Parts on this book were a bit dry to me (I think just due to the author taking the perspective of a sociologist/researcher in her writing style), but parts of it were also really powerful and those parts taught me a lot and will stay with me for a long while. I would highly recommend it to those interested in inequity in our school systems. This book provides a unique perspective on that conversation that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

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“These events and policies are racist because they result in the systemic disenfranchisement of black people and harm to black children- regardless of intent- and because they are bound up in the perpetuation of historical policies rooted in more explicit racism. And this, in part, is why people fight so hard for their schools: because the fight is actually about a great deal more than just one building.”

“Interest convergence: the idea that black people will be permitted to achieve a measure of racial equality only in moments and through methods that happen to serve the interests of white people.”

“This version of reality- in which the value of a school is directly related to its nurture and support of lasting human relationships, and in which history matters- stood opposed to another reality. In this other reality, numbers don’t lie, the question of ‘good school’ versus ‘failing school’ is simple and beyond debate, and the only history that matters is last year’s test scores. And it is the second reality that comes with the power of enforcement.”

“Political leaders and decision makers are loath to have an honest conversation about the racism we still live with and the ways it may affect our current reality. Given that unwillingness, the next necessary step- figuring out how to dismantle these racist structures- feels very far away.”