Teach the Babies w/ Dr. David J. Johns

In March of 1972, ten thousand Black folks went to Gary, Indiana, and came out with an agenda. Fifty-four years later, we wrote it down again.

Dr. David J. Johns takes the class inside the State of the People Black Papers, the community-driven policy briefs built by more than a hundred Black experts across ten states, and the two companion documents being built on top of them: a Day One list of five asks for the next Congress and the fuller people's platform underneath it.

Then he takes us to Tulsa, to the Terence Crutcher Foundation's tenth anniversary gala, where a decade of work built out of grief is doing in practice what the Papers describe on the page. Honoring Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, celebrating honoree Dreisen Heath, and asking what legacy actually requires of the rest of us.

Preorders open October 9th. Via StateofthePPL.com and routledge.com

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We never left. But this is the first new class since June.

Dr. David J. Johns opens the fall with a correction he's been carrying in public. For years he told rooms full of people that PBS should bring back Schoolhouse Rock. He was wrong twice—and the second mistake turns out to be the whole episode.

In 1979, ABC shelved a three-minute cartoon explaining checks and balances because network executives feared the government being checked would come after their broadcast license. Nearly fifty years later, a third of American eighth graders score below basic in civics, which means they likely can't describe the structure of their own government. Nobody has to shelve anything now.
This solo episode walks the three rings we should have all been taught, then shows what happens in the gap between how government is supposed to work and how it's being worked.

Congratulations to Congressman Everton Blair, sworn in September first as the first openly LGBTQ+ person Georgia has sent to Congress—a seat decided by fewer than fifteen hundred votes, won by a man who came up through a school board. Appreciation for Senator Shevrin Jones and Representative Michele Rayner, who both lost on August eighteenth after a smear about a candidate's health status and dark money moving through a committee formed weeks before the vote. And a hard look at Inglewood Unified, where an elected school board has kept its seats and lost its votes for fourteen years.

Plus: why Black joy is not the intermission, what Afrofuturist dreaming has to do with organizing, and why the real AI is Ancestral Intelligence.

We're heading into the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 55th Annual Legislative Conference. Come find us at NBJC's OUT on the Hill.

Let's All Get Free.

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ICYMI: A Back-to-School Special Rerun

Stephanie Allen does God’s work.  A career educator for more than two decades, Ms. Allen currently teaches high school in Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, North Carolina, the third largest school district in North Carolina. She was recognized as a Teacher of the Year in 2019 and 2024–a recognition she’s earned. This episode features the front-line experiences of a classroom teacher, centers stories about under-supported students, and describes necessary steps to dismantle the social hierarchy that relegates Black students to the lowest rungs of every quality of life indicator ladder.

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ICYMI!

Andrea Foggy-Paxton brings a unique perspective to leading change across sectors, drawing from leadership roles in start-up organizations, established organizations, and philanthropic organizations supporting systems transformation.  This episode answers the questions: What is civics, and why should it be taught to all students? Andrea shares lessons from her experience as an industry titan and appointed school board member.  She also talks about philanthropy and corporations' responsibility for ensuring educational equity.

edloc.org
@afoggypaxton

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Summer Rewind Episode

In this deeply personal and politically urgent conversation, Dr. David Johns welcomes his White House family—Deesha Dyer, former Social Secretary to President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama—for a raw discussion about what we lose when power demolishes history, and what endures when community builds with intention.

Deesha takes us inside the moment she saw excavators tearing down the East Wing of the White House in October 2025—the space where she orchestrated state dinners, opened doors for people who never thought they'd walk through them, and made the People's House truly belong to the people.

This conversation moves from the rubble of demolished institutions to the unshakeable foundation of community organizing. Deesha shares lessons learned from Michelle Obama about grace under pressure, why she wrote Undiplomatic for Black girls who "risk it all," and what defending democracy actually looks like in practice: investing in local organizations, letting leaders lead in their expertise, documenting our work, and showing up for each other with intention.

Deesha's story is a masterclass in refusing to let imposter syndrome—or anyone else—define your worth. As she reminds us: buildings can be demolished in 72 hours, but they can't demolish the memories, the legacy, or the collective power we build together.

This is required listening for anyone who believes that mutual aid isn't charity—it's how we survive, build, and love each other into liberation.

Website: DeeshaDyer.com
Instagram: @deedyer267
Email: deesha@deeshadyer.com (She answers every email!)
Book: Undiplomatic: How My Attitude Created the Best Kind of Trouble
(Available at libraries and independent bookstores)

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