Dr. Terry Anne Scott is trying to change the world

Wow! An advance copy of my book arrived today. Hard cover, jacket, and everything! So many years. This is a moment. #history #wow #truth #writer amazon.com/Lynching-Leisu…

Join me for a 2-part virtual lecture, "Reclaiming Democracy: The History of Voter Suppression and the Future of Voter Empowerment." Free for those who can't pay. Our power begins with education, then we take action! Register here: eventbrite.com/e/reclaiming-d… #history #vote #Truth

We, at the Institute for Common Power, are disgusted and outraged by yet another act of violence perpetrated by ICE and this administration. We also recognize that the shameless and public executions of two Minneapolis citizens sit squarely on a continuum of killings committed by ICE. We are a nation of laws, not self-serving regimes interested in ethnic cleansing and quelling dissenters. We must aspire to protect the most vulnerable among us and allies working for justice and peace. We have the honor of working with and supporting educators from across the country. Those who have joined us on our Truth and Purpose Learning Tours to Georgia and Alabama become Institute Educator Ambassadors. They are some of the most dedicated and courageous people whom you will ever meet. Now, they find themselves on the frontlines of a war on history, truth, education, and families—particularly Brown and Black immigrant families. These educators stay, they fight, they work to protect their students and their students’ families from the blatant racism and misuse of power of this administration and its agents of terror. We are proud to host and co-sponsor two events this weekend. On Saturday, January 31, we are co-sponsoring “Seattle Educators Say: ICE Out of Seattle,” a protest organized by local educators. It starts at 1:00 pm PST and will take place at Seattle Central College. The following day, on Sunday, February 1, The Institute for Common Power is doing a teach-in live for Minneapolis, entitled “The Return of ‘Slave-Catchers’: A Teach-In on ICE and How We Win in 2026.” It will be hosted by me, Dr. David Domke, and Dr. Yohuru Williams. We will be joined by Minneapolis educators who are fighting on the frontlines to secure justice and preserve peace. Below, you will find an honest and heart-wrenching statement from one of our Institute Educator Ambassadors who lives and works in Minneapolis. The statement is anonymous because simply speaking truth places this educator in harm’s way. The educator has freely provided this statement to us so we can share and bring awareness to conditions on the ground. Join us as we work to peacefully protest, register voters, and mobilize volunteers for voters. Visit our parent org at commonpower.org to volunteer now. Terry Anne Scott, Ph.D. (she/her) Director, The Institute for Common Power ____________________________________________________ “Educators are delivering food and supplies to families and doing it knowing that we are being watched.” What’s it like to be an educator in Minnesota right now? What’s it like to be a family? Where to begin is difficult. It comes down to how others see you and how you choose to see others. Pull apart that simplistic sentence, and there are the countless contrasts that families are living with and educators are dealing with in their classrooms. Those contrasts are what stick in my mind, the most striking of which are the contrasts in our perceptions. How are families and educators making it, amidst the chaos and fear? How can some people choose not to see what is before them? How do people look away with indifference? Why are some cheering it on and fanning the flames? As I walk through my community, very much impacted by all of this, but also just adjacent to the multiple bullseyes (for now?), those contrasts hit me as harshly as walking from a darkened room into a bright, snowy world with the sun glaring down. How can the sun shine so bright while the air is so cold? In some schools, the classroom is empty. Students show up as dots on a screen as virtual learning tries to take place. Any child in a middle school or high school classroom has been here before. The educators know it as well. A virtual bunker of a classroom while a menace stalks the streets. Six years ago, it was a mindless microscopic entity. Today, it is a planned juggernaut of the Federal executive, emboldened by a complicit judicial branch and an actionless legislative branch. But the students show up because they are hopeful, they need normalcy, they are scared, and don’t know what to do except try and hold onto what feels safest. Educators teach with tears in their eyes for all the pain they know students are feeling, and grit their teeth to restore that sense of safety and normalcy, knowing that none of this is safe or normal. Their math teacher asks them to solve problems with numbers and formulas, then asks them if they have enough food and supplies. Not all of them are there, however. Where are they? Sleeping in? Unable to focus, so why try? Without an internet connection or that chromebook charger they keep misplacing? Or are they gone? Either taken or attempting to escape? The math teacher shows how to calculate a complex equation and realizes she made a mistake as all those questions circle in her mind. She laughs it off, making a moment of levity amidst the fear. She knows how to teach while the chaos swirls because she’s done it too many times before–hours after attending a student’s funeral, while a school shooting was going on blocks away, as planes crashed into towers and no one knew when it would end. In other schools, the classroom is mostly full, but there are chairs left conspicuously empty. Teachers have virtual options, and some of the students show up. Most of them do not. The same questions swirl about. Even with virtual options, not all families know because they haven’t told the school why. How can they trust another system that is supposed to protect their babies? Some districts have communicated options to families so as to be proactive and inviting. Some districts sit by the phone and wait. That level of indifference is my current situation, and the educators are the ones trying to connect. We are the ones reaching out, organizing food deliveries, and trying to quietly figure out what to do. Educators are delivering food and supplies to families and doing it knowing that we are being watched. An educator couple who are friends of mine and teach in a nearby district were followed by ICE agents as they neared a home. They weren’t being paranoid, the officers were in full gear. Many of them are switching over, however, making it difficult to discern. Some ICE agents are even volunteering as “community members” to drop food off as well. My educator friends found a way to make the delivery but as they relished their safety afterwards they hoped that somehow they hadn’t inadvertently outed the family. There are students who are showing up to school because their family is making a calculated risk. The walls of the schoolhouse are less likely to be the targets of an ICE raid than home, where asking the thugs at the door for a judge-signed warrant doesn’t matter and they beat down anyways. Schools are refuges for now, but just yesterday we learned that the outer walls are crumbling. A coach was taken on a below zero Saturday morning as her students boarded the bus. As her students watched on from the bus windows, her colleagues shouted about how this was not allowed on school grounds. “It’s Saturday,” the agents told her. “We can be here when school’s not in session.” How do you teach the Constitution when it doesn’t seem to matter? How can you talk about the First Amendment when people are killed for filming, beaten for shouting, arrested and assaulted for just bearing witness. I could go through the whole document, amendments and all, and talk about each clause, every precedent, that’s being shredded before our eyes. It’s not that simple, though. If I’m going to continue organizing food drop-offs, having quiet conversations with students who need it, I need to do what I can to get to school and stay at school. The community I teach in has had raids, student family members have been taken, ICE agents regularly are seen around here and many are even staying in the hotels. We also have a Federal facility nearby where detainees, including protesters, are being held and processed. They exist here and I daily encounter people who are choosing not to see what is before them. I speak with people who are looking away with indifference. There are even some cheering it on and fanning the flames. Several of them are on the School Board. That is a status not mutually exclusive to my community. I could list at least 20 school districts in Minnesota where this is the scenario. So what do educators and families do in these settings? How do you report your child’s absence when you don’t know how that’s being recorded? Children have to try and remember every interaction they’ve had with their teachers to figure out which ones they can tell their parents to email for support and which ones “don’t want to get involved.” How do you quietly organize a food drive because district leadership sends out messages of indifference to appease those fanning the flames, lest those flames cost them their livelihoods? It’s easy to point the finger at administrators who implement the plans but perhaps they are in a similar situation as myself. Instead of cooperating with ICE and sharing school attendance records, as some elected officials would want them to, they are standing for student data privacy and the administrative powers an elected board must respect, for now. The hard part about existing in these extreme conditions is that you don’t always know who is an ally. The outspoken ones fanning the flames are easy to find, but the ones who are indifferent aren’t so easy. Worse yet, the ones who would join the flame fanners to save themselves if things get worse are even more difficult to discern. It’s difficult to describe in a cohesive way that makes sense because what’s happening right now makes no sense and is anything but cohesive. There are just so many stark contrasts and they all seem to be in shades of gray. It’s a paradox right now and it’s painful to navigate. Like walking from a darkened room into a bright, snowy outside Social Studies teachers I know try to draw upon the lessons of the past to create a schema of what this is like. It’s easy to be drawn to comparisons of the Cold War KGB agents in eastern Europe, or the purges in China and North Korea. I don’t think we need a trans-oceanic journey in order to draw a comparison. We’ve lived this reality here in the United States. In the United States, under this Constitution, there have been families under attack in their homes by warrantless agents. Slave catchers did it to free Black Americans throughout the first half of the 19th century. They targeted white and Indigenous allies just as much. The KKK and other white supremacy groups did it to people who dared to stand for economic freedom, voting rights, parental rights and other individual rights for generations between the 1860s and whenever in the 20th century you think that chapter closed. The schools are not innocent either. Education leaders sent people into Indigenous communities to steal away their babies and take them to boarding schools where many died trying to escape, or resisting too hard the forced consequences of remaining true to your family. The list doesn’t end there. Mexican Americans have had several waves of this happening over the decades including an actual military invasion in the 1840s and a government sponsored expulsion in the 1950s. Asian Americans with ancestors from China, Japan, the Philippines, to name a few, have seen this before. That’s the problem, the unconstitutional-oppression chapter has never really drawn to a close. It rises and falls, never seeming to end, only going into remission for brief periods. Will we get there? I believe that we can. I believe that we must if we are to survive as a nation of laws and freedom. Amidst everything that’s happened, there were always people who resisted, protected, spoke out and took whatever actions they could given their spaces and limitations. They figured out how to utilize their strengths, and their connections and flexed those to be more powerful and bring more people into the fight with them. People living in chaos and fear cannot do this on their own. They don’t need heroes to lead them or supporters to back them. They need people who will walk beside them amidst the chaos and fear. That’s what Renee Good and Alex Pretti were doing but that’s also what 50,000 people did on Friday, January 23 in downtown Minneapolis. That’s what all the educators are doing who deliver meals. That’s what people who bear witness, who blow on whistles, who share difficult images and lead difficult conversations in person and online are doing. The folks who choose not to see what is before them need to see. The educators who just feel that if they teach, and only teach, that all of this will go away. People who actively choose not to see what’s going on need to be reminded, in a respectful way if possible but sometimes people don’t listen until you are looking them in the eye and saying, “No, you have to listen. This is important and just because it doesn’t impact you now doesn’t mean it won’t tomorrow.” The ones with indifference are more challenging, but persistence pays off. If everyone around them doesn’t let it go, their indifference will either have to melt away or they’ll have to work harder to do it. Who knows, it might lead them to cheering it on and fanning the flames of oppression, but they weren’t helping anyways and time has a way of softening people when those around them who they are about, care about something meaningful. As for those cheering all of this on and fanning the flames, they are a small but powerful group. They occupy School Boards and offices. Many of them are like the war profiteers, and monetize the pain and grief of others simply because there’s a market for it. Communities coming together and refusing to shop in their businesses, who call them out at board meetings, who convince others to boycott has been shown by history to nudge things along. Those folks might always be out there to contend with, and in 250 years of our nation’s history they have been a constant. Meanwhile, my mind is focused on how I’m going to speak with students tomorrow and what questions are coming. I worry about the consequences of answering difficult questions in an honest way because the ones who fan the flames love to turn their torches on educators. Learning has always been at the tip of the spear whether through school segregation, book banning, death penalties for enslaved people who could read and the many other ways that crowd has tried to prevent honest learning for all. We are going to talk about the women who were arrested and assaulted at the White House in 1917 for demanding the vote. We will talk about the slave patrols who broke into free people’s homes and disappeared them into networks of imprisonment and human trafficking. We will talk about the peonage system that criminalized Blackness and a whole lot more because we still can. Sometimes the best way to talk about the present is to not talk about it at all, but to bring forth the episodes from the past and let the students ask the tough questions–at least the ones who still have the luxury of feeling safe coming to school. That’s what many educators have always done, but it’s never been enough, so please join us and find ways to speak with your students and children. If you are an educator, find the ways that it can come up. If you are a parent, remind your teachers that neutrality always benefits the oppressor and you know that as a professional that educator must find the way to navigate the precarious middle ground. If you are not in the education world at all, attend your local School Board meeting and consider speaking up in the public comment portion. Educators and parents usually do this, ut everyone lives in a school district and pays a portion of the district budget. Your voice will matter. It’s the voices of many, especially those who usually remain silent, that we need right now. This is actually a microcosm of what it’s like to be an educator at the moment. To peel through all the other layers would mean that I understand all of it as it’s happening. How I speak to my children, how I speak to my in-laws, my extended family is another layer. How I struggle with my levels of involvement when my passionate heart strains to do the most, but my brain says to remain calculated and careful. It’s not one wave that we are standing against. We know how much we’ve dealt with before, but we don’t know what’s still to come, and we must uncomfortably march on, because just standing there isn’t going to accomplish anything. One of the most emboldening things that has happened is the students are standing up and filling the gaps left by adults around them. Students are organizing marches, walk-outs, joining mass movements and creating tons of content online. Ironically, those same Board members who clamp down on honest teaching of history, who promote book bans, cancel equity work, deny student support groups and sow a million other kinds of hatred from their elected offices, then accuse educators of organizing the students. It’s telling. They don’t believe that young people have the capacity to do the work as they work to crash the public school system. They insist on compliance, standardized pacing, standardized assessment and work to replace public schools with Jim Crow era “school choice” voucher systems. Those students who are organizing and marching scare the crap out of them because those students will also see them for the fraudsters they are and will demand more. I wish that educators could do more to support our students with all of this, but the truth is they are doing great on their own and the movement is growing. Again, educators are doing what they can and it’s great to see students who are finding their ways. The children are watching. Let’s end this for them and set their families free from the terrors. Please. Families are not well. Educators are not well. Our nation is not well. It’s all hands on deck. Let’s go. Sincerely, An Educator in Minnesota An Educator in Minnesota #Iceout #trump #truth #minneapolis #Minneapolisprotests

An Open and Painfully Truthful Statement from a Minnesota Educator substack.com/home/post/p-18…

Join me, Dr. Yohuru Williams @yohuruwilliams, and Dr. David Domke for a teach-in live in Minneapolis, "The Return of Slave Catchers: A Teach-In on ICE and How We Win in 2026." We, @TheInstituteCP, are ready! #vote #minneapolis #Minnesota Register here: …uthanddemocracyteachin.eventbrite.com

This video of Alex Pretti was posted on Facebook by Mac Randolph, the son of the deceased veteran, with this caption:

You’re a fucking liar with blood on your hands.

They didn't side with the terrorists, Stephen. ICE are the terrorists. They sided with the ICU nurse who was murdered in cold blood.

You are the devil.

This is Alex Pretti, the man the Trump admin and Trump supporters call a "domestic terrorist." Here Pretti is reading the final honors, honoring a soldier who has passed away at the hospital he was a nurse at. Stop believing Trump's propaganda. He is lying to you! WAKE UP!

Was that supposed to read the opposite, that ICE policies endanger immigrants? The level of cognitive dissonance and downright hate from this incompetent, iniquitous administration is surreal. #Minneapolis #ICEOUT

The Institute for Common Power is disgusted and outraged by yet another act of violence perpetrated by ICE and this administration. We are a nation of laws. We must aspire to protect the most vulnerable among us. Join us as we mobilize to peacefully protest, register voters, and mobilize volunteers for voters. Visit our parent org at commonpower.org. #ICEOUT #vote #Minnesota

Pay attention to this...

He was unarmed. They murdered him

This is horrific and beyond anything that should happen in America. This must end today! We must come together and peacefully protest, contact our representatives, register people to vote, VOTE! Enough! #vote #ICEOUT #Minneapolis

I am so excited to have an article in this issue of the Journal of Sports History! I include a piece of my interviews with the great Lenny Wilkens! Check it out! #history #sports

Thank you, Leader @RepJeffries, for standing tall and speaking even longer. By delivering the longest House floor speech in history, you showed what it means to fight—relentlessly—for the people. While the dreadful bill has now passed, we commend your bold stand against dangerous rollbacks to Medicaid, SNAP, and other vital programs that working-class Americans rely on. The bill passed by a margin of 214(D)-218(R) at 2:30pm on July 3, just a day shy of Independence Day. Republicans Thomas Massie (KY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) also voted against the bill. We will not stop fighting. We will not be silenced.

It does none of this. But go ahead, keep lying to Ohioans and keep peddling hate.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR, @terryannescott, ABOUT INDEPENDENCE AND TODAY... “What to the slave is the fourth of July,” Frederick Douglass rhetorically charged in a speech delivered by the abolitionist, writer, and orator commemorating the nation’s Independence Day in 1852. Douglass’ indictment of a nation that toted its adoration for freedom, yet enshrined the enslavement of Black people into the United States Constitution, warrants a discussion of the historical parallels we are witnessing today. Just this morning, I read article after article and post after post about the continuous cementing of white supremacy through the removal of rights from Black and Brown people in America. From the threatened stripping of citizenship secured by those naturalized here, to federal officials entertained by the potential of Latino and Haitian immigrants falling victim to the jaws of alligators that patrol a new immigrant detention center in Florida, to a Supreme Court ruling that threatens to eliminate birthright citizenship for those (of a certain hue) born on U.S. grounds, what we are experiencing in this very moment is a stark return to the hypocrisy of American freedom that undergirded Douglass’ sharp critique of Independence Day. We, at the Institute for Common Power, are redoubling our efforts in this historical moment to support Educators on the frontlines of this battle. They represent our ability to disseminate truth and shape next generation leaders. We are dedicated to creating a nation of educators who understand and teach honest history, who fight for their marginalized and targeted students, who serve as models for students to work collaboratively in building a just and inclusive American democracy. As we endeavor to safeguard truth, to fight for the silenced and the disempowered, to diligently work to secure justice for the disenfranchised, to support those on the frontlines of the battle for righteousness and virtue, we know that the forces who seek to disable our efforts and thwart our progress will be great. My friends, Douglass reminds us that “the eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence.” America is still young, and it is still our country. We are not giving in to the racist, misogynist, homophobic rants and actions of those committed to iniquity. We are designed for this moment! I leave you with the words of James Baldwin: “For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great [people] have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become.” #FourthOfJuly #IndependenceDay #AlligatorAlcatraz #truth #history #DonaldTrump

@gurusix @ProfJeffries Fair, but not the point

@terryannescott @ProfJeffries To be fair the cat carrying concealed in Alabama can’t read……literally

#WOW #BOOKBANS