School Colors

It's been called "the most polarizing parenting essay ever." On September 20, 2026, The New York Times Magazine published a story by Nikole Hannah-Jones with the eye-popping headline, "In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?" This was a surprise sequel to her blockbuster essay from 2016, "Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City." Nikole and her husband Faraji played an important role in School Colors Season 1, and her ideas deeply shaped our reporting. So after four years of radio silence, we convened to discuss her latest dispatch, and the public's response to it.Let us know what you think! Send us an email at [email protected] episode was hosted by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman and produced by Max Freedman. Music from avery r. young and de deacon board. Special thanks to Morgan McGuire.Further reading:Hannah-Jones, Nikole. “Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City.” New York Times Magazine, June 12, 2016.Hannah-Jones, Nikole. “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” New York Times Magazine, September 20, 2026.“An Argument.” This American Life, episode 898, featuring Chana Joffe-Walt and Nikole Hannah-Jones. Aired September 25, 2026.Hannah-Jones, Nikole. “Nikole Hannah-Jones Worries You’re Missing the Point.” Interview by Nia Prater. Intelligencer, New York, October 2, 2026.Cheney-Rice, Zak. “No One Can Fix School Segregation Alone.” Intelligencer, New York, September 23, 2026.Devenny, Jenny. “What Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Essay Means for White Families.” Integrated Schools, September 23, 2026.Kahloon, Idrees. “Nikole Hannah-Jones Faced Too Much Apathy to Win.” The Atlantic, September 24, 2026.Kamenetz, Anya. “The Most Polarizing Parenting Essay Ever?” Intelligencer, New York, October 2, 2026.Pondiscio, Robert. “The Lessons We’re Not Learning from Nikole Hannah-Jones.” The Next 30 Years (Substack), September 29, 2026.Young, Damon. “Every Choice a Parent Makes Is Ideological.” Ennui by Damon Young (Substack), September 21, 2026.

Here’s a preview of another podcast, Some of My Best Friends Are, from Pushkin Industries. Harvard professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad and journalist Ben Austen are friends, one Black and one white, who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago. On Some of My Best Friends Are, Khalil and Ben, along with their guests, have critical conversations that are at once personal, political, and playful, about the absurdities and intricacies of race in America.In this preview, Khalil and Ben talk with author Saladin Ambar about his new book, Stars and Shadows: The Politics of Interracial Friendship from Jefferson to Obama. Through famous bonds ranging from Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe, to Barack Obama and Joe Biden, they explore the dynamics, benefits, and difficulties of cultivating interracial friendships. Hear more from Some of My Best Friends Are at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/sbfs2?sid=colors.

This is the second of two bonus episodes recorded live at the Queens Public Library on December 15, 2022. After interviewing New York City Schools Chancellor David C. Banks, Mark and Max reflected on the Chancellor’s remarks and took questions about the making of School Colors, why they chose District 28, and what they learned.This event was co-produced with The CITY and Chalkbeat New York, and moderated by Chalkbeat’s Reema Amin.

This is the first of two bonus episodes recorded live at the Queens Public Library on December 15, 2022. Mark and Max interviewed New York City Schools Chancellor David C. Banks. Banks was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams and is just finishing his first year on the job.The previous leadership of the NYC DOE had supported diversity planning processes in five school districts across the city, including District 28, the subject of School Colors Season 2. Once Covid-19 hit New York, these diversity plans fizzled out, but they were never officially cancelled. So we started by asking Chancellor Banks if he thought diversity planning would ever come back — and if not, why not?This event was co-produced with The CITY and Chalkbeat New York, and moderated by Chalkbeat’s Reema Amin.

Over the course of this season, we've explored a rich history and complicated present — but what about the future?In this episode, we catch up with parents who became activated on both sides of the debate over the diversity plan. Since the diversity plan never came to fruition, what’s to be done about the inequalities that persist in District 28?Click here for a full episode transcript.Join us at the Queens Public Library on December 15!Are you using School Colors in your own teaching or organizing? Fill out this audience survey.School Colors is created, reported, and written by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman. Produced by Max Freedman, with Carly Rubin and Ilana Levinson. Edited by Soraya Shockley. Additional reporting by Carly Rubin and Abe Levine.Project management by Soraya Shockley and Lyndsey McKenna. Fact-checking by Carly Rubin. Engineering by James Willetts. Additional research by Anna Kushner. Original music by avery r. young and de deacon board, with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.