Racial justice and the middle grades

Abstract

Let’s begin by saying that we are living through a very dangerous time ... The society in which we live is desperately menaced ... from within. To any citizen of this country who figures [themselves] as responsible–and particularly those of you who deal with the minds and hearts of young people– must be prepared to “go for broke”...[Y]ou must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society, you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance. There is no point in pretending this won’t happen. -James Baldwin (1963) “A Talk To Teachers”