As his district’s director of equity and strategic engagement, Shomari Jones often hears the stories of the racism Black students and their families experience in schools. As a Black man representing a culturally white district, he is continually reminded of how the suffering of the past has persisted into the present. Jones and Paul Sutton describe the frustrations and pain education leaders of color often face when engaged in equity work, and they discuss some of the barriers that prevent districts from moving swiftly to address racism and inequity in their schools.
