You can get rid of the teacher certification requirements, and you’re still not going to have a rush of incredibly high-quality people going into teaching as long as teachers are valued in the way they currently are. The way we value people is by how much we pay them. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
The fundamental problem for the teaching profession is how undervalued it is and how underpaid teachers are. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
Our system never treated the failure of prison as a reason not to try more prison. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
Mass incarceration and its never-ending human toll will be with us until we come to see that no crime justifies permanent civic death. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
Attica. The name itself has long signified resistance to prison abuse and state violence. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
We must continue to recruit progressive prosecutors to run in local elections, support those who do, and hold them accountable if they win. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
Mass incarceration will have to be dismantled the same way it was constructed: piecemeal, incrementally and, above all, locally. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
The only news most people ever hear about the inner city comes from grim headlines; the only residents they can name are characters on ‘The Wire.’ Of course, ignorance of a community doesn’t stop outsiders from having opinions about it or passing laws that govern it. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
One consequence of racism and segregation is that many American whites know little or nothing about the daily lives of African Americans. Black America’s least-understood communities are those poor, hyper-segregated places we once called ghettos. These neighborhoods are not far away, but they might as well be on the moon. James Forman, Jr. Read Quote
