Trayvon Martin, Race, and “American Justice”: Writing Wrong is the first comprehensive text to analyze not only the killing of Trayvon Martin, but the implications of this event for the state of race in the United States. Bringing together contributions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, this text pushes readers to answer the question: “In the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin, and the acquittal of his killer, how post-racial can we claim to be?” This collection of short and powerful chapters is at times angering and at times hopeful, but always thought provoking, critical, and poignant. This interdisciplinary volume is well suited for undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty in sociology, social work, law, communication, and education. This book can also be read by anyone interested in social justice and equity through the lens of race in the 21st century. “This text is an invitation to a rebellion—the inevitable insurgency of Black youth brewing right now across the land as the descendants of enslaved workers step up to exercise their agency, and at that moment become agents of liberty and actors in history.” – William Ayers, Distinguished Professor from the University of Illinois–Chicago “... the authors [...] offer incisive and vivid examinations of the contours of white supremacy today, inviting readers into a much-needed discussion of moral questions surrounding the very foundation life in the U.S.” – Christine Sleeter, Professor Emerita, California State University Monterey “Trayvon Martin, Race, and American Justice: Writing Wrong is a powerful assemblage of voices that speak to the salience of race, gender, and their intersection. Collectively, the authors provide us with poignant reminders of the multiple forces that rail against Black males in our society. Each chapter grabs our attention, ignites our activism, and encourages us to remain steadfast in the struggle toward a true democracy for all Americans – a society where Black males’ lives are valued and they no longer face daily threats to their humanity.” – Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Assistant Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University “While motivated by Trayvon Martin’s unfortunate and tragic death, this impressive collection serves as a one-of-a-kind tribute to Martin and will help to keep his legacy alive. The contributions are evocative and accessible, and while the focus is on Martin, the contributions also call attention to mundane, severe, and systemic racial wrongdoings, biases in existing research, colorblindness and white privilege, and erasures of history and failures of memory.” – Tony E. Adams, Professor at Northeastern Illinois University and NCA book award winner “The editors and contributors have taken a tragic topic and presented it in a way that is engaging, effective, and surprisingly optimistic. There is a style for everyone here, making it a great text for multiple audiences and classrooms. A truly superb addition to any classroom and a great read for those interested in social justice in today’s world.” – U. Melissa Anyiwo, Professor and Coordinator of African American Studies, Curry College “Trayvon Martin, Race, and American Justice: Writing Wrong is true to its title; it focuses attention—through critical writing—on the pernicious, pervasive, and persistent violence waged against black men, especially black male youth, in American society. Using the still unpunished pre-meditated murder of Trayvon Martin as a highly emblematic example of this violence, the editors and authors use carefully crafted and sequenced poetry and prose to write truth to power about the economic, political, social, and cultural factors that produce and reproduce systemic aggression toward especially men and boys of African descent, but also toward members of other societally minoritized groups. The breadth and depth of the contributions included in Trayvon Martin, Race, and American Justice: Writing Wrong makes it a particularly valuable resource for faculty and students engaged in teaching, learning, research, service, and activism related to issues of race, racism, blackness, whiteness, class, caste, classism, language, dialect, literacy, linguicism, geographic and national origin, immigration status, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, masculinity, sexual orientation, size, appearance, and, more broadly, equity, equality, and social justice. Chapters reflect the thoughtful insight and advanced expertise of their authors, who bring increased levels of complexity to historical and contemporary dialogue, discussion, and debate about especially race and racism in the United States. The editors’ selection of contributors and organization of contributions balances pain truth-telling with hope and possibility for a more just future. In sum, Trayvon Martin, Race, and American Justice: Writing Wrong reciprocally links theory and practice relating to issues of power, privilege, oppression, discrimination—and liberation.” – Christine Clark, Professor & Senior Scholar in Multicultural Education, and Founding Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, University of Nevada, Las Vegas “Chapters in this timely and probing book stare straight at a difficult incident, refuse to ignore injustice, but call on a higher purpose of great academic criticism in “writing the wrong.” Here the wrong is the corrosive and sometimes lethal bias by many in power toward black males, who are too often seen as dangerous and disposable in American society. The killing of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of his killer George Zimmerman are examined by minds informed by reflection on theory and history. We hear of conversations that black parents, particularly mothers who often felt on trial themselves, had with their teenage sons. Some of these endangered sons were outraged by the act and verdict, while some others were indifferent. Chapters are devoted to the incident, the trial and aftermath, and to the future of the struggle against racial injustice. Through what T. J. Yosso calls “resistant capital” we are urged to continue to interrogate a judicial system that prosecutes not only black males but their parents and families. There is much to learn here about the current state of social justice and the way we live with and among each other. In both prose and poetry these impassioned authors strive to write the wrong of Trayvon Martin and many others like him. I recommend this volume highly and will use it in my graduate classes.” – AG Rud, Distinguished Professor, College of Education, Washington State University Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, PhD is Shirley B. Barton Endowed Assistant Professor of Foundations and Elementary Education and holds a Ph.D in Language, Literacy, and Culture from The Ohio State University. Rema E. Reynolds, PhD is Assistant Professor of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership and holds a doctorate in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles. Katrice A. Albert, PhD is Vice President for Equity and Diversity and holds a doctorate in Counseling from Auburn University. Lori L. Martin, PhD is Associate Professor of Sociology and African American Studies and holds a doctorate in Sociology from University of Albany, State University of New York.

How popular debates about the so-called digital generation mediate anxieties about labor and life in twenty-first-century America “The children are our future” goes the adage, a proclamation that simultaneously declares both anxiety as well as hope about youth as the next generation. In The Digital Is Kid Stuff, Josef Nguyen interrogates this ambivalence within discussions about today’s “digital generation” and the future of creativity, an ambivalence that toggles between the techno-pessimism that warns against the harm to children of too much screen time and a techno-utopianism that foresees these “digital natives” leading the way to innovation, economic growth, increased democratization, and national prosperity. Nguyen engages cultural histories of childhood, youth, and creativity through chapters that are each anchored to a particular digital media object or practice. Nguyen narrates the developmental arc of a future creative laborer: from a young kid playing the island fictions of Minecraft, to an older child learning do-it-yourself skills while reading Make magazine, to a teenager posting selfies on Instagram, to a young adult creative laborer imagining technological innovations using design fiction. Focusing on the constructions and valorizations of creativity, entrepreneurialism, and technological savvy, Nguyen argues that contemporary culture operates to assuage profound anxieties about—and to defuse valid critiques of—both emerging digital technologies and the precarity of employment for “creative laborers” in twenty-first-century neoliberal America.

Now more than ever, we need to teach the truth about history. This volume assembles a team of critical social studies Scholars of Color and co-conspirators who share both their nightmares and dreams for the future. The authors engage critical race theory (CRT) and its many branches and offshoots to better understand the permanence of racism in the teaching of social studies. The book’s first section, A Dream Deferred, outlines the endemic systemic issues and the ways in which the field and national organizations attempt to remain racially neutral in the face of the biases that permeate curriculum, disciplines, and the world. The second section, Racial Realities in Classroom Spaces, examines the various ways scholars and educators are applying CRT in PreK–12 spaces. In the third section, Possibilities of Praxis, chapter authors critically reflect on their own experiences and stories using CRT to work with young people and future teachers. In the final section, Dreaming of Social Studies Futures, contributors outline their dreams for the future of social studies, envisioning an unapologetically Indigenous field that centers Black futures and liberation and is free from the violence that has plagued the field and communities for centuries. Book Features: Offers race-focused analyses from a wide range of perspectives and contexts of study related to social studies education.Highlights innovations, branches, and future directions of critical race theories and methods. Explores how race and racism have been situated within the field of social studies since the publication of Gloria Ladson-Billings’s 2003 edited volume, Critical Race Theory Perspectives on the Social Studies. Contributors include Sohyun An, Christopher Busey, Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Leilani Sabzalian, Sarah B. Shear, Tran Templeton, and Jon Wargo.

Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era is an edited collection of critical essays and poetry that investigates contemporary elegy within the black diaspora. Scores of contemporary writers have turned to elegiac poetry and prose in order to militate against the white supremacist logic that has led to recent deaths of unarmed black men, women, and children. This volume combines scholarly and creative understandings of the elegy in order to discern how mourning feeds our political awareness in this dystopian time as writers attempt to see, hear, and say something in relation to the bodies of the dead as well as to living readers. Moreover, this book provides a model for how to productively interweave theoretical and deeply personal accounts to encourage discussions about art and activism that transgress disciplinary boundaries, as well as lines of race, gender, class, and nation.

This book examines the ways in which families can address racial and ethnic inequalities and racism and the impacts of these systems on health, education, and other family and family member outcomes. It addresses the historical context of race and racism in the United States, ethnic-racial socialization in families of color, and White parents’ attitudes and practices related to antiracist socialization. Chapters describe structural racism, debunk the myth of racial progress, and explore the representation of race and racism in family research; provide a historical account of ethnic-racial socialization literature, propose a model of ethnic-racial socialization of Latinx families; describe how racial socialization can be used therapeutically; and address White normativity, expand models of White racial socialization and learning, and grapple with the complexities of antiracist socialization. Finally, the volume offers recommendations for the field of family research to meaningfully include race and racism as well as provides suggestions for translational work in this area related to policies, programs, and practice. Featured areas of coverage include: Ethnic and racial socialization among families of color. White racial socialization and racial learning. Antiracist socialization. Opportunities for family research on race and racism to be used to enhance family policies and intervention programming. Family Socialization, Race, and Inequality in the United States is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, and sociology, as well as interrelated disciplines, including demography, social work, prevention science, public health, educational policy, political science, and economics.

In Achieving Equity and Justice in Education through the Work of Systems Change, Dr. Neitzel contends that our nation is at a crossroads. Do we continue with the band aid approach to equity that is focused on implementing isolated intervention programs aimed at reducing the achievement gap? Or do we embrace systems change, which requires us to focus on disrupting the roots that are sustaining deep disparities between Black and White students? She guides readers through the history of the educational system to facilitate a greater understanding about how barriers have morphed to disadvantage Black students and why systems change is necessary to address racial inequities within our schools. She lays out a systems change framework that provides the path forward for educational leaders, teachers, policy makers, and community members. "The Work" identifies key issues that must be addressed and offers a revolutionary new way of thinking about how to bring about lasting change for all students.

In today's society, the public perception of crime has been skewed by how the media depicts it. People use the media for enjoyment, companionship, surveillance, and interpretation. The problem is that it becomes hard to separate fact from entertainment. This raises several questions. How are we consuming media? Are we consuming reality within the news? And are we consuming harmless pleasure from entertainment media? In Crime, Media, and Reality: Examining Mixed Messages about Crime and Justice in Popular Media, Venessa Garcia and Samantha Garcia Arkerson focus predominantly on the social constructions of crime and justice and how we absorb them. They look at the influence of crime news and true crime television series that prevent the public from understanding pure entertainment from the realities of crime and justice. They bring to light the social science knowledge missed by media "infotainment," which has blurred the line between information and entertainment. Throughout, all different forms of media are discussed, news media, crime dramas and true crime television series. In doing so, they keep all of its fascinating coverage while uncovering the reality of crime and justice. This book adds significant information to the constructs held by the general public by placing media depictions into historical, legal, and social context.

The Grammar of School Discipline examines how seemingly discrete school discipline policies and practices constitute a particular grammar: Removal, Resistance and Reform. Weaving numeric data with portraits of students and school practitioners, the authors detail a nuanced landscape of school discipline in Alabama and its anti-Black foundations. The removal of Black students can be traced to the antebellum construction of Blackness as criminal, deviant, and deserving of punishment. A focus on resistance centers the agency that students and practitioners exercise despite anti-Black removal. An exploration of specific reform efforts emphasizes that even the most well-intentioned and well-organized reforms are limited when the removal of students remains an option for practitioners. The authors end with an appeal to educational stakeholders to repair the harms that these anti-Black policies and practices inflict on students and communities, and thus move towards repairing the damage that white supremacy inflicts on everyone’s humanity.

Enhance your capacity for antiracist leadership! The COVID 19 pandemic has illuminated deep-seated structural inequities in our schools and across society. More than ever, education leaders are being challenged to take action to disrupt the institutional racism that undergirds many of our longstanding policies and practices. Our students are challenging us to step up and be antiracists who commit to the uncompromising belief all children can learn and deserve an exceptional education. Based on 10 years of work leading the Institute for Courageous Principal Leadership, this book guides leaders to expanding their racial consciousness through self-reflection and provides the tools they need to counter implicit bias and respond to resistance. Grounded in research, but written in practitioner-friendly language, this book: • Focuses on systemic leadership and institutional failures as the source of predictable student outcomes • Leverages research and theory to create a process for principals to build racially equitable practices • Navigates the politics of leadership without compromising student achievement The practical lessons and strategies in this book will equip you with the skills to implement the leadership and actions that must be taken to confront the reality of systemic racism in education and transform schools into learning environments with a student-centered commitment to high achievement for every learner.

"Uses the Trayvon Martin case as a springboard to examine race, crime, and justice in our criminal justice system. Contributors explores how race and racism inform how Americans think about criminality; how crimes are investigated and prosecuted; and how highly publicized criminal cases go on to shape public views about offenders and the criminal process"--