This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 147 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.

In this episode, we're going to talk about why white students need multicultural and social justice education.

Since I recorded the last episode, the news has shifted from nonstop coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic to the worldwide response to the murder of George Floyd.

I've seen more people post about racial justice in the past week than I've seen probably in the last five years.

And while this is encouraging, I think a lot of people are holding their breath waiting to see what comes next.

What happens after the protests are over, after the fire on social media dies down?

There has always been so much work to do, and while many have always known this, some are just discovering it this week.

I hope all of those who are posting about it now can continue to find ways to take action.

This episode is about just one of those ways.

The episode happened to already be in the works for months before recent events pushed racial justice into the forefront of every news and social media outlet,

but it has become far more relevant now, and in its original form, it didn't quite rise to the occasion.

Initially, it was going to be solely about why white students need multicultural education, but over the last week or so, the topic has shifted to include social justice education as well.

My guest is Dr. Sheldon Ackins.

Dr. Ackins is the founder of the Leading Equity Center, an online platform where he provides resources for classroom teachers who are committed to ensuring equity for their students, including online courses and his podcast, The Leading Equity Podcast.

I strongly urge you to go and visit his podcast so that you can delve more deeply into all the topics he and his guests explore.

Today, Dr. Ackins will talk with me about why white students need multicultural and social justice education, and then we'll get into more specifics about what topics are important to cover in that work.

Over on the website, he has written a guest post on the same topic, and the post contains dozens of links to excellent resources that can help you put this work into motion.

To find that, go to cultopetagogi.com, click podcast and choose episode 147.

What we're not talking about today is the need for white teachers to educate themselves, the importance of speaking out on issues of racial justice, the problem with statements like all lives matter or objections to the protests that are happening all over the world.

We're not covering all that because racial justice is a massive topic.

Lots of people are already doing that work very well, and I believe one way to make progress is to give sufficient attention to smaller pieces at the larger problem so that people can take action on those.

I do want to take one more minute, though, before we get started to address something that tends to come up every now and then with some of my listeners and readers.

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