School Colors

In the early 1970s, Forest Hills, Queens, became a national symbol of white, middle class resistance to integration. Instead of public schools, this fight was over public housing. It was a fight that got so intense the press called it "The Battle of Forest Hills."How did a famously liberal neighborhood become a hotbed of reaction and backlash? And how did a small group of angry homeowners change housing policy for the entire country?Click here for a full episode transcript.Join us at the Queens Public Library on December 15!Are you using School Colors in your own teaching or organizing? Fill out this audience survey.School Colors is created, reported, and written by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman. Produced by Max Freedman, with Carly Rubin and Ilana Levinson. Edited by Soraya Shockley. Additional reporting by Carly Rubin and Abe Levine.Project management by Soraya Shockley and Lyndsey McKenna. Fact-checking by Carly Rubin. Engineering by James Willetts. Additional research by Anna Kushner. Original music by avery r. young and de deacon board, with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

District 28 is both diverse and segregated. There’s a Northside and a Southside. To put it simply: the Southside is Black, and the further north you go, the fewer Black people you see. But it wasn't always like this.Once upon a time, Black parents in South Jamaica staged an epic school boycott that led to the first statewide law against school segregation in New York. The Southside hosted two revolutionary experiments in racially integrated housing. So what happened between then and now?Click here for a full episode transcript.Join us at the Queens Public Library on December 15!Are you using School Colors in your own teaching or organizing? Fill out this audience survey.School Colors is created, reported, and written by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman. Produced by Max Freedman, with Carly Rubin and Ilana Levinson. Edited by Soraya Shockley. Additional reporting by Carly Rubin and Abe Levine.Project management by Soraya Shockley and Lyndsey McKenna. Fact-checking by Carly Rubin. Engineering by James Willetts. Additional research by Anna Kushner. Original music by avery r. young and de deacon board, with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Queens, New York is often called “the most diverse place on the planet.” So why would a school district in Queens need a diversity plan? And why would so many Queens parents be so fiercely opposed?Welcome back to School Colors — Season 2.Click here for a full episode transcript.Join us at the Queens Public Library on December 15!Are you using School Colors in your own teaching or organizing? Fill out this audience survey.School Colors is created, reported, and written by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman. Produced by Max Freedman, with Carly Rubin and Ilana Levinson. Edited by Soraya Shockley. Additional reporting by Carly Rubin and Abe Levine.Project management by Soraya Shockley and Lyndsey McKenna. Fact-checking by Carly Rubin. Engineering by James Willetts. Additional research by Anna Kushner. Original music by avery r. young and de deacon board, with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

School Colors is back! Season 2 premieres this week, presented by NPR's Code Switch. To listen, hop over to the Code Switch feed.In Season 1, hosts Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman reported from their home turf in Central Brooklyn. Season 2 is all about Queens. Queens is often touted as the most ethnically diverse place in the world. So why would a school district in the middle of Queens need a diversity plan? And why would diversity planning be met with such intense parent opposition?Listen to School Colors only in the Code Switch feed starting Wednesday, May 4. 

Every month on the Third Rail podcast, Brooklyn Deep deconstructs hot topics and social justice issues that impact the lives of Central Brooklynites. In November, Third Rail featured a special behind-the-scenes look at the making of School Colors, Brooklyn Deep's most ambitious project to date. Producers Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman sat down with Anthonine Pierre, deputy director of the Brooklyn Movement Center. Together, they dive into the origin story of School Colors, how identity and interpersonal dynamics shaped they way they told this story, and their favorite moments from the podcast, on and off the air. Satisfy your inner School Colors geek with this episode, then subscribe to Third Rail for more hard-hitting conversations about important issues in this community.

In this bonus episode, recorded live at the Brooklyn Public Library, producers Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman talk with Christina Veiga, a reporter from Chalkbeat. They are joined by a special guest: NeQuan McLean, president of the Community Education Council for District 16.Their conversation digs deeper into some of the themes of the show, and pulls back the curtain on how Mark and Max created School Colors -- and where it's going next.CREDITSProducers: Mark Winston Griffith and Max FreedmanEditor: Max FreedmanMusic: avery r. young and de deacon boardSpecial thanks: Christina Veiga, Amy Zimmer, Carrie Melago, Robin Lester Kenton, Naila Rosario, Gregg Richards

Despite New York City's progressive self-image, our dirty secret is that we have one of the most deeply segregated school systems in the country. But with gentrification forcing the issue, school integration is back on the table for the first time in decades. How do we not totally screw it up? And what does this mean for the long struggle for Black self-determination in Central Brooklyn?  We’ve spent a lot of time on the past. In this episode, we look to the future. CREDITSProducers / Hosts: Mark Winston Griffith and Max FreedmanEditing & Sound Design: Elyse BlennerhassettProduction Support: Jaya SundareshMusic: avery r. young and de deacon board, Chris Zabriskie, Blue Dot SessionsFeatured in this episode: Nikole Hannah-Jones, Felicia Alexander, NeQuan McLean, Mica Vanterpool, Virginia Poundstone, Al Vann, Cleaster Cotton, Matt Gonzales, Jitu Weusi, Fela Barclift, Fabayo McIntosh, Shana Cooper-Silas, Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Dr. Lester Young, Chancellor Richard Carranza.School Colors is a production of Brooklyn Deep, the citizen journalism project of the Brooklyn Movement Center. Made possible by support from the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Gentrification is reshaping cities all over the country: more affluent people, often but not always white, are moving into historically Black and brown neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant. But even as the population of Bed-Stuy has been growing in numbers and wealth, the schools of District 16 have been starved for students and resources. That’s because a lot of people moving into the neighborhood either don’t have kids, or send their kids to school outside the district. In this episode, a group of parents who are new to Bed-Stuy try to organize their peers to enroll and invest in local schools, only to find that what looks like investment to some feels like colonization to others.Producers / Hosts: Mark Winston Griffith and Max FreedmanEditing & Sound Design: Elyse BlennerhassettProduction Support: Jaya Sundaresh, Ilana LevinsonMusic: avery r. young and de deacon board, Chris Zabriskie, Blue Dot SessionsFeatured in this episode: Shaila Dewan, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Matt Gonzales, Virginia Poundstone, Felicia Alexander, Mica Vanterpool, NeQuan McLean, Rahesha Amon, Tanya Bryant, Natasha Seaton, Liz DiPippo, Anika Greenidge

Exploring the controversy and impact of charter schools in Bed Stuy's District, the podcast raises questions about community control and self-determined education. It also discusses the challenges faced by students in the education system, the difficulties of implementing unorthodox models in charter schools, and the importance of prioritizing mental health and creating a nurturing environment. Additionally, the podcast analyzes the competition between charter schools and traditional public schools, the impact on enrollment and resource allocation, and the role of big corporations and philanthropy in the charter school sector.

Since 2002, the number of students in Bed-Stuy’s District 16 has dropped by more than half. There’s no single reason why this is happening, but the year 2002 is a clue: that’s when Michael Bloomberg became the Mayor, abolished local school boards, and took over the New York City school system.In this episode, we’ll meet parents trying to reassert collective power and local accountability in District 16 after years of neglect from the Department of Education; parents trying to save their school from being closed for persistently low enrollment; and parents trying to do what they believe is best for their children by leaving the district altogether.In a Black community that has struggled for self-determination through education for nearly 200 years, what does self-determination look like today? CREDITSProducers / Hosts: Mark Winston Griffith and Max FreedmanEditing & Sound Design: Elyse BlennerhassettProduction Support: Jaya Sundaresh, Ilana LevinsonMusic: avery r. young and de deacon board, Chris Zabriskie, Blue Dot SessionsFeatured in this episode: Kamality Guzman, NeQuan McLean, Natasha Capers, Felicia Alexander, Clara Hemphill, Dr. Lester Young, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Faraji Hannah-Jones, Andre Farrell, Kayann Stephens, Dascy Griffin, Crystal Williams, Leonie Haimson.School Colors is a production of Brooklyn Deep, the citizen journalism project of the Brooklyn Movement Center. Made possible by support from the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.