Elizabeth Todd-Breland

Interview: Elizabeth Todd-Breland on Writing Karen Lewis’ (Auto-)Biography, <em>I Didn’t Come Here to Lie</em> | Third Coast Review “We blew past that,” she recalls. “The stories poured out of her, and each one was more profound than the previous. She was an amazing storyteller. Jill and I were like, ‘Oh, this book is going to wri...

I interviewed @etoddbreland.bsky.social about her new bio of CTU President/education activist Karen Lewis. Lewis planned to write the book, but a stroke and cancer stopped her. Fortunately, the two conducted many interviews before Lewis' death.

thirdcoastreview.com/lit/2026/03/...

This is a promotional flyer for an event. Light green text of the event title is overlaid on a black and white graphic of an "El" train and track. The event details are below in black text. A light green box has black text with the event descriptions. Logos for the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, Haymarket Books, and Chicago Teachers Union are at the bottom.

We're hosting the venerable Dr. David Stovall on April 1 for a community discussion about his latest book, where he'll be joined by another one of our favorite collaborators, Dr. Elizabeth Todd-Breland @etoddbreland.bsky.social.

Register for free here: addcal.co/e/IRRPPStova...

Beige flyer with Blue and red text and an image of yellow and orange flames over a word cloud with “diversity” “equity” “inclusion”: Title: Mission Betrayal: Community Responses to Higher Education’s Abandonment of Democracy, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Friday 3/13, 2:30-4pm, Illinois Room, Student Center East, 750 S Halsted, speakers will include: National legal experts, community stakeholders, uic faculty, students, and alums

TOMORROW Friday 3/13 @ 2:30pm, UIC & University of Illinois faculty, staff, students, alums & concerned community members, please come out for an important public forum about higher education’s abandonment of democracy & DEI nationally & at our university & how folks are fighting back!

Read and Black title: I Didn't Come Here to Lie: Book Discussion & Celebration, Thursday March 12th at 4pm PT, 6pm CT, 7pm ET. Cierra Kaler-Jones, Jesse Hagopian, and Elizabeth Todd-Breland. rethinking schools. Gold and white background with headshots of the speakers and the cover image of the book, which includes a picture of Karen Lewis wearing a red shirt and sunglasses with her hands lifted

This Thursday, March 12th, join me for a virtual conversation with @rethinkingschools.bsky.social @jessehagopian.bsky.social & Cierra Kaler-Jones! Zoom link when you register here: www.classy.org/event/%22i-d...

“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”

James Baldwin

“Fascism, it’s always about using nationalism, and the nation, as a bludgeon to generate support for death policies, on behalf of death governments. For violence and repression and exploitation, internationalism is the antidote, always.” —Robin D. G. Kelley

We Must Defend Black History — It Fuels Freedom Dreams of Students Under Attack Historian Elizabeth Todd-Breland discusses how schools have become a key site of struggle amid rising fascism in the US.

New interview on the last day of Black History Month! Thanks to @truthout.org & George Yancy for reaching out! @haymarketbooks.org

truthout.org/articles/we-...

Robin D. G. Kelley: It’s Not Enough to Abolish ICE — We Have to Abolish the Police “What’s happening now has happened before,” Kelley said, underscoring the anti-Blackness foundational to US fascism.

Premature death at the hands of armed agents of the state is merely a hazard of being Black in America. It’s not enough to “abolish ICE”; we have to abolish the police force and replace it with a radically different form of public safety.

Flyer for Author's talk and panel with Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Rep. Michael Crawford, Sekordri Ojo, And Raquel Flores-Clemons, 12pm @ Woodson Library 9525 S Halsted, image of book cover, head shots of participants, blue and white themes

full flyer with information about the event. Including book cover image, Todd-Breland headshot, city of Chicago logo see details at https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/69812b5a834cbb3dea2b253c

THIS Saturday 2/21 @12pm, Chicago Public Library, Woodson Branch: Book talk & panel w/ Karen Lewis's former students-Rep. Michael Crawford, Sekordri Ojo, Raquel Flores-Clemons- lifting Black Educators' power. Celebrate Black History Month with us!
chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/69812...

Rev. Jesse Jackson, a symbol of Black politics and Black America, dies at 84 Jackson may have been the most recognizable civil rights icon the past half century, but his journey always led him right back to the South Side of Chicago.

www.wbez.org/obituary/202...

What’s the first Chicago school named in honor of a Black person? Many of Chicago’s oldest schools are named after white men. The first one named after a Black person goes back to the 1930s.

This was fun! Thank you @arionne.bsky.social @wbez.org & Happy Black History Month!❤️🖤💚 www.wbez.org/curious-city...

Yesssss!

screen shot of film shown in the exhibit "Nuestra Comunidad Lincoln Park" with overlays of old maps, images of people marching at a protest, a woman holding a child, members of the young lords, a woman sitting

two black and white photographs in frames. The top one: Image of a press conference with 7 people (4 sitting at a table with. microphones) from the Black Panther Party, Young Lords, and Young Patriots--incl. Fred Hampton and ChCha Jimenez Bottom photo: image of a protest march on the street with someone holding a sign that says: Today, the Panthers, Tomorrow, You. Stop Repression now

colorful mural with flags and people, including young lords facing off against police with 1966 patches (year of the "Division St Riot")

"Renewal Programs on Chicago's North Side" a City of Chicago map of Lincoln Park with plans for urban renewal

Visited Jacqueline Lazú's powerful exhibit--Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón:Young Lords in Chicago--before it closed yesterday(on Benito Bowl Sunday)! On Puerto Rican organizing & displacement in Chicago & struggles for health care, housing & self-determination--lots to be inspired by & learn from!

Reporting is not a crime!

Flyer (in shades of red, brown, and pink) for I Didn't Come Here to Lie Book Talk with Elizabeth Todd-Breland in collaboration with the Working Women's History Project, Saturday January 31st at 2pm at Call & Response Books, 1390 E Hyde Park Blvd, RSVP at www.callandresponsechi.com/pages/events. Includes headshot of Elizabeth Todd-Breland and over image of the book with picture of Karen Lewis in a red CTU shirt with her hands raised

THIS Saturday Jan. 31st @ 2pm join me & the Working Women’s History Project to discuss Karen Lewis's memoir at my favorite Black woman-owned bookstore in Hyde Park—Call & Response Books! Event is FREE, but you can reserve a book ahead of time here: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-...

It’s easy to forget since he’s still a high public official but Homan straight up took $50,000 in cash from undercover agents on camera and then nothing happened

The Martin Luther King Jr. We Don’t Know His work with gang members in Chicago shows how much he valued the part played by young people in the Black freedom struggle.

Grateful to @hammerandhope.bsky.social for recognizing the importance of Dr. King's work with Chicago gangs. Blackstone Rangers leader Jeff Fort stressed what a good listener King was —and how he saw their potential for community leadership & organization. hammerandhope.org/article/mart...

NO FEDERAL SCHOOL VOUCHERS FOR ILLINOIS is front page news!

Vouchers are bad education policy—they hurt equity and fund discrimination without improving academic outcomes.

Vouchers lack the accountability and oversight provided by public school systems.

#publicfundspublicschools

Federal troop deployments to US cities cost taxpayers $496M and counting The Trump administration's deployment of federal troops to six U.S. cities has cost taxpayers about $496 million through December.

Tell everyone you know

HALF A BILLION $

apnews.com/article/trum...

What America Lost When It Lost Mother Fletcher With nearly all of the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre now dead, the country must find other ways to rectify its wrongs.

The survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre “became, late in life, the subject of national recognition, because that’s what America is good at—celebrating survivors of the harm the country allowed, not compensating for the misfortune it has caused.”

So appreciate our mayor’s @mayorofchicago.bsky.social steadfastness moral clarity in this moment!

Almost every reason people have for defunding or abolishing ICE is also a reason to defund or abolish the police, yet many people who are rightly calling for action against ICE would never come close to doing to the same for police. But this fight goes beyond just ICE. ICE represents a larger issue.

Video from this morning shows ICE agents deploying tear gas outside a Minneapolis preschool as parents shout, “This is a preschool! There’s kids here!”

I think a lot of us get hope wrong. Hope, I do not believe, is an emotion. In fact, hope makes space for lots of emotions to exist alongside it. You can DO hope scared, angry, sad etc...

Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.

I've been studying the history of US, and indeed, global policing my whole career and I can't make it more clear to law makers that this isn't a bastardization of policing, it is its purest form and logical conclusion. The impunity, militarization, deference, legitimacy, racial targeting, etc.

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

Minneapolis you are an inspiration

Minneapolis’s 2020 Uprising Laid an Abolitionist Groundwork for ICE Resistance The George Floyd uprising laid foundations for the politicized networks of care that are organizing against ICE now.

Minneapolis's anti-ICE organizing grew, in part, from seeds planted in the 2020 uprising. And as Minneapolis organizers @jonathanstegall.bsky.social & @annekosseffjones.bsky.social write, "By protecting our neighbors from ICE, we are practicing abolition."

truthout.org/articles/min...

So all colleges and universities will bring back the DEI stuff they cut when obeying in advance right...............................................................................................................................................right?

And makes Higher Ed’s preemptive compliance all the more egregious