Over the course of three consecutive years–from pre-kindergarten to first grade, Amy Parks analyzed the experiences of Aisha and Jeremiah–a Black girl and a Black boy respectively. Parks found that teachers’ negative gendered perceptions about Black girls and Black boys impacted Aisha’s and Jeremiah’s mathematics development and mathematics identity. Specifically, Parks shows that perceptions of (i) Black girlhood as disruptive and defiant as well as (ii) ‘proper behavior for girls’ informed the teacher’s constant reinforcement of Aisha’s silence and stillness over the years. This reinforcement inferred with her mathematical engagement by giving positive feedback for being passive, rather than active learner. Similarly, assumptions of Black boys as dangerous and always in need of correction informed how teachers interpreted Jeremiah’s participation in the classroom. In spite of being an active learner, confident, and a leader in mathematics, Jeremiah was often perceived as disruptive and disproportionately subjected to punishment. Often positioned as troublesome, Jeremiah’s mathematics engagement was overlooked leading to his exclusion from the category of good student and positioned as troublesome. Parks suggests that teachers’ perceptions and interactions with students also impacted how they saw themselves as mathematics learners and doers.

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Moving beyond mainstream comparative analysis between the performance of white and Black students, Niral Shah worked with a racially and ethnically diverse group of students–Black, Asian, Latinx, Polyenisian–to investigate the kinds of stories students tell about their race and academic ability–and math in particular. Shah calls these stories racial stories or racial narratives. Shah’s analysis shows that racial stories about mathematics abilities shared by students are rooted in widespread stereotypical views about different racial groups (e.g., Asians are good in math, Black people are inherently good at sports, Mexicans are fit for manual labor). Shah also demonstrates how such discourses are created by social, political, and historical configurations of US society and always in relation to each other. For example, one Black student shared that after getting an “A” on a test, another Black student alluded to his high grade being that he must “have some Asian on you.” A Polynesian student shared that others may not see him as good at math because “Polynesian are so big they think we don’t know how to do math.” Shah suggests that racial narratives create a hierarchy of mathematics ability in which non-Asian students of color are perceived to be not as good at math when compared to Asian and white students. Shah also discusses the negative impacts racial stories have on students’ perceptions of themselves and of others as well as how such perceptions may impact their engagement in mathematics.

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Based on her New York Times bestselling book White Rage: The Unspoken Truth About Our Racial Divide, Carol Anderson provides a historical analysis–from the Civil War to 2016–on the systemic ways in which white rage punishes Black resilience and Black resolve. For Anderson, white rage is a systemic response to Black people with ambition, resolve, aspiration, and who demand their rights. Anderson explains that white rage is not necessarily about overt forms of violence, but subtle and cohesive ways that state legislature, congress, judiciary, school boards, and legalities have been used to prevent Black and Brown advancement and full participation in US society. White rage is about creating systems in which Black and Brown people cannot thrive. From Brown vs Board of Education, voting suppression, driving while Black, education (dis)investment to the war on drugs, Anderson discusses specific policies that have resulted in the educational disinfrenchament, mass incarceration, and economic exploitation of Black and Brown people. Speaking to the intricacies of interconnected systems, this engaging lecture is a great introduction to historical and systemic analysis of anti-Black policies and governmental practices in the US as well as to Anderson’s book, White Rage.

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In this short and provocative essay, James Baldwin draws from both his personal experiences and sociological analysis to shed light on myths that reinforce the subjugation of Black people and impede white people from fully developing their identity and critical consciousness. Baldwin believes that education can play a crucial role in the advancement of US as long as it (i) challenges the normalization of white superiority, (ii) provides the tools for Black and white children to critique and change the society, and (ii) exposes the complexities of history, politics, and the world. Baldwin provides a powerful note on the education he wishes for Black children–an education that (i) is explicit about the wrongs of society against Black people, (ii) reinforces the brilliance and humanity of Black children, and (iii) prepares Black children to change what is not working for their people. That many of Baldwin’s observations from 1963 still are relevant to the present moment signals that we still have a long way to go when it comes to racial justice in education.

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