Is it possible for individual families to transform a failing education system? And because parents have the power to make decisions when it comes to their children’s education, what do parents owe those children when transforming the system means making sacrifices that the student, and not their parents, must deal with? They’re questions that families must deal with as they try to navigate and advocate for their children in the institutionalized racism of the American public school system, and have recently come to national attention through an article by Nikole Hannah-Jones in the New York Times.

Our special guest Touré, returning to the show, leads us in a discussion of Hannah-Jones’ brutal self analysis of whether she betrayed her own daughter by intentionally enrolling her in failing neighborhood schools. Watch below:

Hannah-Jones, domestic correspondent for the NYT and founder of the 1619 Project, has brought national attention to the concentration of opportunities, resources, and investment in students in public schools serving majority-white, wealthy areas. Meanwhile, public schools in majority-nonwhite, low-income communities aren’t getting the support necessary to provide equal access to educational opportunities. Hannah-Jones has unique perspective into this crisis, as she chose to send her daughter to kindergarten at a school with majority Black and low-income students. What she witnessed and what her daughter experienced in the years following that decision is the focus of a recent and viral article in the New York Times, where Hannah-Jones is upfront about her readiness to reckon with that choice and what it’s meant for Najya, her daughter, now a high-schooler doing her own analysis of her parents’ choices.

“A decade ago,” writes Hannah-Jones in the subheading of the article, “I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.” Hannah-Jones’ piece is unsparing in its direct confrontation with the struggles her daughter has faced since kindergarten, and it also outlines the moral imperative that guided her in the process of school choice. Because Hannah-Jones is correct that large-scale movements toward or from individual schools or public school systems themselves transform the educational experiences of the students there. Mass opting out of public schools in favor of private schools — a decision most frequently made by wealthy white families — creates the conditions under which schools like Najya’s lose funding and resources. But challenging that system as one individual failed to help the schools and sacrificed her daughter’s own educational development.

She’s now discussing that choice with her daughter in public forums, including an episode of This American Life, where their conversations — Hannah-Jones’ care and concern for her daughter’s well-being, Najya’s frustration — are at times heartbreaking. It underscores the mass action our society needs to take to end poverty, and institutionalized racism so that public education has a chance to succeed in every neighborhood.

The conversation becomes personal as we consider the choices we’ve made as parents and have had made for us in America’s deeply unjust system of education. In New York City’s public schools system, Krystal saw the intense disparity in resources and funding between the plethora of schools in the city, while moving back to where she grew up in Virginia, a more rural area sent her children to the single school district in the area, creating more equal educational outcomes for all students in the region. Touré describes attending PWIs, specifically private schools, throughout his educational career, sending his children to private schools as well, and describes not only the microaggressions and abusive behavior Black students face in those environments, but also how his choice reflected his belief that his children would benefit from a higher quality education than public schools could provide along with a sort of brand recognition that may ease their paths to success. A discussion of Hannah -Jones’ article brings us to a critical assessment of what it would truly take to achieve equitable outcomes for students in a robust public education system throughout the country, and what fight the left needs to fight to get there.

Thanks for watching KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast tomorrow on major streaming platforms.