

LINKS:

• The original episode with Kara and Zoe
• National Education Association survey of teachers
• Guest Column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the crisis in teaching
• Gadfly On The Wall blog post about Vicarious Trauma

Special thanks to Erin Pier for helping open Andrew’s eyes to the crisis in teaching.

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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Dr. Sarah-Soonling Blackburn is an educator, speaker, and professional development specialist. Growing up in a mixed race, Asian and White family, and spending most of her childhood in various countries in Asia, ideas of belonging have always had salience for her. From the classroom to Learning for Justice, her work has focused on the things that help students feel seen and included. She joins us to discuss the myth of the Model Minority and helps contextualize the role of Asian American identities in our collective understanding and education about race and America.

With a bit of a history lesson, Dr. Blackburn gives us a greater understanding of how this myth is not only harmful to Asian Americans, but to all people of color, and how it is directly tied to anti-Black racism in our country. She also offers deep reflection about what solidarity building can really mean and what we all have to offer in the fight to dismantle White supremacy culture.

LINKS:

• Time cover – “Those Asian-American Whiz Kids“
• Learning for Justice
• Paula Yoo – From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement
• Cathy Park Hong – Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
• Erika Lee – The Making of Asian American
• Elizabeth McRea – Mothers of Massive Resistance
• Dr. McRea on our podcast – White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy
• Jeff Chan – We Gon’ Be Alright
• Other resources that have shaped our learning:
• The Asian American Justice and Innovation Lab
• See Us Unite 
• The PBS Series – Asian Americans
• Code Switch Post – The Model Minority Myth 
• Angry Asian Man 
• Bianca Mabute-Louie
• Dr. Connie Wun

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’s How 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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

If you think about a “segregated school”, what image comes to mind? Quite often, the cultural narrative says that that is a school with almost exclusively students of color. What about a school with 98% White students? Is that a “segregated school”? While we don’t often think of it that way, it is clearly segregated. Tomás Monarrez is an economist by training. As he was studying the question of school and housing segregation at the Urban Institute, he was struck by the ways that the field of economics falls into the same traps that we fall into as a culture – segregation means concentrations of Black, Brown and Indigenous students. This seemed wrong to Tomás, and he and his colleagues set out to define segregation, using the tools of economics. Their definition takes the district average demographics and holds that as the baseline to which other schools should be compared. In this framing, in a district with 70% students of color, a school with 90% students of color is segregating, but so is a school with 50% students of color. What he quickly found was that the schools that often contribute the most to segregation within a district are not the schools we often focus on – are not the schools with 95% students of color, but rather, the schools with 75%, 85%, even 90% White students. His hope is that this shift in framing can focus the efforts of local policy makers who care about decreasing segregation.

He joins to talk about his work, why he does it, and what sort of social good he hopes his economics focus can achieve.

LINKS:

• Segregation Contribution Index
• Dividing Lines: How School Districts Draw Attendance Boundaries to Perpetuate School Segregation
• A Vox explainer highlighting the work of Tomàs Monarrez and the Urban Institute on school boundaries
• Home Owners Loan Corporation – 1930s entity that drew redlining maps
• Look up redlining maps for your city
• Michelle Adams on our podcast – traces the history of desegregation law in this country
• The Parents Involved Case
• Harry Belafonte on King saying “I fear we are integrating into a burning house”
• Dr. Elizabeth McRae on our podcast – White Woman and the Politics of White Supremacy
• Dr. McRae’s Mother’s of Massive Resistance
• Richard Rothstein Color of Law
• SFUSD’s new student assignment policy
• Tree Equity

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

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 and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

In 1954, Louis Redding, Delaware’s first Black attorney, joined the legal team at the NAACP to argue the Brown v Board case. Having agued two of the lower court cases that were incorporated into the Brown case, he was a key member of the team, along with Thurgood Marshall, who won perhaps the mostly widely known and celebrated court case ever. Sixty years later, his grandson, Stefan Lallinger, found himself teaching at school in New Orleans with over 90% students of color. This segregation wasn’t caused by explicit, legal requirements for segregated schools, and yet it still happened. Lallinger’s curiosity led him to get a doctorate and eventually to leading The Bridges Collaborative, a hub for school and housing practitioners to work together to advance the cause of integration.

Lallinger joins us to discuss his family legacy, how it shapes his current work, and what legacy he hopes to leave for his kids.

LINKS:

• Lallinger on the importance of the Bridges Collaborative work
• Martin Luther King, Jr on the difference between desegregation and integration
• A Vox explainer highlighting the work of Tomàs Monarrez and the Urban Institute on school boundaries
• The Bridges Collaborative
• IntegrateNYC, the 5 Rs of Real Integration
• The National Coalition of School Diversity
• Maya Angelou Still I Rise
• Langston Hughes Mother to Son
• Dr. Vanessa Siddle Walker – The Lost Education of Horace Tate
• Dr. Siddle Walker on our podcast
• MLK – Where Do We Go From Here
• MLK – A Testament of Hope
• W.E.B. DuBois on the fear of integrating Black students into hostile spaces

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

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’re thrilled to be joining Connectd Podcasts, a network dedicated to helping shows like ours grow and thrive. For more info, or to check out their other amazing shows, head over to their website.

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

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

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The very first episode of the Integrated Schools Podcast featured a conversation between our late founder, Courtney Mykytyn, and two mothers who were early in their journeys toward anti-racist school integration. Since then, Anna and Sarah have continued to be influential members of the Integrated Schools community, and both found themselves moving over the past 18 months. While both of their families had moved in the past, this was the first time they engaged in that process with a deep commitment to anti-racist school integration.

They share their process, and the challenges they faced, as they grappled with what it means to be White, and what it means to have racial and economic privilege in a world where they want to show up better and create a more just place.

LINKS:

• Maggie Hagerman –White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America 
• Richard Rothstein – Color of Law
• The Intro to the Integrated Schools Podcast

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

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].

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

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

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

In 2016, Val Brown recognized a silence in the education community regarding issues of race, and a gap in learning opportunities for educators. In response she founded #ClearTheAir, a platform for educators to learn about the intersections of history, racism, and education.

In 2019, she reached out to Integrated Schools to see if we might walk this road towards anti-racist school integration together. However, she had a question – as a Black mom, she asked, “do I belong at Integrated Schools? Is there a place for me?”

This is a question we have been wrestling with internally for some time. Leadership team member, Ali Takata recently published a blog post highlighting the gap she has felt in our ability to address a multiracial audience and announcing our intentions to grow from a primarily White organization into a truly multiracial organization.

While we know that this process needs to be slow and deliberate, we are also deeply committed to seeing it through. With that in mind, and given that the podcast has been lacking a regular co-host, we felt it was time to bring someone new on board, and we are so grateful that Val agreed. She will be with us at least though May of 2022 to co-host, lend her insights, and help model what a truly multiracial coalition could be.

In this first episode, we get to know her backstory, why she cares, and what we hope this season will achieve.

LINKS:

• Val Brown on Twitter
• Ali’s Blog Post
• White Lips to White Ears by IS Advisory Board Member, Matt Gonzales
• #ClearTheAir
• Dr. Mica Pollock

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].

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

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

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands