Educating for Change: Developing New Leaders for Racial Equity and Social Change

From Ferguson, Mo., to New York City, from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. and back, hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans have taken to the streets in protest against police brutality and a racist criminal justice system. The demonstrators are black and white, young and middle-aged—although the mass participation of millennials has been a particularly exciting development.  Arguably, this activism is part of a larger social stirring that became visible with the Occupy Wall Street movements, the campaign for immigrant rights, the huge climate change march last September, and the organizing of low-wage workers in fast food and service industries.

Critical to the change process is the development of leaders with a passion for justice.  And this is where this week’s Truth to Tell guest comes in.  Dr. Arita Tyner has inspired and trained hundreds of leaders as a university professor, writer, public speaker, and seminar presenter.  Her work on dismantling the cradle-to-prison pipeline is especially timely at a time when many Americans are open to understanding what communities of color know already:  The criminal justice system is neither fair nor impartial when it comes to race.