Engaging (or not) in coalition politics: a case study of Black and Latinx community advocacy toward educational equity

Presence as Policy Action: Black Mothers as Policy Actors Navigating Antiblack Geopolitics

“…The assumption is that policy actors have an ontological being with agentic abilities. BIPOC families are ready to work with educators (Sampson et al, 2020). Educators must be trained and ready for such partnerships with families.…”

“…Whether it is a policy actor conducting policy research or an actor implementing the policy, the actor’s ontological being enters into a necessary tension transgressing between theory, research, or practice. Policy actors must be trained to engage in community-based (Sampson et al, 2020), culturally responsive (Khalifa et al, 2016), and anti-racist leadership (Diem & Welton, 2020) that disrupt the cultures of deficit-based, antiblack ideologies impeding the educational development of our students and the collaborative precipitation of families.…”

“…Enhancing the family-school relationship has shown to increase equitable education for low-resourced, BIPOC students and their families, yet schools continue to struggle in developing these relationships (Oberg De La Garza & Moreno Kuri, 2014; Warren, 2011). Schools’ resistance and the social oppressive conditions families endure (Lipman, 2013) force BIPOC families to engage in political involvement to obtain equitable education for their children (Sampson et al, 2020). Scholars attuned to systems of oppression have integrated social capital theories with critical and cultural theories (e.g., Critical Race Theory, Black feminist/womanist: Wilson, 2015) to ensure BIPOC families are not treated through deficit orientations (Barton et al, 2004).…”

“…Sampson and Bertrand (2020) similarly discussed Black families’ resistance to school board meetings’ rules using theories of community cultural wealth and whiteness. Also, Sampson et al (2020) utilized postcolonial feminist theory and critical race theory to explore cross-racial collaboration between minoritized communities to advocate for educational equity. The exploration of Black families’ human and social capital as an asset in their engagement with schooling counters dominant ideas of parental engagement.…”

“…However, schools continue to struggle in building relationships with Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC 1 ) and their students (Baquedano-López et al, 2013; Ishimaru, 2019). Educators’ resistance has forced Black families to politically challenge schools and districts’ inequitable practices (Sampson et al, 2020). The entrenched levels of antiblack treatment and violence from educational institutions (e.g., schools, school districts and their policies: Lipman, 2013) calls for “decolonizing approaches to parental inclusion in schools.…”