With a new school year approaching, I found myself thinking about #BlackLivesMatter (BLM).
Not just because of the violent summer of 2016, marked by more Black men dead at the hands of police and snipers targeting white police officers.
Or, because I worry about how my students process these terrible events, particularly against the backdrop of a political campaign season that has unleashed some of the most overtly hateful and vituperative racialized and sexist rhetoric I have ever seen.
BLM has elevated and placed into context the police shootings. It has the potential to do even more. As an “ideological and political intervention,” BLM is about more than just protesting: its focus is on securing material change for African Americans. That’s why, as we go back to school, I see BLM as a promising vehicle for challenging deep seated inequality contributing to Black dis-ease in society: disparities public education.