Urban Voices, Racial Justice, and Community Leadership

Curtis L. Ivery has been chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District for 25 years. He is a national leader on urban revitalization and social equity. He is the author of several books including America’s Urban Crisis and the Advent of Colorblind Politics: Education, Incarceration, and Segregation; and The Future of the Urban Community College: Shaping the Pathways to a Multiracial Democracy. Christine Johnson McPhail is president of Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, NC, founder of the community college leadership doctoral program at Morgan State University in Maryland, and former president of Cypress College in Southern California. She is a national authority on diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and the co-author of books on community college leadership including Team Leadership in the Community College.

In my decades of service to the community college sector, I intentionally worked to ensure that I represented all students in word and action. I was afraid that if I spoke too much about students of color it would impact the way others saw me. In retrospect, I realize that my perspective as a Black community college leader is not only valid but is necessary if we are to truly reckon with the issues that we currently face at community colleges and across the country. Through this work, Drs. Ivery and McPhail have outlined a framework that provides context on the challenges of the current political and racial divisions that plague the nation and impact the core tenets of the community colleges and the students they serve.

• Foreword by Cornel West Urban community colleges redefined for greater social impactPrefaceA lament of hope and conscienceCHAPTER 1: THE SHADOWS OVER URBAN COMMUNITIES Curtis L. Ivery, chancellor, Wayne County Community College District CHAPTER 2: A CLARION CALL Beverly Walker-Griffea, president, Mott Community College CHAPTER 3: TOWARD HEALING AND RECONCILIATION: SILENCE IS NOT AN OPTION Kojo Quartey, president, Monroe County Community College CHAPTER 4: EMBEDDED RACISM AND THE AMERICAN PSYCHE Donald Generals, president, Community College of PhiladelphiaCHAPTER 5: THE COVID–19 ERA AND RACIAL INJUSTICE PROTESTS Quintin Bullock, president, Community College of Allegheny County CHAPTER 6: LEADING THROUGH AN EDUCATIONAL TSUNAMI Kimberly Beatty, chancellor, Metropolitan Community CollegeCHAPTER 7: OPTIMIZING THE URBAN HIGHER EDUCATION ECOSYSTEMChristine Johnson McPhail, president, St. Augustine’s UniversityCHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONSAND REFLECTIONS Curtis L. Ivery and Christine Johnson McPhail (editors)