Thread by @AliMCollins

Now is your chance to see the legendary Ishmael Reed's new play. The Conductor is a satirical take on the SF School Board Recall. Catch this irreverent, informative, and funny virtual screening before it goes LIVE on stage in Spring 2023 Off-Broadway!
medium.com/@alimcollins/i…

I was no doubt a canary in a coal mine. As a parent organizer, educator, & former SF school board member, I was on the front end of the wave of right-wing attacks against educators dismantling anti-discriminatory policies in our schools. #truthbetold aapf.org/truthbetold

Many folks who know me know that these past two years have been really difficult with attacks on me, my family, and our public education system. Many of the San Francisco initiatives I and my colleague @lopez4schools stood for are currently being dismantled or reversed.

This includes addressing persistent anti-Black racism at Lowell High School and throughout SFUSD, getting police out of schools, supporting Latinx students, giving Queer and Trans families a voice in our district, and many other initiatives.

And the right-wing narrative of “crazy San Francisco” is being used to justify the removal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ruby Bridges from the curriculum in states as far off as Virginia and Texas.

It is being used to justify the dismantling of affirmative action at SCOTUS. (In fact, some of the very folks fighting “woke indoctrination” from CRT & affirmative action are the very same people involved in promoting the school board recall.) tiktok.com/@alicollinspro…

Along the way, right-wing political strategists have used disinformation to divide Asian American and Black and brown communities in SF and nationally. asianamdisinfo.org/wp-content/upl…

The mainstream media has been largely complicit in amping up fake outrage while erasing the true motives of the people behind attacks on racial justice education and public schools. newyorker.com/news/annals-of…

Ishmael Reed’s latest play offers us an opportunity to get outside of these narratives and talk about the way conflict is used to divide communities of color and maintain white supremacy in our schools and democracy. medium.com/@alimcollins/i…

This is a clip from the play of Emil Guillermo, a media commentator and journalist. (He also has a daily show every weekday, Emil Amok’s Takeout.) What makes this performance all the more special is the fact that Emil is also a Lowell High School alum.

I encourage folks to come out to see the live screening at the Black Repertory Group tonight at 7pm. There will be a Q&A with the playwright Ishmael Reed, @lopez4schools, myself, and others. Information and ticketing information is included at this link. medium.com/@alimcollins/i…