Resisting Racism and Promoting Equity Through Community-Engaged Social Action: Challenging the Big Lies

This book challenges pre-service and in-service educators to reflect critically on their assumptions and engage in praxis promoting racial and social equity. Grounded in policy contexts, historical understandings, and critical theories, this book describes innovative community-engaged approaches to resisting racism and promoting equity and features reflections and personal narratives from partners in change—including on-the-ground activists, voices from younger and older generations, educators, and first-time writers. Fueled by the ideology of white supremacy for over four centuries that whites matter more than Blacks, the authors argue that racial inequities exacerbated during the Trump administration and the legacy of neo-liberal policies dating to the "New Federalism" fiercely necessitate invoking community-engaged strategies to advance equity. This book advocates for collaboration among schools, community organizations, businesses, university centers, and community activists to address historically pressing issues, including systemic racism, declining educational opportunities, limited access to ongoing health care, and the decline of civility in public life.