Expelling Public Schools: How Antiracist Politics Enable School Privatization in Newark

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Exploring the role of identitarian politics in the privatization of Newarks public school system

In Expelling Public Schools, John Arena explores the more than two-decade struggle to privatize public schools in Newark, New Jerseya conflict that is raging in cities across the countryfrom the vantage point of elites advancing the pro-privatization agenda and their grassroots challengers.

Analyzing the unsuccessful effort of Cory BookerNewarks leading pro-privatization activist and mayorto generate popular support for the agenda, and Bookers rival and ultimate successor Ras Barakas eventual galvanization of the charter movement, Arena argues that Barakas black radical politics cloaked a revanchist agenda of privatization.

Expelling Public Schools reveals the political rise of Booker and Baraka, their one-time rivalry and subsequent alliance, and what this particular case study illuminates about contemporary postcivil rights Black politics. Ultimately, Expelling Public Schools is a critique of Black urban regime politics and the way in which antiracist messaging obscures real class divisions, interests, and ideological diversity.

Reviews

"Expelling Public Schools offers a fascinating look into the racial politics of corporate school reform in Newark Public Schools. John Arena takes a long viewjust over two decadesand examines the reform movements and countermovements in the district from the top down and the bottom up. In assessing corporate school reform efforts under mayors Cory Booker and Ras Baraka, this deeply researched book illuminates the mechanisms that maintain educational inequality."Rand Quinn, author of Class Action: Desegregation and Diversity in San Francisco Schools

"It is rare to encounter a work that treats actually existing Black life, an approach best articulated by Cedric Johnson, to critically address contemporary Black urban regimes. Thoughtful, careful, and incisive, Expelling Public Schools does just that. In this moment when antiracism (and surface critiques of antiracism) is rife, John Arenas work provides a wonderful tonic."Lester Spence, author of Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics

"Arenas book asks why social movements collapse, and how liberal conceptions of racial politics, employed by a multiracial elite, have so often thwarted radical calls for change. Arena does an excellent job showing how the professional classs tactics kneecap the ability of nascent movements to define themselves and their goals."The Nation

"Expelling Public Schools offers essential insights into much broader struggles to create a more just society."Jacobin

Author Bio

John Arena is associate professor of sociology at CUNYs College of Staten Island and author of Driven from New Orleans: How Nonprofits Betray Public Housing and Promote Privatization (Minnesota, 2012).