Resisting Racism and Promoting Equity Through Community-Engaged Social Action

<p>This book challenges pre-service and in-service educators to reflect critically on their assumptions and engage in praxis promoting racial and social equity. Grounded in policy contexts, historical understandings, and critical theories, this book describes innovative community-engaged approaches to resisting racism and promoting equity and features reflections and personal narratives from partners in change—including on-the-ground activists, voices from younger and older generations, educators, and first-time writers.</p><p>Fueled by the ideology of white supremacy for over four centuries that whites matter more than Blacks, the authors argue that racial inequities exacerbated during the Trump administration and the legacy of neo-liberal policies dating to the "New Federalism" fiercely necessitate invoking community-engaged strategies to advance equity.</p><p>This book advocates for collaboration among schools, community organizations, businesses, university centers, and community activists to address historically pressing issues, including systemic racism, declining educational opportunities, limited access to ongoing health care, and the decline of civility in public life.</p> <p><strong>Part I: Resisting Systemic Racism</strong> 1. Stepping Out of Our Lanes: The Big Picture and the Big Lies (Plural) 2. The Unfinished Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi: Narratives of Ordinary Citizens 3. When a Call for Justice Becomes "Defund" the Police 4. The National "Birth Defect": Systemic Inequity and the American Democracy/Nightmare 5. Education Policy and Leadership: Resisting the Shift to Neoliberalism in New Orleans <strong>Part II: Promoting Equity </strong>6. Seed Times for Civil Rights and Citizen Participation: Reflections from a Social Welfare Historian 7. Math Literacy as a Community Organizing Tool: Narratives of an "Extraordinary Citizen" 8. Throwing out the Good with the Bad: A Counter Narrative of the New Orleans School "Revolution" 9. Traditional Leadership Theories Reframed: Moving African-American Women Leadership Experiences from "Margin" to "Center" 10. The Last Words</p>