ORGANIZING TO CHANGE A CITY
4Check out Kitty’s new Blog https://kkepstein.wordpress.com/
To see Kitty’s most recent writing and speaking click on the Campaigns Against Inequality page.
Also check out the new Published Work page
Check out Kitty’s new book written with Bernard Stringer –
Changing Academia Forever – Black Student Leaders Analyze The Movement They Led
The book can be ordered here – https://styluspub.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/9781975502720/Changing-Academia-Forever or https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Academia-Forever-Student-Movement/dp/197550271X
Some reviews of the book
Oakland Honors Educator Kitty Kelly Epstein at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle
Community members and leaders recently celebrated the contributions of community activist Kitty Kelly Epstein, who was recognized for 30 years of service in higher education, as well as teaching high school at the Oakland Street Academy and serving as a legislative aide for education in Mayor Ron Dellums’ administration.
“Kitty wins award from Urban Affairs Association as Marilyn Gittell 2013 Scholar-Activist. The award is based on work described in Kitty’s book “Organizing to Change a City” which reports Oakland’s progressive organizing, including the successes of the Task Force Process ” (See press release on media page)
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NEW INTERVIEW WITH THE CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE WITH KITTY
“I became a scholar in order to become a better activist”
A conversation with Dr. Kitty Kelly Epstein, winner of the 2013 Marilyn Gittell Activist Scholar Award and University Professor who took a four-year break from teaching to liveher research.
Kitty Kelly Epstein was recently awarded the2013 Marilyn Gittell Activist Scholar Award by SAGE and the Urban Affairs Association for her work in Oakland, California which combined scholarship, community organizing, and public policy creation. Much of her work was discussed in her most recent book,Organizing to Change a City. Interested to find out how her work as a scholar impacted her work in Oakland, I asked Dr. Epstein a few questions about what came first – the scholarship or the activism, and why.
1. How did your work as a scholar and an academic benefit the organizing and policy work you did in the city?
I became an academic in order to be a better activist, rather than the other way around. I was influenced by the civil rights movement and the student movement. I saw how much people in an academic setting could produce when students at the City University of New York and San Francisco State University, with the support of faculty and community, won campaigns for more fair and open admissions, ethnic studies, and financial aid several decades ago. This led me to the conviction that people could win change, that academics could be helpful, and that structured institutional racism was at the center of inequality in the U.S.
So as an academic, I studied the racial wealth gap. I learned that the median white family has 20 times the net assets of the median Black family and 18 times the net assets of the median Latino family at this time.
With this background I have been able to bring up racism in a stronger way in Oakland. The idea that we live in a post-racial world is ridiculous, and the racial wealth gap is the best evidence.
Here are two examples of work that we chose to do in Oakland partly because we paid attention to the racial wealth gap: We campaigned successfully for a diverse teaching force while I worked in the city because teaching is a good, stable job which brings economic benefit to diverse residents, in addition to the educational benefits it brings to young people. And we fought successfully for a strong industrial land-use policy, because without it, cities experience huge gentrification. High-end residential development does not create permanent working-class jobs as it results from allowing housing developers to build anywhere they want.
Being a resident, an academic, and an activist meant that I could help to organize the task-force process which involved a thousand people in making the kinds of changes I have been describing in Organizing to Change a City.
2. How did your work as a scholar impact your book Organizing to Change a City?
I have had a chance to read a lot of academic writing and I concluded that I wanted to write for regular people. To me that means using plain language. Anything that cannot be explained in a clear way probably does not need to be said, at least in the social sciences. I have a few good role models in that regard. The great physicist Michio Kaku, for example, is able to explain the future of something as complicated as physics in completely clear and interesting language. And the educator Gloria Ladson-Billings is another wonderful example.
So that is what I have tried to do in this book. I explain the complexities of gentrification and police policy, the history of the racial wealth gap, the fascinating history of Oakland, the role of participatory research, the strategy and tactics of change in brief sentences with only as much documentation as I need to make my point.
3. What advice would you give to a scholar who is looking to use his or her work to make a positive, real-world impact?
If you’re going to be active in the community, you have to be willing to put your academic interests aside a little bit and think first about what the community wants and needs. We often have career priorities that are not matched up with community needs. Here is an example from the field of education:
A couple of education scholars have become famous by “exposing” horrible conditions in urban schools, and calling on the federal government to “do something.” They sell a lot of books, but many of the educators in the schools they write about are made to appear ignorant and uncaring. The feds “do something” but often it is counter-productive, and the local people who were already trying to “do something” are disenfranchised. Simply exposing conditions for outsiders is not, in my view, the best use of our talents.
Native American academic Mallory Whiteduck uses the term “communitism”, a combination of community and activism, which keeps her constantly aware of her responsibility to the community in everything she writes.
Early in my career, some politicians and much of the mainstream press promoted attempts to have the state take power in the Oakland school district away from the newly emerging African-American majority on the school board. Many academics were writing the “exposés” and policy proposals that led to these takeovers, but the argument did not feel right to me. I had a son in the schools and many friends in the African-American community. I saw huge education issues that needed fixing, but I thought the state would be less likely than the school board to work on the issues I found to be most important. There wasn’t any “scholarship” encouraging resistance to the takeover, but a little coalition of parents, academics, educators, and community activists resisted anyway, and I think events in the years since 1988 have proved that we were right. Now I am able to write about it (A Different View of Urban Schools), but I had to live it as a conscious resident rather than as a more removed academic, in order to fully understand the dynamics.
Karl Marx gave us the best overall scholarly critique of capitalism, but he was also an activist. He helped workers organize dozens of circles all over Europe to improve their conditions, and I bet they gave him an earful when he got his analysis wrong. Paulo Freire wrote extensively about the difference between banking education and transformative education. Then he practiced what he preached by organizing literacy work in Brazil and other countries. None of us learns in isolation. Our thinking is improved in dialogue and in practice.
By Camille Gamboa, PR, SAGE US
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KITTY’S CHOICE OF READINGS ON A LOT OF
EDUCATION- RELATED TOPICS
(Check below for available audio or videos for the respective authors)
Alexander, M. (2010) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press. Best, most mind-blowing, presentation of the realities of U.S. imprisonment.
(Prof. Michelle Alexander is interviewed on KPFA’s Morning Mix.)
http://blockreportradio.com/radio-mainmenu-27/1244-prof-michelle-alexander.html
Baugh, J. (2000). Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic pride and racial prejudice. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
(Here are two segments which document his work around Ebonics. The first focuses on a number of students who were in school around the time of the debate)
1. Linguistic discrimination in school – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWIbIA9BltQ
2. Linguistic profiling- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPGx1icFdLQ
Chapman, P. D. (1989). Schools as sorters: Lewis M. Terman, applied psychology, and the intelligence testing movement, 1890–1930. New York: New York University Press. Best unequivocal discussion of the origins of race-based standardized testing? (6th edition) New York: McGraw-Hill.
Domhoff, G.W. (2009). Who rules America? (6th edition) New York: McGraw-Hill.
(This is a comprehensive film he was part of which consists of himself along with a host of other very insightful individuals. There are two parts)
American Power Structure
Part 1. http://archive.org/details/AV_516-AMERICAN_POWER_STRUCTURE_UPDATE-PART_I
Part 2. http://archive.org/details/AV_517-AMERICAN_POWER_STRUCTURE_UPDATE-PART_II
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1970). Two hundred years of segregated schools. In P. Foner (Ed.), W. E. B. Du Bois speaks: Speeches and addresses, 1920–1963. New York: Pathfinder. (Best (and very brief) presentation and prediction on education of African-Americans.)
(Hear from the man himself sharing some of his ideas)
Epstein, K.K. (2005, Fall). The whitening of the American teaching force: A problem of recruitment or a problem of racism? Social Justice, 32, 3, 89–102. Best (if I do say so myself) explanation of why there is no teacher diversity.
Epstein, K.K. (2012). A different view of urban schools: Civil rights, critical race theory and unexplored realities, Revised edition New York: Peter Lang. Good analysis of how U.S. policy has screwed up urban schools, with Oakland as an example.
(Check out an interview about the most recent book Organizing to Change a City)
https://soundcloud.com/jaron-epstein/organizing-to-change-a-city
(This is a great interview from my Education Today with Rashidah Grinage of Pueblo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMPtEAJOb0E
Freire, P. (1970). New York: Continuum. Best reminder of what’s wrong with U.S. educational policy.
(A very interesting discussion with him)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFWjnkFypFA
Garrod, A (2007) Asian-American College Students Tell Their Life Stories (Cornell University Press) (Great narrative look at the experience of Asian-origin young people in the U.S.)
Kochhar, R., Fry, R. & Taylor, P. (2011). Wealth gaps rise to record highs between whites, blacks, Hispanics. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 26, 2011, from http://pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blackshispanics/8/#chapter-7-trends-in-household-wealth-1984-to-2009 (Best (and one of many other good ones) statistical presentations of racial wealth gap.
Kozol, J. (1978) Children of the Revolution. Delta Books (Best thing he ever wrote. A fascinating look at the Cuban literacy campaign)
(his honesty and dedication have made him someone who continues to provide an important voice sharing another point of view)
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/26/165922118/jonathan-kozol-on-kids-that-survive-inner-cities
Ladson-Billings, G. & Tate, William F. IV (1995) Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education. Teachers College Record 97(1). Best (and first) application of critical race theory to education.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1992) Liberatory Consequences of Literacy. Journal of Negro Education. 61(3). Best example of using traditional academic research format and practice for a transformative educational purpose.
(Reframing the Racial Achievement Gap. Follow the link below and the audio is on the right of the page)
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2513
Perry, T and Delpit, L (1998) The Real Ebonics Debate (Beacon Press) (Best book on Ebonics; written by participants in the struggle)
(while this presentation is not done by the authors it gives a very profound analysis of Ebonics. this piece contains several parts which you can find by following the link below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnnjZB5U3ac
Richard-Amato, P. (2010) Making It Happen: From Interactive to Participatory Language Teaching. Pearson. Best book of teaching methods for second-language students AND anybody else.
Salzberg, P. (2011) Finnish Lessons. New York: Teachers College Press. Best look at Finnish education: What the Finns says about connection of egalitarian social policy and education
Tyack, D. (1974) The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education. Harvard University Press. Best history of U.S. education
Just a couple of good web sites:
News on education, land reform, and other issues from Venezuela – venezuelanalysis.com/
Some good teaching ideas and education news – www.rethinkingschools.org/
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Organizing to Change a City describes five specific organizing efforts used by activists, including the authors, to change urban conditions for the 99%.
They recruited an African-American progressive to run for Mayor; created a 1,000 person participatory policy making process; organized to implement those policies; defeated an ominous developer-dominated machine; and at moments when nothing else would do, “took space” in City Hall and on the streets.
During this five year period economic development strategy was changed to limit gentrification by focusing on local employment; new land use, zoning, and employment policies were implemented; the homicide rate was reduced; and the school district was returned to local control.
These efforts are set within a national and international context, illuminating issues of the racial wealth gap, “growth coalitions,” gentrification, national education policy, and the application of ideas like “progressive” and “action research.” Urban Studies, Ethnic Studies, political science, social science, contemporary history, education and community organizing classes will find Organizing to Change a City a unique reading.
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OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH – Aug. 27th – 5:30pm @ Geoffrey’s Inner Circle
KITTY KELLY EPSTEIN 
On hiatus from over ten years of grassroots activity in order to obtain a teaching credential, I would not have believed that Dr. Epstein’s action research project would be the catalyst for my re-entry into community work! As a result of that project, I became an active member of an organization advocating for jobs opportunities and community benefits for West Oakland’s under-represented residents. Organizing to Change a City offers real-life, practical methods used to challenge the status quo and balance the inequalities experienced by far too many individuals and families in urban areas.
If A Different View of Urban Schools is any indicator of Epstein’s upcoming book, then I definitely recommend it to all K-12 educators, activists, organizers, historians, and all interested in learning about, and working toward equality. –Carroll F.
I had the privilege of taking a class from Dr. Epstein when working toward a K-8 credential at CSU Hayward back in 2001. I did finish my credential, and taught for a total of three years at Oakland’s Claremont Middle School. That class with Dr. Epstein was phenomenal–and helped me eventually decide to complete a Ph.D. in sociology, focusing on education and inequality. I am gearing up to teach Sociology of Education this fall, to my own students, and look forward to incorporating many of these valuable readings.
Pero hay más compañías que observan como
una oportunidad los pasos que se están dando hacia la
privatización.
Glad you acknowledge the racial wealth gap. For a long time, when I was teaching in Hayward, we were only allowed to speak of the racial gap, not income and wealth. For all I know it’s still that way, I retired. The Ebonics debate had me convinced in later years that the same ‘liberal’ ideology had kept African-American kids from getting the language services that they needed and deserved. Reinforced by the recent Latino ” Why is my kid in ELD” controversy.