The Integrated Schools Podcast

By: Andrew Lefkowits Val Brown Courtney Mykytyn
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  • Summary

  • Hosts, Andrew, a White dad from Denver, and, Val, a Black mom from North Carolina, dig into topics about race, parenting, and school segregation. With a variety of guests ranging from parents to experts, these conversation strive to live in the nuance of a complicated topic.
    ©2018-2024 IntegratedSchools
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Parenting & Families Personal Development Personal Success Relationships Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • Micro Activism: Making a Difference One Step at a Time

    Micro Activism: Making a Difference One Step at a Time
    Feb 19 2025
    Omkari Williams believes deeply in the power of people to change their environments - that through the power of the human spirit, and small, concrete actions, anything is possible, and that true changes requires all types of people. Her recent book, Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without A Bullhorn, is a testament to this idea. In it, she lays out four activist archetypes - The Headliner, The Producer, The Organizer, and The Indispensable. All movements need all four types of activists, and everyone can find themselves in one or more of the archetypes. This view opens the door to anyone to participate, and the book gives concrete steps to take to figure out how to get involved in a way that leans in to each person's individual strengths. In a dark time, where hope can be hard to find, Ms. Williams brings a grounded sense of hope and possibility, along with actionable steps to changing our environments for the better. ________________ Finding a school where your children can thrive, while avoiding contributing to the ongoing segregation we see today, can feel like a tough issue for socially conscious parents. Check out our FREE guide on how you can start engaging with the education system to achieve just that: Click here to download the guide now! ________________ LINKS: Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without A Bullhorn Ms. Williams Podcast - Stepping Into Truth: Conversations on Social Justice and How We Get Free Register for an Integrated Schools Book Club session! S10E2 – The Demands and Promises of Integration with John Blake S11E9: The Containment: Michelle Adams on Northern Jim Crow Use these links or start at our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us. Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video versions of our episodes. Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us podcast@integratedschools.org. The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits. This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits. Music by Kevin Casey.
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    48 mins
  • The Containment: Michelle Adams on Northern Jim Crow

    The Containment: Michelle Adams on Northern Jim Crow
    Feb 5 2025
    The 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas declared that separate is inherently unequal. The Supreme Court declared that it was in the national interest for kids to learn together. And while progress towards that goal was slow, and often met with resistance, there was an opportunity in the decision to try to heal our nation from the extraordinary wounds caused by slavery, Jim Crow, and persistent separate and unequal opportunities for Black people. In many ways, 1974's Milliken v Bradley decision put an end to that potential. A tragic Supreme Court decision, that led Thurgood Marshall to write a powerful dissent, in which he says, "unless our children learn together, there is little hope that our nation will learn to live together and understand each other." Professor Michelle Adams has been studying the Milliken decision for many years, and just released a book about the case, called The Containment: Detroit, The Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North. It's an easily digestible, incredibly compelling story about the power of ordinary people in Detroit who came together to fight for equal opportunity for all kids, and who came up against a court that codified White flight as tool to avoid integration into law. We are still dealing with the ripples of that decision today. Professor Adams joins us to discuss her life, the book, and why she cares so deeply about this decision. While the decision caused great harm, Professor Adams also provides us with hope. The book gives a more complete understanding of the history of the civil rights movement so we can start from a shared set of facts. This understanding can help us all demand that our children learn together, in high quality, fully funded, integrated public schools, because, as Professor Adams says, it's very hard to have a multiracial democracy without that. ________________ Finding a school where your children can thrive, while avoiding contributing to the ongoing segregation we see today, can feel like a tough issue for socially conscious parents. Check out our FREE guide on how you can start engaging with the education system to achieve just that: Click here to download the guide now! ________________ LINKS: The Containment: Detroit, The Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North A review of The Containment by Jeffry Toobin at the New York Times (gift link) Complete audio from the Milliken v Bradley opinion, including the entirety of Justice Marshall’s dissent. Professor Adams first appearance on our show - S5E16 – Revisiting Not In My Suburbs: Milliken v Bradley @46 Justice Marshall's dissenting opinion in Milliken Part 1 of our 3 part series on Keyes v Denver Public Schools Use these links or start at our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us. Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further. Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us podcast@integratedschools.org. The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits. This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits. Music by Kevin Casey.
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    58 mins
  • Gratitude and Validation: One Family's Journey Through Integrated Schools

    Gratitude and Validation: One Family's Journey Through Integrated Schools
    Jan 22 2025
    Every parent and caregiver wants a crystal ball. We want to see how the choices we make for our kids, from screen time to activities to where they go to school, will impact them when they're older. Choosing an integrating school can feel like a risky choice, and even if we believe that it is the right choice, both for our kids, and our community, it's easy for doubt to creep in. Susan, a White mom in Lancaster, PA, and her husband, made that choice for their son, Elias in kindergarten. When he was 15, he was at a track meet with schools from around the county, and recognized how many other schools were almost entirely full of White students. He took that moment to say thank you to his parents for the choices they made. He recognized all the benefits he had received from his integrated education, from a comfort in diverse spaces, to a deeper sense of community, to an appreciation for not being centered at all times. Susan and Elias join us to share their experience, what they've learned, and what they hope other parents, caregivers, and kids can take from their journey. LINKS: Choosing a school for my daughter in a segregated city - Nikole Hannah-Jones (gift link) Ep 2 - The Bordon Family The Daunting Task of Staying Put - Susan's blog post on our site ________________ Finding a school where your children can thrive, while avoiding contributing to the ongoing segregation we see today, can feel like a tough issue for socially conscious parents. Check out our FREE guide on how you can start engaging with the education system to achieve just that: Click here to download the guide now! ________________ Visit our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us. Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further. Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us podcast@integratedschools.org. The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits. This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits. Music by Kevin Casey.
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    1 hr and 1 min

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