Kingmakers of Oakland

• In Event: Educational Resistance: Fugitive Pedagogies and Community-Based Educators as Freedom Fighters

Abstract

Born out of a local school district initiative, Kingmakers of Oakland (KOO) focuses on creating a network to bring educators together to experience African American educational achievement. The organization grounds their approach in Targeted Universalism, which focuses on marginalized groups as a way to promote the needs of the entire community (illustrated in Powell, 2020) and “unapologetically focuses on Black boys” (Kingmakers of Oakland, 2020). KOO’s predecessor organization aimed to increase student achievement of this subgroup partially as a response to the stark racial disparity in intra-district data.

Through trials, challenges, strategic listening campaigns, and alliance-forging, KOO’s predecessor ultimately facilitated positive community change: the rates of suspension and graduation for African American male students decreased by 50 percent and increased by 60 percent, respectively (Nasir et al., 2019; Watson, 2018). The organization centered community mentor-educators who were overwhelmingly African American men, an Afro-centric curriculum called Khepera, the promotion of youth literacy, and a vocal resistance to the status quo; it eventually evolved into KOO, which now focuses on helping other school communities in creating the same impact today.

Author

• Christopher Chatmon, Kingmakers of Oakland