Commentary

Is It Safe to Give In to Pressure to Reopen Schools?

“The first reason Black parents are reluctant to have their children return to school is health and safety. More Black children are likely to live in multi-generational homes. This means that even though children are less likely to manifest COVID-19 symptoms, they can still contract and shed the virus and infect a grandparent or parent with underlying conditions. Given the high rate of COVID infections and death in the Black and Brown communities, Black families are not willing to take the risk of transmission.” Of course, Ladson-Billings doesn’t speak for all Black parents, but some polls indicate that she probably does speak for many.

Published

6 years ago

February 18, 2021

Kiki

Kitty Kelly Epstein

The demand to open schools has taken a bizarre turn. The same communities which have seen the most sickness and death also seem to be taking the rap for not having already opened schools.

Case rates are falling, and every district absolutely needs to have a workable, safe, phased-in plan for returning to in-person instruction. And, while we do that, we need to respond to the clueless conversations occurring in some parts of the press.

Renowned education researcher, Gloria Ladson-Billings, addresses this with a blog called “Stop Using Black Kids as An Excuse to Open Your Schools.” She explains the reasons why Black parents may not be as enthusiastic as more affluent white parents.

Locally, the question seems to come out something like this “Piedmont (an affluent mostly white city) has schools open. Oakland (a working-class city with mostly Black and Brown residents) right next door does not have schools open. What’s wrong with Oakland?”

What’s wrong is that Piedmont has had 165 cases of Covid, while Oakland has had 25,000 cases. And this is where the systemic racism lies. First the federal government failed to stop the devastating spread of the disease. And second, the U.S. racial wealth gap means that Black and Brown communities are doing more of the dangerous “essential’ work while whites are more likely to have other income or to work from the safety of home. If it’s not safe to have 10 people over for Thanksgiving dinner in a house, we may wonder, how safe could it be to have hundreds of people in a school building together?

We are beginning to have some answers to this question as it stands now. In France, where the unpopular education minister, Blanquer, has gloated over keeping France’s schools open, we finally know something about how this has turned out.

One of the schools he is proud of was shown on the news a few days ago. The reporter mentioned that four teachers had COVID. This is out of a teaching staff of around 24. With a 1-in-6 chance of getting the deadly disease, those folks would be safer working in a coal mine.

And there is some statistical evidence from the U.S. as well.

Esther Oster, a Brown University researcher, has data which show that rates of infection increased among teachers in New York and Texas, two states which have their public schools open. Her work is reported in the Jan. 12, 2021, issue of Chalkbeat. Nearly 1-in-100 staff members had contracted COVID in just the first two weeks of December in those two states.

We need a plan to go back to in-person instruction that takes these things into account. First, we need to understand that the initial steps will be smaller groups of students in smaller spaces, and parents should be asked about the details of all these plans.

Second, we need to determine, as a community, that we are not “going back to normal.” The teachers in my education classes want to start with rebuilding relationships. Ladson-Billings asks whether we’re going to ask about the learning gains as well as the “learning losses” of students. Did all those students protesting in the streets this past year learn anything we want to hear about? Will we let the 40% of California students who speak a language other than English teach the teachers and other students how to speak their language? And will we get the courage to reject another expensive, discriminatory standardized test destined to give teachers and students yet another reason for discouragement

I love teaching in person. I love sitting in a tight-knit circle conducting a seminar with my students. I can’t wait until the vaccinations have brought the case rates down enough for this to happen. And I’m giving thanks to all the blessed scientists and health care people around the world who worked so hard and so fast to make that possible.

Kitty Kelly Epstein, PhD is a professor, the host of Education Today, and the co-author, with BSU leader Bernard Stringer, of “Changing Academia Forever: Black Student Leaders Analyze the Movement They Led.” (2020)

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Oakland Post: Week of October 14 – 20, 2026

Published

5 days ago

October 19, 2026

Oakland Post

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Black History

OP-ED: The Black Church Writes AI’s Next Chapter

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — I implore my fellow faith leaders to use these tools. Start now and use them with wisdom. We count on each and every one of you to make sure our communities help write the next chapter of this story. This rapid change is not as unfamiliar as it may sound. My first understanding of AI came from using a calculator for the first time in grade school. We did not call it AI, but it was a tool that helped me work through mathematical equations hours more efficiently.

Published

5 days ago

October 18, 2026

Post News Group

For generations, the Black church has stood strong in our communities through every historical change this country has experienced. During the civil rights movement and in recent times, faith leaders have helped uplift Black sanctuaries to register voters, keep food pantries open for people in need, and sit with families in hospital rooms in their most desperate moments. When our people faced new trials, they could always look to our faith leaders and the church to lean in to help us be included in these transformative changes.

Artificial intelligence is the latest revolutionary change to impact our society, and much like other transformations before us, underserved communities often get left behind.

I was recently featured in a report entitled “Faith, Community & AI” and it found that people send ChatGPT more than 70 million messages a week about religion. Nearly 22 million involve studying sacred texts, and 16 million ask about religious practices and holy days. Our members make up part of those numbers. They bring questions of faith to these tools every day.

Pastors have noticed, and according to a September 2025 Lifeway Research survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors, 42 percent said they use or experiment with AI in ministry. I count myself among them.

I write my sermons by hand, through prayer and study. When I finish a draft, I ask ChatGPT this question: “Where might this sermon become unclear or difficult to follow for someone early in their walk of faith?” It shows me gaps in my preparation, like where I incorrectly assumed everyone would know the context of who the Pharisees were. Then, change comes from my own pen, not the robot. The tool helps me reach the person in the back pew while the message still comes from me.

If I could have my wish, our whole community would take a similar posture. We must use these tools, understand them, and most importantly be present to help shape them if we want to be included in the coming change.

I implore my fellow faith leaders to use these tools. Start now and use them with wisdom. We count on each and every one of you to make sure our communities help write the next chapter of this story. This rapid change is not as unfamiliar as it may sound. My first understanding of AI came from using a calculator for the first time in grade school. We did not call it AI, but it was a tool that helped me work through mathematical equations hours more efficiently.

It starts with training; there is no involvement without understanding. Free AI trainings have begun in our churches and community centers across the nation. Every faith leader should sign up and, when possible, encourage members of your congregations to join you. By learning how to use AI, we can better understand what it can do, make up our own minds about its impact, and have a say in how it shapes our communities.”

Next, we must be at the tables where the builders of these tools make decisions. Presence is the first step toward understanding, and that gap is only bridged through a coordinated effort. How can any tool serve a community well if that community is not part of the conversation? Our traditions, needs, and concerns must be accounted for, and Black faith leaders are already making that happen. OpenAI’s recent Faith report states plainly that AI should never become an arbiter of religious truth. I fully intend to hold the company to its word, and the most effective way I can do that is from inside.

I will close with this––we must diligently protect what only the church can give. A believer in Seoul, Korea quoted in the report warned, “if you pour every struggle into a private chat, your pastor and your friends may never learn you need help.” A chatbot will not sit with a grieving family or pray with you at two in the morning. As we adopt this technology, it is up to us to ensure it keeps people connected to each other and to their church.

Rev. Dr. Adolphus Lacey is senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.

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Black History

OP-ED: The Black Church Writes AI’s Next Chapter

Published

5 days ago

October 18, 2026

Post News Group

Artificial intelligence is the latest revolutionary change to impact our society, and much like other transformations before us, underserved communities often get left behind.

Pastors have noticed, and according to a September 2025 Lifeway Research survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors, 42 percent said they use or experiment with AI in ministry. I count myself among them.