”We cannot do anything less than critical, our work cannot be anything other than transformative, and our teaching, research, and advocacy efforts cannot be anything other than relevant.

Kinloch, V. (2011). Urban Literacies: Critical Perspectives on Language, Learning, and Community. Language & Literacy Series. Teachers College Press. (via edinterwebs)

”The sad truth is that our nation suffers from shamefully high levels of poverty even in prosperous times, and when I say “poverty” please do not think of “welfare queens,” Romney’s “47 percent,” or any other mythical category. Think of your college-educated son who has become a $10-per-hour barrista or your grandmother while she waits for her next Social Security check.

Barbara Ehrenreich (via azspot)

Ten dollars an hour at let’s say 40 hours a week, for 52 weeks (one year) is only $20,800 a year.

(via elysethegorgon)

”In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois argues that African Americans are ‘gifted with second-sight in this American world, a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.’ Although Du Bois’s discussion singles out the Black male experience, the ambivalence he describes is resoundingly poignant for any who experience it. Living as a part of the overall society (i.e., “American”) and yet also remaining an outsider to it forces someone to regularly view and judge herself or himself from a marginalized position. At the same time, it positions the dominant group as the norm. It is from this group that the marginalized receive cues about how to behave or fit in. It is also herein where the struggle for subjectivity begins.

Dr. Maythee Rojas (via farahjoon)

(Source: aloofshahbanou)

”The Black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness.

Marcus Garvey  (via ladyspeechsankofa)