Willful Defiance tells the story of how Black and Brown parents and students organized to dismantle the school–to–prison pipeline in their local schools and built a movement that spread across the country. It examines organizing processes in Mississippi, Los Angeles and Chicago, showing how parents and students of color changed exclusionary discipline policies that suspend and expel students of color at disproportionate rates and policing practices that lead students into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. The book documents the struggle to build a movement led by community groups and people most impacted by injustice rather than Washington–based professional advocates. It lifts up lessons for organizing and building movements that build the power to win policy changes to transform deep–seated and systemic racism in public schools and the broader society.
Praise for Willful Defiance
Willful Defiance eloquently and powerfully demonstrates what can be accomplished when the people who experience the oppressive systems, structures and policies in our society are the ones that define and determine the solutions that create racially equitable policies and practices in schools. This book provides a rich, historical overview of how families and students of color organized and engaged in, in the words of John Lewis “good trouble, necessary trouble” to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, not only in their local communities, but across the country. Willful Defiance is a timely reminder of what justice actually looks like in practice.
— Karen L. Mapp, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education
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