I was glad to spend my weekend among public education advocates, educators, researchers, policy makers, and more at the Public School Forum of North Carolina “Color of Education” conference learning about how we can achieve racial equity in education across our state through connections and engagement.

The highlight was the keynote speech by Ta-Nehisi Coates, award winning author of Between the World and Me and his new book The Water Dancer . Mr. Coates is a internationally known speaker on race in America, and I was honored to hear him speak. These conversations are so important to moving our state forward on racial equity in our schools and in the teaching profession.