Kristina Kay Robinson and Ashana Bigard on Education Reform, the School to Prison Pipeline, and Home

Once a month, we explore and celebrate the work of poor people's movements, especially in the U.S. We highlight systemic organizing led by women, LGBT folks, and people of color, pushing forward new models for change. You can read more about these issues on the website of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, nesri.org

This month, Kristina Kay Robinson joins host Puck Lo and guest Ashana Bigard for a conversation on so-called "Education Reform," the School to Prison Pipeline, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the idea of Home.

Kristina Kay Robinson is a writer, curator, and visual artist born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the coeditor of Mixed Company, a collection of short fiction and visual narratives by women of color. Her curatorial and artistic endeavors include Khalid Abdel Rahman’s ” A Disappearance” and Republica: Temple of Color and Sound, an aesthetic reimagining of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. She is the current editor of Room 220 , an online arts journal  and program of Antenna Gallery in New Orleans. She is a 2019 Monroe Fellow of Tulane University and nominee for the Rabkin Prize for visual arts journalism, her writing in various genres has appeared in Guernica, The Baffler, The Nation and Elle.com among other outlets. 

Ashana Bigard is a life long resident of New Orleans, mother of three, social justice organizer, and a long-time advocate for the health and wellness needs of children and families in Louisiana. She has extensive experience in organizing and advocating for the rights of students and parents in New Orleans’ complex, demoralizing, and rapidly privatizing public education system through her leadership with the Education Justice Project of New Orleans. She is also an adult ally advisor to United Students of New Orleans. In addition to education equity activism, Ashana organizes with the Woman’s Health & Justice Initiative and for expended housing affordability opportunities for low-income families. Ashana has worked with a diverse range of youth, education, and juvenile justice-based organizations including the New Orleans Parents Organizing Network, Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children, and Agenda for Children. 

Thank you to Jesse Strauss for Audio Mixing and Editing.

Music for this episode from https://filmmusic.io:"Too Cool" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).