AFROPUNK SOLUTION SESSIONS EP. 8: BUS STOP

By AFROPUNK

PORT SULPHUR, LA - MAY 14: Herschel Barthelemy and sister Jalinh Vasquez walk home in the FEMA Diamond trailer park after getting dropped off by the school bus May 14, 2009 in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. Seven children and four adults from the family are still living in a FEMA trailer after their home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The trailer park used to house hundreds of families but just a few still remain. They are still awaiting money from the federal Road Home program to purchase a new home. Approximately 2,000 families in the New Orleans metropolitan area still live in FEMA trailers nearly four years after Hurricane Katrina. Eighty percent of those still in trailers are homeowners who are unable to return to their storm damaged houses. May 1 marked the end of the Temporary Housing Program for Katrina victims as those still living in the trailers have been given a May 30 deadline to move out or face possible legal action. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

It’s no surprise that our education system isn’t doing the best job of educating Black youth. Too often, schools teach Black kids that they need to work harder and be better to make it, without meaningfully setting them up to deal with a racist society that has been designed for them to fail. In ‘Bus Stop,’ the eighth episode of the AFROPUNK SOLUTION SESSIONS podcast, Bridget and Yves speak with Matthew Kincaid about what we can to do fix set Black youth up for success.

We get into it:

  • Why teachers are ignoring the trauma of racism
  • How police killings impact Black youth
  • The incorrect assumption that Black kids don’t care about learning

Solutions:

  • Teach kids about race early.
  • Be realistic not idealistic when discussing racism with kids.
  • Demand that schools meaningfully address the issues Black children face.
  • Speak up for children.
  • Learn more about Matthew Kincaid’s Overcoming Racism

Featured in this episode:

MATTHEW KINCAID

Founder, Overcoming Racism

Matthew founded “Overcoming Racism,” realizing that problems facing black and brown kids in our education system are rooted in systemic racism, and not in the children themselves.

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