SENIOR NEUBAUER FELLOW SHARIF EL-MEKKI STANDS FIRM: FOR BLACK LIVES TO MATTER, WE MUST ENSURE THAT BLACK MINDS MATTER

Senior Neubauer Fellow, Sharif El-Mekki (2015 Cohort) is the Black Male Educators for Social Justice Founder, Leader of the Center for Black Educator Development, a member of the 8 Black Hands podcast, and blogger for Philly’s 7th Ward.  Sharif is also the former principal of Mastery Charter School–Shoemaker Campus, a neighborhood turnaround charter school in West Philadelphia serving almost 800 students in grades 7-12. Read Sharif’s powerful essay on The74Million.org, on how the dual pandemics of long term racial injustice and COVID-19 are negatively and exponentially impacting Black students and what we can all do about it.  He writes, “For Black lives to matter, the national consciousness must also embrace the notion that Black minds matter. More than simply embracing the idea, we must do the work — meaningfully and substantially.”