We Wrote It Down

Season 5 of Teach the Babies opens with the person who helped carry every chapter of The Black Papers to print. Corena D. Wiggins, deputy editor-in-chief of The Black Papers, college advisor, and president of The Scholarship Plug, Inc., joins the class. She takes us behind the scenes of a two-year labor of love: late nights, 100+ contributors, and papers sharpened in community on the State of the People Power Tour. She shares what 20 years of college advising has taught her about HBCUs, community colleges, and paying for school. She also explains what accountability looks like now that new officials are taking their seats. Get the book, adopt a chapter, and never cede our power.The BookThe Black Papers: A Policy Agenda for Black Liberation in the 21st Century, edited by David J. Johns (Routledge). The book includes contributions from more than 100 scholars, policymakers, and community organizers, and it was developed alongside the State of the People Power Tour, which activated grassroots movements in 13 cities.Order: https://www.routledge.com/The-Black-Papers-A-Policy-Agenda-for-Black-Liberation-in-the-21st-Century/Johns/p/book/9781041270904The Scholarship Plug, Inc.: a nonprofit that provides scholarship training, financial aid support, and personalized advising to help students and families make college affordable. Mrs. Shedley Casseus Parnther founded the organization. Instagram: @scholarshipmoneyforstudents lauderhill-flbplfoundationState of the People: stateoftheppl.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

A three-year-old Black boy named Nevada went to a park named for Dr. King to play soccer, and before the morning was over, police were on the sideline. In this solo episode, Dr. David J. Johns walks through what we know and what we don't, then asks what Nevada's story reveals about race, about who gets managed and who gets accused in sports, about the youth sports industry, and about a child's right to a private childhood. No homework this time. Just questions worth staying with.Show NotesUpdate: since this episode was recorded, Eddie Johnson's EJE7 Soccer Academy says Nevada is set to begin training there in January. Roc Nation Sports has publicly backed Nevada on Instagram but has not formally announced the reported trip to Spain.World Athletics regulations for athletes with differences of sex development (adopted 2018)Semenya v. Switzerland, European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber (July 10, 2025): found Switzerland violated Caster Semenya's right to a fair hearingK.G.M. v. Meta and YouTube (March 25, 2026): Los Angeles jury found the companies negligent in designing platforms that harmed a young userReferencesMom of 3-year-old speaks out after police called over dispute at youth soccer game, ABC News, October 27, 2026Florida police called to youth soccer game after alleged dispute involving 3-year-old player, NBC News911 call reveals hurried request for police, People via Yahoo SportsSocial media says the police were called on a 3-year-old. Police say otherwise., KTLAToddler soccer playing-time dispute results in 911 call, Orlando ShineEx-USMNT star Eddie Johnson to train 3-year-old removed from Florida soccer game, ESPNFormer U.S. soccer star steps in to train 3-year-old Nevada Pierre, TheGrio, October 28, 2026Jay-Z's Roc Nation backs Nevada Pierre after MLK Park row, Rolling Out, October 28, 2026After a girl beat their daughters in sports, Utah parents triggered investigation, Deseret News, August 2022Semenya's right to a fair hearing violated, European Court of Human Rights rules, Daily Maverick, July 10, 2025Two Namibian Olympic medal contenders ruled ineligible for women's 400m, CNN via KVIA, 2021Serena and Venus called the "Williams brothers", New York Amsterdam News, October 30, 2014Supreme Court Decides West Virginia v. B.P.J., Faegre Drinker, June 30, 2026Family spending on youth sports rises 46% over five years, Aspen Institute Project PlayPediatricians say children shouldn't specialize in a single sport until age 15–16, MinnPost, September 2016Byron Allen could become the first Black majority owner in NFL history, Front Office Sports, September 2026Jury in Los Angeles finds Meta, YouTube negligent in social media addiction trial, CNBC, March 25, 2026Behind the Screen: Legal Gaps Leave Kidfluencers Unprotected, New Jersey State Bar Foundation, January 2026Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama opened and closed his address to the 81st UN General Assembly with one idea: belonging. In between, he named the human carnage in Gaza, condemned Hamas in the same breath, made the case for reparations, and called for Africa's permanent seat on the Security Council. Dr. David J. Johns walks through how President Mahama built one of the most politically sophisticated speeches of the year, and what the speech asks of us at home, including through Chapter 26 of the Black Papers, the reparations chapter he wrote with Dreisen Heath and Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter.Watch the full address on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLMEt08wVsI [Read the full text (3News): https://3news.com/news/full-text-president-mahamas-address-to-81st-un-general-assemblyThe Black Papers: A Policy Agenda for Black Liberation in the 21st Century, edited by Dr. David J. Johns (Routledge). Publishes October 30, 2026.Preorder for $27.99 with code ADC26. All proceeds go to State of the People: https://www.routledge.com/The-Black-Papers-A-Policy-Agenda-for-Black-Liberation-in-the-21st-Century/Johns/p/book/9781041270904Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

Title IX is one sentence long, and for more than fifty years that sentence has protected students far beyond the playing field. In this solo episode, Dr. David J. Johns traces Title IX from the women who wrote it and the ten-year-old girl in Georgia whose case made schools answerable for harassment, to the deliberate dismantling underway now: the 2020 rules written back into federal regulations, a gutted Office for Civil Rights, and a narrowing of who the law protects. Dr. Johns names what is at stake for Black girls and women, survivors of sexual violence, pregnant and parenting students, and Black LGBTQ+ and trans students, and connects the fight to the State of the People Black Papers.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

Most of the coverage of Nikole Hannah-Jones's New York Times Magazine essay asks whether a mother chose wrong. In this follow-up to What It Cost Us, Dr. David J. Johns asks the questions the coverage keeps skipping: who gets blamed, who gets punished, who designed the choice, and who gets left off the map. He names how the blame for a decision two parents made landed on one, and traces how Black mothers with the least have been criminalized for crossing district lines. He breaks down the new federal voucher program launching January 1, 2027, and why your governor's opt-in decision matters. He widens the map to the rural South and Appalachia, where property-tax funding fails Black and white children alike. And he lifts up what works, from the Rosenwald schools to the Oakland Community School, Marva Collins, and the Department of Defense schools.Related classesWhat It Cost Us  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns/id1745797318?i=1000792173861 How Vouchers Are Destroying Public Schools, with Fred Jones https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns/id1745797318?i=1000760021242  The essay and the responseNikole Hannah-Jones, "In fighting for every Black child, did I betray my own?" The New York Times Magazine: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.htmlMayor Zohran Mamdani's response (Education Week): https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mamdani-says-nyc-public-schools-failed-nikole-hannah-joness-daughter/2026/09Najya Hannah-Jones and Nikole Hannah-Jones on This American Life (Fox News coverage): https://www.foxnews.com/media/nikole-hannah-jones-daughter-asks-why-her-education-sacrificed-ideology-says-it-makes-no-senseRonell Smith on the limited menu of options, including Roland Fryer's Wall Street Journal argument (The Dallas Morning News): https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/nikole-hannah-jones-daughter-school-black-families-22458642.phpBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

Dr. Tiffany Crutcher joins the class ten years after a Tulsa police officer killed her twin brother, Terence. She is a descendant of Black Wall Street and the founder of the Terence Crutcher Foundation. She talks about the mother who taught her quiet strength and about the brother the news never showed. She shares her freedom dreams for the next generation and her plans for Greenwood North, a 65,000-square-foot home for rebuilding Black Wall Street. She also answers the hardest question: who takes care of Tiffany?NOTESTerence Crutcher Foundation: terencecrutcherfoundation.org Black Wall Street Legacy Festival, held each year around May 31 in GreenwoodThe 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the destruction of Black Wall Street in the Greenwood DistrictFormer officer Betty Shelby was acquitted of manslaughter in 2017.Terence Crutcher's estate filed its civil suit in June 2017.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

Ten years ago, Nikole Hannah-Jones chose a school for her daughter and called it the just choice. Now she has told the world what that choice cost.Dr. David J. Johns takes the class past the arguments to the questions underneath them. What did Brown v. Board give us, and what did it cost? What does the Black tax take from us, generation after generation? Why do Black teachers matter so much? And why does a systemic problem need a collective answer? Grace for every parent making constrained choices they did not design, and one rule for all of us: keep the children out of our mouths.No absolution for any of us. An assignment for all of us.Let's All Get Free.SHOW NOTESIn this solo class, Dr. David J. Johns responds to Nikole Hannah-Jones's New York Times Magazine essay with gratitude, grace, and an assignment. He traces the unpaid bill of Brown v. Board and names the Black tax as a set of architected, constrained choices. He shares the story of his former student Nala. And he makes the case that collective action, not one family's sacrifice, is how we win schools worthy of Black children.Historical contextBrown v. Board of Education (1954), and the more than 38,000 Black teachers pushed out of their jobs in the decade after the decision: https://www.chalkbeat.org/2024/05/10/black-teachers-lost-jobs-after-brown-vs-board-rulingHow Black teachers lost when civil rights won in Brown v. Board (The 74): https://www.the74million.org/article/how-black-teachers-lost-when-civil-rights-won-in-brown-v-board/November 14, 1960, New Orleans: Ruby Bridges integrates William Frantz Elementary. The same morning, Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost, and Gail Etienne integrate McDonogh No. 19.February 3, 1964, the New York City school boycott: more than 450,000 students stayed out of school to protest segregation. https://crdl.usg.edu/events/ny_school_boycott/ and https://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/day-history-february-3-new-york-city-school-boycottFreedom Summer, Mississippi, 1964, and the Freedom Schools tradition it launched.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

In March of 1972, ten thousand Black folks went to Gary, Indiana, and came out with an agenda. Fifty-four years later, we wrote it down again.Dr. David J. Johns takes the class inside the State of the People Black Papers, the community-driven policy briefs built by more than a hundred Black experts across ten states, and the two companion documents being built on top of them: a Day One list of five asks for the next Congress and the fuller people's platform underneath it.Then he takes us to Tulsa, to the Terence Crutcher Foundation's tenth anniversary gala, where a decade of work built out of grief is doing in practice what the Papers describe on the page. Honoring Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, celebrating honoree Dreisen Heath, and asking what legacy actually requires of the rest of us.Preorders open October 9th. Via StateofthePPL.com and routledge.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

We never left. But this is the first new class since June.Dr. David J. Johns opens the fall with a correction he's been carrying in public. For years he told rooms full of people that PBS should bring back Schoolhouse Rock. He was wrong twice—and the second mistake turns out to be the whole episode.In 1979, ABC shelved a three-minute cartoon explaining checks and balances because network executives feared the government being checked would come after their broadcast license. Nearly fifty years later, a third of American eighth graders score below basic in civics, which means they likely can't describe the structure of their own government. Nobody has to shelve anything now.This solo episode walks the three rings we should have all been taught, then shows what happens in the gap between how government is supposed to work and how it's being worked.Congratulations to Congressman Everton Blair, sworn in September first as the first openly LGBTQ+ person Georgia has sent to Congress—a seat decided by fewer than fifteen hundred votes, won by a man who came up through a school board. Appreciation for Senator Shevrin Jones and Representative Michele Rayner, who both lost on August eighteenth after a smear about a candidate's health status and dark money moving through a committee formed weeks before the vote. And a hard look at Inglewood Unified, where an elected school board has kept its seats and lost its votes for fourteen years.Plus: why Black joy is not the intermission, what Afrofuturist dreaming has to do with organizing, and why the real AI is Ancestral Intelligence.We're heading into the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 55th Annual Legislative Conference. Come find us at NBJC's OUT on the Hill.Let's All Get Free.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.

ICYMI: A Back-to-School Special RerunStephanie Allen does God’s work.  A career educator for more than two decades, Ms. Allen currently teaches high school in Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, North Carolina, the third largest school district in North Carolina. She was recognized as a Teacher of the Year in 2019 and 2024–a recognition she’s earned. This episode features the front-line experiences of a classroom teacher, centers stories about under-supported students, and describes necessary steps to dismantle the social hierarchy that relegates Black students to the lowest rungs of every quality of life indicator ladder.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.