race

The Token’s Worth More Than You Bargained For

by Jose 08.12.2010

My favorite part about the GE Futures in Education Conference in Orlando wasn’t the wonderful 85+ degree weather, the beautiful accommodations (including free wi-fi), or even the wonderful speakers ranging from Jon Saphier and Robert Marzano to Ron Ferguson and David Jackson. It was my eclectic crew of math and science teachers who I broke [...]

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Voices of Concerned Educators: The Twilight Zone and How Affluence Perpetuates the Achievement Gap [C. Marquez]

by C. Marquez 03.24.2010

“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the sign post up ahead, your next stop…The Twilight Zone!” ~Rod Serling As an elementary school administrator, I currently work in the Twilight Zone. This environment [...]

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On Why Your Colorblindness Can Strike Me As Covertly Racist ( #EdChat Edition )

by Jose 02.02.2010

Let me make it plain: conversations in too many sectors have this strange relationship with race these days, and by strange, I mean covertly racist. This sentiment is best exemplified by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s latest quote about New Orleans (thanks, Fred Klonsky): “I think the best thing that happened to the education system [...]

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The Tourist (or Not That Black in America)

by Jose 07.27.2009

Sure enough, I didn’t catch most of CNN’s Black in America 2 special. I’ll most likely catch that sometime in the future; reruns prevail over original programming even on a 24-hour news channel. I caught bits of it and found inspiration in the story of Steve Perry, a Black high school principal whose high expectations [...]

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Live With Legends – Julian Bond and Cornel West

by Jose 07.15.2009

I had the pleasure of sitting in the front left aisle in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Union Square for a conversation between Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, and Dr. Cornel West, activist, thinker, professor, and leader. As I looked at this rather diverse crowd, young professionals, burgeoning and veteran journalists, liberals and [...]

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Letters: Why I Don’t Just Color In One Crayon

by Jose 07.10.2009

Dear Random Commenters and Viewers of My Blog, In my last post, I contended, from personal experience and other sources, that Black and Latino males were definitely needed as participants in schools across the nation, especially in the role of teacher, head figure of most people’s experience with school and the man or woman in [...]

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On The Reason Why You May Only Get One Black Male Teacher Ever In Your Life (If At All)

by Jose 07.07.2009

Here’s a real and researched statistic for you. Before college, I only had 1 Black male teacher. I also believe I had 1-2 male Latino (sorry for redundancy, it’s necessary) teachers in my lifetime before college as well. His name was Mr. Wingate and he taught me Computer Applications. In 12th grade. Nothing profound, but [...]

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The Sounds of Quisqueya Call Me Right Back

by Jose 05.19.2009

Today, Raquel Cepeda linked me to a post about Dominican-Haitian relations that she wrote on her blog, and for those of you who know me, you know I had to jump on that quickly. Most of you know my story already: Dominican mom, Haitian father, grew up conflicted about my identity and how people sought [...]

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How’s That Postracial Thing Working Out For You?

by Jose 02.18.2009

O, humans. After Barack Obama was elected, some of you seriously thought that the color barrier had officially collapsed. Some of you were grinning extra hard since you thought all the problems of the world were laid off your shoulders, as if we were only one John Hancock away from true world peace. Evidently, someone [...]

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A-Rod Can Haz Dominican Culture Now?

by Jose 12.08.2008

Back in July of 2005, the World Baseball Classic committees were just getting their international rosters, and most people stuck to their countries of origin, as stipulated by the rules. With 16 teams in the competition, many of us baseball fans almost salivated to the chin being able to watch these all-stars playing on the [...]

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