Teach the Babies w/ Dr. David J. Johns

Dr. Bianca Baldridge is back in the class—and this time she brought her new book.

Associate Professor of Education at Harvard University and former youth worker for over two decades, Dr. Baldridge has spent her career shining light on the spaces where Black children are seen, held, and loved outside of school walls. Her new book, Laboring in the Shadows: Precarity and Promise in Black Youth Work (Stanford University Press, 2026), is one of the most necessary things I have read in years. I don't do courtesy. I do testimony.

There are an estimated 2.53 million youth workers in this country. Young people spend only 18% of their waking hours in school. And yet we have no national youth policy. No floor. No framework. No "do good and be paid well."

This conversation changes that. Pull up.

Books
Laboring in the Shadows: Precarity and Promise in Black Youth Work — Stanford University Press (February 2026)
Publisher page & order: sup.org/books/sociology/laboring-shadows 
Reclaiming Community: Race and the Uncertain Future of Youth Work — Stanford University Press (2019)
2019 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Book Award
Previous Episode
And We Still Keep Fighting — Teach the Babies w/ Dr. David J. Johns (July 2, 2024)

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Dreisen Heath doesn't do sequencing. She doesn't want the appetizer. She doesn't want to wait for the main course. She wants the whole menu—reparations legislation, economic justice, striking the punishment clause from the 13th Amendment, restored benefits for Black veterans, and protected Black history and cultural institutions. All of it. All at once.

In this episode, Dr. David Johns sits down with Dreisen Heath—reparations researcher, movement strategist, and founder and executive director of the Why We Can't Wait Reparations Network—in the wake of Equity Week in Washington, D.C. Together, they unpack what it meant to convene the Congressional Black Caucus, stand on the House Triangle alongside Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Summer Lee, Rep. Al Green, and dozens of partner organizations, and then walk through the reparative justice display at the Library of Congress—all ahead of Juneteenth and America's 250th anniversary.

Dr. Heath breaks down what the infrastructure of repair actually means in practice—and exactly how the current administration is gutting it. She connects the dismantling of DEI offices and the DOJ Civil Rights Division to the accumulation of unpaid debt to Black Americans, and makes the case for why this moment demands more urgency, not less.

This is Freedom Summer. The babies are watching. The question is whether we'll show up.

Legislation ReferencedH.R.40 — Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, currently led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley
S.40 — Senate companion bill, currently carried by Sen. Cory Booker
The HEAR Act (H.R.40's Senate counterpart in earlier sessions)
13th Amendment punishment clause — legislation to strike the exception allowing forced labor as criminal punishment
Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act (passed 2022; first introduced 1900)

Organizations and CoalitionsWhy We Can't Wait Reparations Network — whywecantwaitreparations.org 
NBJC — National Black Justice Collective — nbjc.org 
United By Equity — unitedbyequity.org
N'COBRA — National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
Black Veterans Project
Black Voters Matter Fund
Children's Defense Fund
National Action Network

People ReferencedRep. Ayanna Pressley — lead sponsor, H.R.40
Sen. Cory Booker — lead sponsor, S.40
Rep. Summer Lee — co-sponsor; carrying forward legislation co-authored with then-Rep. Cori Bush
Rep. Al Green — reparations advocate
Rep. Barbara Lee (now Mayor, Oakland) — longtime H.R.40 champion
Rep. Cori Bush — co-author of 2023 federal reparations legislation with Dreisen Heath
Rep. Jamaal Bowman — reparations advocate
Rep. John Conyers (now deceased) — original H.R.40 champion; first introduced 1989
Tiffany Crutcher — Tulsa racial justice leader; Legacy Festival collaborator
Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter — author, Radical Reparations; referenced in closing

EventsEquity Week 2026, Washington D.C. — Congressional meeting (Tuesday), House Triangle press conference (Thursday), reparative justice display at the Library of Congress, Equity Ball
Legacy Festival, Tulsa — organized in memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre
Freedom Summer 2026 — the organizing frame for this episode and season
America 250 — the U.S. 250th anniversary, named as a 'fake celebration' framing the urgency of this moment

Historical ContextTulsa Race Massacre (1921) — destruction of Black Wall Street; Tulsa litigation referenced as a model
Rosewood Massacre — looted homes before burning
H.R.40 first introduced: 1989 (36+ year delay as of this episode)
First-ever committee vote on H.R.40: 2021
Treasury Judgment Fund — permanent taxpayer fund; discussed as a future vehicle for reparative repair
Holocaust victims reparations — U.S. government assistance for U.S.-based Holocaust survivors to reclaim looted art and artifacts; cited as evidence the federal government already has infrastructure for repair

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Freedom Summer didn't end in 1964 — it lives in every classroom, every protest, every young person who picks up a book and sees themselves as their own liberator. In this conversation, Dr. David J. Johns sits down with his sister and colleague Dr. Brittany Packnett Cunningham — strategist, educator, Webby Award-winning host of UNDISTRACTED, and Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the Children's Defense Fund — to trace the direct line from Mississippi 1964 to the urgent work of this summer.

They go deep on who actually carried Freedom Summer — young people and everyday Black Mississippians who risked everything for the audacity of a vote — and how Marian Wright, present on those same voter registration lines, took what she saw and built what would become CDF Freedom Schools, now serving upwards of 12,000 students every summer. Dr. Brittany explains why Freedom Schools are as much an intervention for the whole family as they are for the child — and why, in a moment when Roots has been banned in the same county where Alex Haley bought the farm that bears its legacy, we cannot afford to lose the recipes.

The conversation moves into UNDISTRACTED — the Meteor Network flagship that Dr. David is proud to be part of as a correspondent this season — and what it means to build a platform where the questions are better and the community is ready to wrestle with them. And it closes with the ecosystem that connects it all: State of the People, Signal LIVE, All Roads Lead South, and Freedom Summer 2026 — a season-long drumbeat of mobilization, education, and local organizing rooted in the same soil as 1964.

This is not a closed chapter. This is a living model. Class is in session.

Show Notes:CDF Freedom Schools Find a Freedom School near you, apply to become a Servant Leader Intern, or explore leadership pathways for students, parents, caregivers, and faith leaders: childrensdefense.org
Freedom Summer 2026 Host a satellite rally, join Juneteenth Week of Action events, and plug into mobilization happening across the country all summer long: freedomsummer2026.com
UNDISTRACTED / The Meteor Webby Award-winning podcast hosted by Dr. Brittany Packnett Cunningham, flagship of the Meteor Network. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts and at wearethemeteor.com
State of the People / Signal LIVE Black-owned, Black-led media ecosystem founded by Angela Rye. Watch Signal LIVE, explore The Black Papers, and tap into the community: stateofthepeople.tv
Juneteenth Week of Action events: June 18 (Georgia State Capitol/Liberty Plaza), June 20 (125th Street, Harlem), June 22 (mass virtual meeting with Freedom Trainers/Ashley Woodard Henderson)
 — UNDISTRACTED Live: June 22, Washington DC

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Tiffany Dena Loftin has been in this work for over two decades — from a TRIO student at UC Santa Cruz organizing against tuition hikes, to leading the United States Student Association, to fighting for student debt cancellation at the NAACP and the Debt Collective. She's a labor organizer, a voting rights strategist, a founding member of Freedom Side, and one of the most disciplined relationship builders in the movement. She also served on the advisory board when Dr. David J. Johns led the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. Today, she steps into the classroom for the first time.

This conversation goes everywhere it needs to go. They talk about how authoritarianism uses isolation as a weapon — and why people are making intentional, physical, sometimes spontaneous choices to gather again. They get into what it actually means to find an organizing home when you care about everything. Tiffany tells the truth about the Debt Collective, the SAVE program, and what borrowers sitting in default right now actually need to do. And she closes with a charge that lands hard: we are not going to get free being comfortable.

We're dropping this episode the week of Juneteenth. The promise of freedom is real. The weight of this moment is real. Both are true at the same time.

Find your organizing home. Not tomorrow. Now.

SHOW NOTES

Connect with Tiffany Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Threads, Bluesky: @tiffanydloftin How We Get Free

Podcast: @howwegetfreepod

Organizations & Resources Mentioned
Freedom Summer 2026 / All Roads Lead to the South blackpowerwarroom.com/dayofaction 
The Debt Collective — the first union of debtors in the United States debtcollective.org
United States Student Association (USSA) usstudentassociation.org and @usstudentassociation.

The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) ticas.org
The Education Trust edtrust.org
NAACP naacp.org 
Referenced in This Episode:
DeJuana Thompson / Black Voters Matter Courtland Cox, SNCC veteran and mentor Carmen Berkeley — on building relationships, not titles Marshall Ganz — on relationships as the currency of power (Harvard Kennedy School) Kingian Nonviolence Certificate Program
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Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter is back in the classroom — and this time, the lesson is urgent.

One week out from Equity Week 2026, Dr. Hunter — professor of sociology and African American studies, author of Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation, and NBJC board member — walks us through everything you need to know. Why the week exists. Who it was built for. What it asks of you.

Then we go deeper. The Trump administration’s $1.7 billion fund to compensate January 6th participants is not just wrong — it’s a moral inversion. Dr. Hunter breaks it down: the difference between hush money and reparations, what the Central Park Five actually had to wait for, and why enslaved people didn’t need pardons because they never committed a crime.

He also gives the class a new frame: reparative justice. What it is, why it covers everything from police reform to educational equity, and why — when it comes to reparations — our work has already been done.

Equity Week 2026 is June 10–13 in Washington, D.C. Register at nbjc.org/equity-week.

EQUITY WEEK 2026June 10–13, 2026 | Washington, D.C.
Register: nbjc.org/equity-week
Equity Ball tickets: NBJC Eventbrite page (or pay at the door)
OUT on the Hill Advocacy Day — meet directly with lawmakers and their staff
Equity Ball at the Historic Howard Theatre

NBJC RESOURCESnbjc.org
nbjc.org/nbjc-policy-agenda

LEGISLATION REFERENCEDH.R. 40 — Federal Reparations Commission Bill (Rep. Ayanna Pressley)
The Third Reconstruction Bill — Rep. Barbara Lee (Poor People’s Campaign)
G.I. Restoration Bill — Rep. Seth Moulton, with Rep. Clyburn
Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Act — Rep. Jamie Raskin

IN THE NEWStheGrio: Trump’s $1.7B Fund for J6 Participants — May 20, 2026
Central Park Five / Exonerated Five — context for the fund comparison

BOOKS & ADDITIONAL RESOURCESRadical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation — Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter
Substack: open.substack.com/drdavidjjohns

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