“Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out!” Book Tour Stop, Dayton, Ohio

We’re excited to announce a Dayton, Ohio Book Tour stop, from the newly released book “Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out!”. The Book Tour Stop will be a panel discussion and talk back, taking place on May 2nd 6-8 pm at Third Perk Coffee House. (See attached flyer)

Co-Author Mark Warren, along with various contributors are traveling to various cities across the nation (see www.liftusupmovement.org for more details) to highlight the activism and organizing in the Education Justice Movement.

From contributor Zakiya Sankara-Jabar:

“I felt it was important to contribute a story, particularly from black parents’ perspective. For me, I came to this work really organically, responding to my son at the time who was being pushed out of preschool. Just as a response, pushing back, not accepting the narrative that the school system was providing regarding my son, asking questions, but not only that, taking it a step further to engage other black parents in that same space, to ask them the same question, “Are you having this experience?” 

“When I realized that it wasn’t just me and this was much bigger and had been happening for decades in this country, I felt the need to start an organization to continue to organize our particular community, the parents, to push back on the cradle-to-prison pipeline, and make sure that black parents knew they had a voice, that they had a right to speak up, that they had a right to ask questions, and that they had a right not accept what the school system was saying about our children.”

Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out!  features voices from the frontlines of a new movement for educational justice that is growing across the United States. Each author tells their own story of how black and brown parents, students, educators, and their allies are fighting back against profound and systemic inequities and mistreatment of children of color in low-income communities. The organizers and activists recount their journeys to movement building, lift up victories and successes, and offer practical organizing strategies and community-based alternatives to traditional education reform and privatization schemes.

“Lift Us Up! Don’t Push Us Out! is a bold and exciting book that presents the stories we never hear—powerful stories of successful grassroots organizing in schools and communities across the nation led by parents, students, educators, and allies.  The lessons we can learn from these inspiring activists and campaigns need to be spread far and wide.”

Check out the interview on Beacon Broadside!

Author Mark Warren and contributors Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, Jitu Brown and Jonathan Stith sat down with the Beacon Broadside to discuss Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out! and what it means to them. Read their interview (Part 1, Part 2)  and get your copy now!