Jose Vilson: Empowering Educators of Color for the Future of Education 
“We are here. We were built for this. Let our struggle in the name of our kids and our predecessors fortify the joy entrenched in our bones. Let the love we have for this energy coat the consistent work and words we do.”
José Luis Vilson is a veteran math educator and doctoral student at Teachers’ College, Columbia University, focusing on sociology and education. He is the author of This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and the Future of Education and he writes extensively on race and educational equity.
He is the co-founder and executive director of Educolor, an organization by, for, and with people of color that encourages compassionate, literate, thoughtful, active citizens. The group aims to address systemic inequities, dismantle oppressive structures of school and amplify the voices of people of color.
As Secretary of Education, we’d see Vilson mobilize his coalition of educators of color to create forward-thinking policies for ethnic studies and sustained culturally responsive pedagogy Amidst rumors of his potential appointment, he even laid out some of his plans, including the Ending PUSHOUT Act, abolishing school vouchers, and analysis of discriminatory practices in hiring and in classrooms.
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