Educating Ourselves and Our Children on Race, Racism, and Social Justice with Ogechi Akalegbere

Jun 7, 2020

Over the last couple of weeks, the topics of race and racism has filled the news, social media, and conversations. Many of these discussions have been political and heated, which others have focused on education. This episode with Ogechi Akalegbere, who is an educator in the areas of diversity and social justice, focuses on the educational side. How can we better educate ourselves and our children on race and racism? What sort of conversations and when should we begin to have talks about social justice? Ogechi brings her years of teaching experience, wisdom, and black heritage to share how to begin the educational journey.

Book Suggestions: 

For Adults-

• White Fragility
• The New Jim Crow
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race.
• The End of Policing (A book that discusses the increase in police rather than specialist use for social issues such as homelessness, mental health, and domestic violence)--might be great to read before your interview with the officer.

For Kids-

• Separate Is Never Equal (pre-K-5th grade) https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/separate-is-never-equal-by-duncan-tonatiuh/
• Something Happened in our Town, A Children's Story about Racial Injustice (K-5th grade) https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/something-happened-in-our-town-by-ann-hazzard/
• Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History https://www.amazon.com/Little-Leaders-History-Vashti-Harrison/dp/0316475114
• The ABCs of Diversity (elementary)- disclaimer: they do discuss gender identity in this book and I know some of your listeners may find an issue with this topic, but the book does a fantastic job of breaking down how to see diversity around you, even for parents. https://chalicepress.com/products/the-abcs-of-diversity-helping-kids-and-ourselves-embrace-our-differences

Other Resources-

• https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Building-Resilience/Pages/Talking-to-Children-About-Racial-Bias.aspx (guide for parents about talking to children about racism)
• 13th Documentary on Netflix (for older teens and adults) 
• Just Mercy (teens and adults)
• 1619 Podcast
• Intersectionality Matters Podcast

Longer list--https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/06/06/871023438/this-list-of-books-films-and-podcasts-about-racism-is-a-start-not-a-panacea