Teach for America welcomes influential author of ‘Caste’ to Twin Cities

Isabel Wilkerson to reflect on educational inequities

As an elementary teacher at a charter school in North Minneapolis, Averi Turner has big dreams for her students—and herself.

“Education will be my career. I’m in a principal certification program and will go on to get a doctorate starting in the fall. I want to write curriculum and be a school superintendent,” said Turner, 26. “I’m not in this work for myself. I’m in it to see my scholars, their families, and my community flourish.”

Turner left Minneapolis to attend Morgan State, an HBCU in Maryland, and she thought she might stay on the east coast to work for the government. Instead, she connected with Teach for America Twin Cities (TFA), and in 2019, returned to her hometown to begin a two-year teaching commitment.

“The communities we go into are Black and Brown,” she said. “Research shows these children learn best from educators who look like them. TFA put me in a position where I could show my leadership.”

Teach for America recruits and trains a national corps of equity-minded educators like Turner. They teach for two years in underserved, low-income schools and commit to building an anti-racist and student-centered education system.

Turner is aware of the stubborn achievement gap in Minnesota, where students of color consistently show lower test scores and graduation rates than their White counterparts.

“We need to push for more deep conversations about this,” said Turner. “We need individuals who have the lived experience to push the agenda. We can’t continue to talk around the problem—we want solutions.”

That’s why Turner is eager to hear writer Isabel Wilkerson speak when Wilkerson visits the Twin Cities later this month. Pulitzer Prize-winner Wilkerson is the author of “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” (Random House).

The groundbreaking best-seller makes the case that American racial tensions can be explained “through the lens of caste,” a deeply rooted but often hidden hierarchy of race and class that places White people at the top and Black people at the bottom.

On the evening of April 28, Wilkerson will take the stage at Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota. Wilkerson’s keynote lecture, entitled “Exposing America’s Invisible Scaffolding,” will be presented by Teach for America Twin Cities and the Minneapolis Foundation.

Teaching for America Twin Cities’ mission

Equity and closing Minnesota’s historic achievement gap is the top priority of Teach for America Twin Cities. The organization has set an ambitious goal of doubling the number of students reaching key educational milestones in the communities it serves by the year 2030.

“The idea of caste is especially relevant in Minnesota. We’re known as one of the best places to live—if you’re White. Almost the exact opposite is true if you’re Black,” said Charlie Braman, managing director of Teach for America Twin Cities.

“To eliminate oppression and disparities, we need a cross-sector coalition to address systems from housing to healthcare to education. We are an anti-racist and student-centered organization that advocates for doing right by all our kids,” he said.

Since arriving in Minnesota in 2009, Teach for America Twin Cities has built a network of almost 1000 alumni; about half work in education, as teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and other leaders.

Now 27, Marcus Berg is part of that alumni group. He’s another Minneapolis native who left home for college—in his case, to attend Dartmouth, an Ivy League college in New Hampshire.

Because of a disruptive early childhood related to his mother’s addiction, Berg was put in a special ed program when he started elementary school. It was a fourth-grade teacher at his public school who, according to Berg, “Saw me. Got to know me. Pushed me and believed in me,” and thereby changed his schooling—and his future.

In part, it was that powerful connection that prompted Berg to become part of Teach for America when he graduated from college in 2019. His two-year TFA teaching commitment was at Hiawatha Academies, a network of high-performing college-preparatory schools focused on closing the opportunity gap in Minneapolis.

“TFA was a pivotal force in shaping my life. It gave me tools and helped me have confidence in my teacher self,” Berg said. “As a teacher, I view myself as a facilitator and a mentor. I’m going on an educational journey with my students.”

Berg has continued to work in the classroom, now as a high school history teacher. That role puts him in a professional group that’s sadly small: according to the organization Black Men Teach Twin Cities, fewer than 1 percent of Minnesota’s 65,000 teachers are Black men.

“I think about what way I can support students who look like me, help them learn and grow,” he said. “There can be systemic change when you have a community of people passionate about education.”

Berg recently completed his master’s degree in education and plans a career devoted to improving educational equity. He will be in the audience listening to Wilkerson’s vision for change. 

“To see her speak will be an honor, a growth opportunity,” Berg said. “It will be a master class to be in her presence.”

Wilkerson’s Minneapolis lecture will be the fourth DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) speaker event that Teach for America Twin Cities and the Minneapolis Foundation have presented.

Each of these signature events ha​ve brought best-selling authors and influential thinkers on race to a local audience. Previous distinguished lecturers have included Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility,” Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be An Antiracist,” and Heather McGhee, author of “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.”

“Exposing America’s Invisible Scaffolding” features NY Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, to be emceed by MPR’s Angela Davis.  The live lecture is scheduled at Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities on Friday, April 28th at 7 pm.  Tickets start at $10. For information and tickets: https://www.northrop.umn.edu/events/an-evening-with-isabel-wilkerson-2023