Table of Contents

Series Editors’ Foreword

Foreword by Gloria Boutte

Intro A Critical Race Autopsy on Black Lives

Love Letter I: My Dad Said I Love You…And I Said It Back

1. But, It Is about Race…"That’s a Fact. Say It Louder for the People in the Back"

2. The Other Trayvon: Anti-black Racism and Violence Against Black Lives

3. Black(ness) Is, Black(ness) Ain’t: Critical Race English Education

Love Letter II: Michael Brown AKA "Big Mike"

4. Doin’ It Wrong

5. Part I "We Have to Bring it Real Hard, Who Else Gon Give it to‘em?"

6. Part II The Elephant is ALWAYS in the Room

Love Letter III: Promised Land

7. B(L)ack to the Future

Outro A Story about Black Laughter and A Call for Spiritual Literacies

Afterword by David Stovall

About the Author

Lamar L. Johnson is Associate Professor of Language and Literacy for Linguistic and Racial Diversity in the Department of English at Michigan State University, USA.

Reviews

"Through a series of creative and tangible examples of what it means to work with Black youth, Dr. Johnson refuses to let us discard a simple question: what does it mean for Black youth to navigate the hostility and anti-Black violence of the U.S. schooling system? Additionally, his series of meditations push educators to contemplate a question of fugitivity and the future: what does it mean to work from a space of love knowing that ‘school’ in its historical and contemporary function is never intended to do right by you?"--David Stovall, Illinois University of Chicago, USA

"Through a series of creative and tangible examples of what it means to work with Black youth, Dr. Johnson refuses to let us discard a simple question: What does it mean for Black youth to navigate the hostility and anti-Black violence of the US schooling system? Additionally, his series of meditations push educators to contemplate a question of fugitivity and the future: What does it mean to work from a space of love knowing that ‘school’ in its historical and contemporary function is never intended to do right by you?"--David Stovall, University of Illinois Chicago, USA