The podcast was so amazing.

With this week’s theme of reconstructing educational spaces I wanted to presence the ways in which I have made some shifts in educational spaces. About 2 years ago I started a student led podcast at an alternative high school I worked at. Below is a podcast we created. Students were able to receive class credit for this as a “Graded Assignment”. Students picked the topic and questions.

truth be told it’s been hard completing assignments this weekIf Goes like I’ve been holding my breath. Just a few minutes ago the verdict was right on the George Floyd case and I can’t help but to feel sad and happy at the same time. Justice has been served, but at the cost of another Black life, another life, another personhood.

“I do not know if decolonization is possible and it feels like the term has become a catchphrase. I see decolonization stickers on people’s computers and there’s an irony in that—a sign that our movement has been branded.” (Wilson and Laing, 136)

It’s hard to think about decolonization within CUNY or academia, Part of me wants this work to stay outside of this realm in order to dismantle the systems and structures because, like many, systems it becomes co-opted. Decolonization will become the “it” term for the year. Some funds will be moved from here to there.

But the system will remain.

But so will the work

And that is where you can find me.

• How has the CUNY community resisted or failed to resist the given institutionalism?
• What does community control look like in the context of CUNY?

I’d like to focus on these two questions for this weeks post. This past week. A colleague of mine Ask CUNYCalled me to share their thoughts on what we are doing within the department specifically how we are failing to service the “Latino population”. Although I was assuming good intent it was difficult to hear the way they understood the term “failing” to be as well as how they unintentionally viewed “Black” and “Latino” as being completely separate things. Lumina Podcast–”“Living up to the Designation” – Hispanic Serving Institutions”  was spot on!

First things first,

Hispanic is a term that refers to folks with a Spanish-language background. (in some spaces Background might mean “first language”

Latina/o is a term that refers to folks who hail from Latin America.

I often try to keep these definitions close while also understanding that they might land differently for different folks.

I bring this up because CUNY has started a number of racist committees and projects that have been met with a number of questions like “what about the Latinos?” “what about the Hispanics?” “what about the Asians”. Oftentimes folks forget thatPeople can be both Black and Latino both Black and Asian. The intersection of identities Can be vast and when folks ask questions like that in response to racist projects It becomes inherently racist and anti-Black.

Community control looks like what it wants to be (that might be confusing) but it means that it can be what folks want it to be. Ruf (2020) highlights some of the Financial commitments on behalf of CUNY to these specific projects (Black, race and ethnic studies). Community control might look like students being at the decision-making table ensuring that the money meets the needs of the necessary programs.

Thank everyone for the encouragement to do another audio clip

What barriers exist for you in our class right now?

Nothing comes to mind right now outside of finding time to get everything done. I love how this class feels low pressure.

What all do you envision us being capable of, together, in this class going forward in the semester?

I’d like some set time for folks to be asked about their postings for the week especially if folks are using mediums outside of traditional writing. This will provide some time for folks to engage with outside another outside of the postings but on the postings.

What course content questions do you have so far (i.e., questions about the readings)?

No questions come t mind so far

What course process questions do you have so far?

I am looking forward to unpacking the final assignment more

My weekly posting for class is an audio clip feel free to check it out below.

Pictures highlight young people (Me) fighting for systemic changes in the NYCDOE, and Federal DOE.

“The collective response from young people who have been misplaced and pushed out”

These photos are a small collection of the moments I was part of social actions targeted at issue directly impacting by high school students. For our next class I hope to share more about what each photo entails especially a it relates to our class readings for the week.