James Ford
James is an award-winning educator and consultant on issues of equity in education. He is the Principal at Filling the Gap Educational Consultants, LLC. and was appointed by Gov. Cooper to serve as a North Carolina State Board of Education member, representing the Southwest Region. He is the former Program Director at the Public School Forum of North Carolina, an education think-tank and policy advocacy organization.
Presentations from Facing Race 2022
Public Education: The Foundation for Multiracial Democracy
The future of our society hinges on our ability to truly realize a just, equitable multiracial democracy and it must start with honest and fully funded multiracial public education. Neither our political nor education system were set up for this, but that is the promise of what our movements can achieve by uniting our communities across all the lines used to divide us.
Moderator(s): Dennis Chin Speakers: James Ford, Alex Ames, Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Becky PringleThe Freedom to Learn: The Fight for Honest, Equitable, and Fully Funded Public Schools as the Foundation for a Just, Multiracial Democracy
In school districts across the United States, we have seen the results of the far-right’s relentless attacks on public education - whether through the proliferation of educational gag orders on race, gender, and sexual orientation in our public schools, the harassment of teachers who refuse to be silent on matters of equity and inclusion, or the banning of books that represent the full spectrum of experience that is essential to understanding our pluralistic world. Attacks on public education are not new; they are part of a long-term strategy to dismantle public schools (and public systems, writ large) and ultimately, undermine democracy. In this plenary, we are joined by movement leaders who are not just countering the far-right's attack on public education but are also fighting for a more just, multiracial democracy through organizing and narrative change.
Moderator(s): Dennis Chin Speakers: James Ford, Alex Ames, Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Becky Pringle