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We Need Black Teachers in More Ways Than You Think

SACRAMENTO OBSERVER — One way to help schools achieve that level of comfort for Black students is to diversity the workforce — a longstanding problem in U.S. public schools. Study after study shows achievement among students of color rise if they are taught by a teacher who looks like them making it potentially easier to relate to or understand slang. Yet, the percentage of Black teachers working in public schools is around 7% nationwide.
The post We Need Black Teachers in More Ways Than You Think first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

8 months ago

July 17, 2024

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By Aziah Siid | Word In Black | Sacramento Observer

(WIB) – For grade-school teachers, keeping up with student slang is a race as old as the teaching profession itself, and one they can never win. Changing as quickly as the weather, the hot slang word or phrase of the moment — the one that’s so lit everyone in the caf is using it — is usually hella dead by the time most adults they know catch up.

When it shows up in the classroom in students’ oral answers and written exams, slang can leave teachers scratching their heads. That’s led some educators to take extreme measures: one teacher went viral for an outright ban on slang, while another pranks his own students with fake slang.

But some Black K-12 educators have taken a different view. They have embraced slang as a valuable teaching tool for Black students, one that celebrates their identities, culture, lived experiences, and linguistic ingenuity.

Chris Emdin, an associate professor at Teachers College, proposes a new approach to teaching he calls Ratchetdemic. It centers the language and culture of Black students’ lived experiences in a way that may not align with traditional academia.

“We don’t need their permission to create language, especially as people who created hip hop. This can be a valuable teaching tool for our kids about linguistic ingenuity,” he says.

The Need for Black Teachers is Evident

Data underscores Emdin’s perspective. According to the language learning website Preply, about 3 in 10 parents said slang should be allowed in school, and 40% of teachers agreed that slang could help students express themselves. Thirty-six percent of teachers said accepting slang shows respect for students’ cultural identity.

At the same time, more than half of teachers surveyed worried that slang could lead to misunderstandings or miscommunications between teachers and students, and 50% believe it could disrupt the learning process. Earlier this year, a teacher went viral for posting a list of slang words she banned from her classroom.

But Emdin believes that’s the wrong approach. Students learn best, he says, when they feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to the classrooms. Acceptance of slang language on things like term peppers and in oral reports illustrates that.

“To be ratchetdemic is to have no part in starving the authentic self, while still maintaining high academic standards and high academic rigor,” Emdin, who wrote a book on the subject, said in a Harvard EdCast episode.

“I chose the word ‘ratchetdemic’ because it’s a merging of being ratchet and academic,” he said. “I was intentional about utilizing a colloquial slang word and merging that with being academic. I understand that for some folks to ratchet is to be loud or to be abrasive, but there are variations in ratchet.”

At the same time, many slang words are rooted in African American Vernacular English, which some studies recognize as a legitimate English dialect with its own rules and functions.

One way to help schools achieve that level of comfort for Black students is to diversity the workforce — a longstanding problem in U.S. public schools. Study after study shows achievement among students of color rise if they are taught by a teacher who looks like them making it potentially easier to relate to or understand slang. Yet, the percentage of Black teachers working in public schools is around 7% nationwide.

Until that elusive goal is reached — and until slang is universally accepted in school — teachers are finding different ways to catch up.

Educators have taken to social media platforms, sharing ways they use to keep up with their students. Some recommend simply asking for clarification when a student says something new or unusual. Other teachers suggest keeping a weekly diary of every new word that shows up in the classroom or is overheard on campus.

If research hasn’t shown enough, staying connected and in touch with your students goes beyond simply standing in front of the classroom. Learning their cultural dishes, staying up to date on their catchphrases, and countless other ways are open for teachers to show up for their students.

The post We Need Black Teachers in More Ways Than You Think first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

4 days ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

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Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

Published

5 days ago

March 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.

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Trump Moves to Dismantle Education Department

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

Published

5 days ago

March 6, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The Trump administration is preparing to issue an executive order directing newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. While the president lacks the authority to unilaterally shut down the agency—requiring congressional approval—McMahon has been tasked with taking “all necessary steps” to reduce its role “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” The administration justifies the move by claiming the department has spent over $1 trillion since its 1979 founding without improving student achievement. However, data from The Nation’s Report Card shows math scores have improved significantly since the 1990s, though reading levels have remained stagnant. The pandemic further widened achievement gaps, leaving many students behind.

The Education Department provides about 10% of public-school funding, primarily targeting low-income students, rural districts, and children with disabilities. A recent Data for Progress poll found that 61% of voters oppose Trump’s efforts to abolish the agency, while just 34% support it. In Washington, D.C., where student proficiency rates remain low—22% in math and 34% in English—federal funding is crucial. Serenity Brooker, an elementary education major, warned that cutting the department would worsen conditions in underfunded schools.

“D.C. testing scores aren’t very high right now, so cutting the Department of Education isn’t going to help that at all,” she told Hilltop News. A report from the Education Trust found that low-income schools in D.C. receive $2,200 less per student than wealthier districts, leading to shortages in essential classroom materials. The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

The Office for Civil Rights also plays a key role in enforcing laws that protect students from discrimination. Moving it to the Department of Justice, as proposed in Project 2025, would make it harder for families to file complaints, leaving vulnerable students with fewer protections. Federal student aid programs, including Pell Grants and loan repayment plans, could face disruption if the department is dismantled. Experts warn this could worsen the student debt crisis, pushing more borrowers into default. “With funding cuts, they don’t have the materials they need, like books or things to help with math,” Brooker said. “It makes learning less fun for them.”