This was a hard weekend for many educators. The verdict of the Georgia Zimmerman case triggered an emotional response from teacher, parents, students, educational leaders and concerned citizens. People all around the country expressed deep sentiments of frustration at the criminal justice system and the policies that some find inherently unjust. Trayvon Martin has become a symbol of the institutional discriminatory practices many feel are built into the systems our students encounter. This is not new however. In this episode we will look in how race, education and policy intersected historically. We will examine the contributions of intellectuals such as James Baldwin, bell hooks and Cornel West to the quest for solutions to the crisis in educating students of color. This will be the first episode in a series focusing on race and educational policy