Thematic Resources: Articles

The theme for the month of February 2025 is Inclusion.  Check out these articles on this them, and let me know what you think. 

Black History Month Isn't Racist, It's a Form of Reparations

by Jenn M. Jackson
Teen Vogue

In this op-ed, Jenn M. Jackson, a writer, activist, and assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University, explains the significance of Black History Month.

When I was in high school, a white boy in my honors English class said, “The whole concept of ‘Black History’ is racist.”

“History is history,” he said. “Calling certain history ‘black’ is racist against everyone else.”

 Read More

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Who’s Afraid of Black History Month?

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
New York Times

Lurking behind the concerns of Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, over the content of a proposed high school course in African American studies, is a long and complex series of debates about the role of slavery and race in American classrooms.

“We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them,” Governor DeSantis said. He also decried what he called “indoctrination.” Read More

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In Order To Understand The Brutality Of American Capitalism, You Have To Start On The Plantation

by Matthew Desmond
New York Times

A couple of years before he was convicted of securities fraud, Martin Shkreli was the chief executive of a pharmaceutical company that acquired the rights to Daraprim, a lifesaving antiparasitic drug. Previously the drug cost $13.50 a pill, but in Shkreli’s hands, the price quickly increased by a factor of 56, to $750 a pill. At a health care conference, Shkreli told the audience that he should have raised the price even higher. “No one wants to say it, no one’s proud of it,” he explained. “But this is a capitalist society, a capitalist system and capitalist rules.”  Read More

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Are Boys Really Being Excluded From Our Attention And Care?

by Sarah Andrews
Voice Male

Well before the pandemic exacerbated the situation, there have been concerns about how boys are faring in all aspects of their lives. The “boy crisis,” as some describe it, argues that boys are falling behind in school, their mental health is at risk, and they no longer feel a sense of purpose.

What’s causing these problems? If you listen to some shortsighted, narrowly focused advocates, it’s the “feminization” of the education system that neglects and persecutes boys while using teaching styles and structures that favor girls. And/or they charge, boys are being raised without, or with less-involved, fathers who are not keeping them out of trouble or teaching them how to “be a man.” Finally, in a nod to old-school masculinity, they also assert that boys no longer have a sense of purpose—no longer want to be “a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner,” as author Warren Farrell puts it....Read More