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On March 7, 1965, millions of Americans sat watching their television sets in horror. Grainy black-and-white news images from Selma, Ala., showed about 600 mostly African-American protesters trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They were marching to the state capital, Montgomery, to win voting rights in the Jim Crow South.

While I share some aspects of my life with my students, one thing I don’t share is that I was born Jewish. I am ashamed of my shame, knowing that Jews, like many religious groups, have suffered because of their beliefs. My shame comes from growing up in a community that seemed to typify every negative stereotype about Jews. It also stems from being silent for years whenever someone made an anti-Semitic comment.

When I was in fifth grade and new to suburbia, my teacher introduced the concepts of racism, civil rights and fairness. And she began the task of helping 10-years olds—all of us white—learn how to talk about race in constructive ways. I’d moved from a gritty urban neighborhood where whites, blacks and Puerto Ricans lived together rather warily. My parents maintained a chilly silence on the issue of race, although they forbade racial epithets; on the street I heard plenty. In this place, the black kids came mostly from the projects, the Puerto Ricans lived in apartments and the better-off among the white families might have an entire house. I knew that race divided.

Yesterday, the Dignity in Schools Campaign released a policy platform that calls for the end of police presence in schools.

Download and post this inspiring quote in your classroom.

This toolkit accompanies the article “How Will You Mix It Up in 2013?” and provides classroom and professional-development resources to help plan a successful Mix It Up at Lunch Day and build on that success all year.

Racial inequity, gender stereotypes and heternormity continue to dominate children’s books. This toolkit will help you assess your classroom library and make future selections that reflect a range of cultures, genders, immigration and socio-economic statuses, sexual orientations and family structures.

What message does a white Jesus send to Christians who are not white?

A law fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center details a disturbing pattern: A student is arrested for minor misbehavior, the parents are kept in the dark, and the family finds itself navigating the criminal justice system.