Meira Levinson > Quotes

“Educators who teach low-income and nonwhite students can take steps to combat these gaps in political attitudes and civic engagement. First, we can go beyond the typical list of famous activists of color and introduce students to “ordinary” role models, people who share their racial, ethnic, cultural, and/or class-related characteristics, live and/or work locally, may be relatively unknown, and are effectively engaged in civic or political action. We can teach students that the ordinary, everyday acts taken by these people make significant differences to their communities. Finally, we can help students identify and practice the key skills deployed by these “ordinary” role models as a means of becoming efficacious, engaged civic and political actors themselves.”
― Meira Levinson

“Elevating such extraordinary figures as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and concentrating on their accomplishments to the exclusion of the foot soldiers who sustained the Civil Rights Movement, for example, implies that only a few people are called to change the world, especially within low-income and/or nonwhite communities, and that everyone else might as well stand aside.”
― Meira Levinson