- Dr. McGlawn

Dr. McGlawn: I often encourage people to think about the fact that people in positions of power, authority, privilege, and decision-making may not all be effective as leaders. So when we say leadership, I always wanna make sure we're being mindful of individuals who may be in those positions, but they are not leading towards liberation. They're not even interested in it. When we deconstruct some of the lessons we're learning from Black educators, they are grappling with questions like, where am I positionally located inside of this ecosystem? What's my sphere of influence and what can I control and what decisions can I make that can influence what happens in my classroom? How do we look at liberatory influences at multiple levels within the system? Because the system isn't designed to be liberated. When we think about acknowledging affinity groups, when we think about places like Black Teacher Project, when we think about beloved communities that adrienne maree brown and others are creating, how can we be responsive? And what is the role of Teacher Truth inside of that responsiveness, knowing that this is the water that many Black educators in California and nationwide are swimming in?