The Classroom, Inc. team stands with the millions of Americans seeking justice and humanity for Black lives lost including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and countless others. We condemn systemic racism.

Black lives matter and we will continue to use our voice, actions, and platform to fight for change. 

Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop said, “All children need a mirror to see themselves, a window to see the world beyond their own, and a sliding glass door to encourage them out into that world.”

We want Black youth to see powerful images of themselves in their learning. We are committed to creating more “windows, mirrors, and doors” that elevate and empower Black lives through the characters, scenarios, and conversations they encounter in Read to Lead. 

We will work with our community of educators, families, and supporters, to create and share tools that expose all youth to diverse ideas, diverse people, and tough decisions by: 

• Providing Black students with windows to careers through our games: Only 13% of children’s literature includes multicultural content. We will continue to work tirelessly to design new learning games that elevate Black lives and put them in positions of power. 

• Supporting educators with the tools for dialogue and processing: We will develop educator resources that help all students navigate deep conversations, tackle tough issues, and broaden their understanding of “other”. These conversations are essential to combat racism, and bias.

• Designing our games to challenge our students to see themselves as leaders and changemakers: We will give students agency to make difficult and complex decisions as the boss, helping them to transform into the leaders of the future. Empowering and preparing youth now will help them create a more just world that is free of oppression against Black lives. 

In addition, we commit to critically examining ourselves— identifying new voices and perspectives and creating opportunities for dialogue with our staff, Board, and supporters. Through these efforts, we will hold ourselves and our community accountable for elevating Black lives and dismantling systemic racism. 

Yours in grief and hope, 

The Classroom, Inc. Team