Dec 10, 2019
In this episode, Christopher Chatmon, Founder and CEO of
Kingmakers of Oakland shares his personal experiences growing up in
the education system, having his desk relegated to the coat closet,
to finally being acknowledged and apologized to by a coach and
teacher in 11th grade. Inspired to become a teacher to change the
experience for young Black men in America, Christopher became a
teacher and in this time recognized that history and world history
curriculum and textbooks only acknowledged the stories and
contributions of white men. So he had his students throw their
textbooks out the window.
Now, it is Christopher’s hope and work that in all subjects, not
just during Black history month, the stories and contributions of
Africans, Indigenous groups, and all people are taught as part of
the collective contributions to math, history, arts and sciences.
In this podcast Chris will discuss one of the Many Ways to Many
that Becky speaks about in the Skid Row School, the wedge and
spread need to include cross sections of all stakeholders, from the
superintendent to the principal, to the office staff, teachers,
parents and students. He also discussed how centuries of a system
cannot be undone in the typical 3 to 5 year time bound aims of most
philanthropic work. So the measurement must change and the process
needs to also be the product. Listen to how Kingmakers of Oakland
aims to spread the work and how you can be involved in this
episode!
- Bringing those furthest away from opportunity into the
center
- Recognizing it is not about changing Black boys but changing
the structure and conditions of the system
- Recognizing the systemic oppression lens and racial equity lens
so you can discern the conditions that perpetuate the advantage of
some and disadvantage of others
- The power of curriculum that is indigenous or less Euro-Centric
and the power of stories
- Healing the fish while treating the toxic ecosystem
- When you understand the history of public education, it was not
created at that time for everyone, only certain people had access
and the system reflects that still
- Getting all of these stories accredited and meeting the
learning objectives of math, English and all subjects and having
the will to lift up these narratives
- Knowing who you are and whose you are and the values and
integrity to align yourself with
- The idea of an actualized human being also about giving
back
- How Kingmakers of Oakland have achieved accreditation of
courses in each state and co-constructs content and trains
teachers
- Drivers: Class and curriculum is necessary but not enough, need
to look at funding formula and other factors and recruiting,
training and retaining teachers of color
- Getting out of the practice of deficit to practice of
promise
- The sweet spot is coming together as a learning network, not
calling people out but calling people in
- Wedge and spread – everyone is a leader, not just the
superintendent and principal but every level to the office staff,
parents, teachers, student, engaging all stakeholders
- Innovations are accelerated through the power of
relationships
- If the culture is not healing, it will undermine and sabotage
the policy, and everything else you have been working on. The cure
is in the culture
- Process is product. The systems work is legacy work and takes
time
- Centuries of harm cannot be done in the immediacy of a lot of
philanthropic time constraints
- Three to five year strategic plan is insufficient because it is
legacy work and the long game
- Preparing for progress and setbacks to keep up the fluidity and
not feel defeated when the system self-corrects
- When internal and external strategy aligns it is the wind
beneath your wings
Links:
Sign up for our free master class:
https://www.billionsinstitute.com/freemasterclass
www.KingmakersofOakland.org
Vimeo -
https://vimeo.com/kingmakersofoakland
Soundcloud -
https://soundcloud.com/kingmakers
Kingmakers of Oakland Spring Symposium:
http://kingmakersofoakland.org/devsite/what-we-do/spring-symposium/