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School enrollment patterns in the Deep South are no coincidence.

My eighth-grade girls squealed at the shirtless male movie star photos in a magazine. “Oh my gosh! Check out the abs on this one!” “Yeah,” responded another. “And look at that picture of Taylor Lautner. His face isn’t very good looking, but who cares. Look at those muscles!” This is a typical exchange in my classroom during lunch or before morning meeting. As a teenager, I remember flipping through fashion and celebrity magazines, looking at female models with long legs, luminous skin and perfect hair. They represented what I was supposed to be. Knowing how far away I was from looking like them definitely made me feel ugly. But the magazines were also telling me what kind of guy I should find attractive. Apparently, not much has changed in teenage popular culture.

For many activist teachers, the journey of promoting equity in education is a lonely one.

Charles Person, the youngest of the original Freedom Riders of 1961, reminds us that collective civic action is essential, and so is being one of the good people out there.

What is the power of communities and organizations coming together to explicitly communicate a common social justice education message? It can grow our collective capacity to make positive change.