Page 3 - Paths to Change

What is The Black Inquiry Project? The Black Inquiry Project Birthed from the belly of one of the greatest cultural movements of our time, amidst a nation on the precipice of change, The Black Inquiry Project is our answer to the call to action to amplify Black voices, reclaim Black narratives, and reject “colorblindness” in favor of an anti racist counter-education with Black Americans at its center. Inquiry-based study is, by definition, the investigation of a worthy question, problem, or issue that provides opportunities to create or produce something that contributes to the world’s knowledge. The Black Inquiry Project finds that America’s knowledge of Black Americans (we refer to this knowledge as one’s “Black IQ”) is alarmingly low and a primary cause of the pervasiveness of bias, racism, and microaggressions in classrooms and conference rooms across the country. The Black Inquiry Project aims to amplify Black voices and the Black experience in America by confronting the presence of white privilege and white supremacy in the way we do school. This resource is not intended to be a singular response, but a voice among many that we hope will begin to permeate school districts across America. The Black Inquiry Project is a work in service to educators of all races who want to create anti racist classrooms where all voices and perspectives are heard, particularly those which have traditionally been silenced. Designed with the demands of state assessment expectations in mind, BlackIQ explorations from The Black Inquiry Project can be seamlessly integrated within any existing curriculum. The diverse text set and related questions are applicable across content areas and facilitate critical thinking that supports all learners in any classroom. Each text offers detailed notes and context for educators and strategies for instruction and scaffolding to ensure comprehension, analysis, and synthesis is accessible for all learners. The primary goal of the BlackIQ exploration is to use one of our greatest tools – information – to force more inclusive conversations, shift perspectives, and encourage actively anti-racist texts and pedagogy in classrooms led by Black and non-Black educators alike. BlackIQ’s created by The Black Inquiry Project will facilitate long overdue and uncomfortable conversations that require an acknowledgement of the inherent privilege of being born White, along with the disenfranchisement and marginalization that comes with being Black. This acknowledgement and decision to educate in order to affect change are the basis for the BlackIQ exploration topics and questions; it is not a matter of what is present, but why and how can it be dismantled? That is our charge as educators of our next generation of change agents, allies, and leaders. Use of The Black Inquiry Project as a curriculum supplement does not aim to earn you friends, as the dissemination of a truth that deviates from the dominant narrative often does just the opposite; however, it will earn you respect and a The Black Inquiry Project 2