Description: "Dr. Bettina Love argues ... that Reagan's presidency ushered in a War on Black Children, pathologizing and penalizing them in concert with the War on Drugs. New policies punished schools with policing, closure, and loss of funding in the name of reform, as white savior, egalitarian efforts increasingly allowed private interests to infiltrate the system. These changes implicated children of color, and Black children in particular, as low performing, making it all too easy to turn a blind eye to their disproportionate conviction and incarceration. Today, there is little national conversation about a structural overhaul of American schools; cosmetic changes, rooted in anti-Blackness, are now passed off as justice. It is time to put a price tag on the miseducation of Black children. In this prequel to The New Jim Crow, Dr. Love serves up a blistering account of four decades of educational reform through the lens of the people who lived it"--
Brief description: Dr. Bettina L. Love is the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the acclaimed author of We Want to Do More Than Survive and Punished for Dreaming, a New York Times bestseller. This groundbreaking work led to her being awarded the prestigious Stowe Prize for Literary Activism and being named a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize. In 2022, the Kennedy Center named her one of the world's Next 50 Leaders. She is a co-founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network and a sought-after public speaker on topics such as abolitionist teaching, educational reparations, and anti-racism. Her writings have appeared in various news outlets, including The Daily Beast, Time, Education Week, The Guardian, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Additionally, she was instrumental in founding the Task Force behind the groundbreaking "In Her Hands" program, which is disbursing more than $13 million to support Black women in Georgia. She was granted a resolution by Georgia's House of Representatives for her impact on education in 2018.
Review Quotes:
WINNER, 10TH STOWE PRIZE FOR LITERARY ACTIVISM
KIRKUS REVIEWS: 150 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE FALL
NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB: SEPTEMBER 2023 MUST-READ BOOKS
WE ARE TEACHERS: THE BEST NEW BOOKS COMING SEPTEMBER 2023
--Publishers Weekly, starred review "Lays out the racial injustices rampant in the public education system, from the era of school segregation to the massive resistance to Brown v. Board to the current era of so-called school choice. ... an important--though enraging and heartbreaking--read."
--Booklist
"A stark critique of 40 years of education policies that were deliberately crafted 'to punish Black people for believing in and fighting for their right to quality public education.' ... An impassioned plea for educational justice."
―Kirkus Reviews "A landmark book."
―Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to be an Antiracist
"Brilliant."
―Carol Anderson, bestselling author of White Rage "Love is one of our fiercest advocates."
―Michael Eric Dyson, bestselling author
"An urgent call to action."
―Salamishah Tillet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize "Blends brilliance, warmth, and a deep commitment to the pursuit of justice for all our nation's children."
―Brittney Cooper, bestselling author of Eloquent Rage
"Accessible and deeply personal...Love's interviews with Black folks... add a tenderness and intimacy."
―Eve L. Ewing, author of Ghosts in the Schoolyard
"Love brilliantly exposes how the promise of education as a means to lift all boats and right historical wrongs is coopted by politics, strategies, euphemisms, and implicit biases that surveil and control children of color under the guise of teaching them. This is an urgent, often surprising, ultimately must-read book for anyone concerned with the pedagogy in and of our nation."
―Jonathan Metzl, author of Dying of Whiteness