Hey @natwexler your opening statement tells me you don't get it AT ALL. How dare you twist my words to make your case, holding me up like some "Black friend" prop. You never bothered to reach out for an actual interview. Then tagged me in a tweet like I agree w/ this article.
This isn't about reading wars. Units of Study, balanced literacy, science of reading. It is abt children building their learning muscles. Hell, slaves taught themselves to read with sticks and dirt! But, this article has 3 claims that make it problematic to me.
First problem with the article is that Wexler assumes White Eurocentric content is the "knowledge" Black and Brown children need. You never acknowledge their own funds of knowledge. This echoes the racist claims that Black & Brown communities have no knowledge worth learning.
Second problem with Wexler's article is the claim that it's THIS particular literacy approach that is racist -"pressing a figurative knee into the necks of millions of Black and Brown children." What?! And, YOUR way is the right way? Sounds like white savior complex to me.
The third problem is Wexler's claim that I think teachers are being deliberately racist toward children thru reading instruction. I call attention to structural racialization, those invisible institutional mechanisms that create these inequitable outcomes. Know the difference.
