Journal of a Black Teacher

By Don Allen, Journal Of A Black Teacher (2026) Let me say it plainly: people aren’t reading anymore. They’re reacting. They’re scrolling. They’re believing whatever shows up between a swipe and a double-tap. And the feed, cold, calculated, algorithmically precise, is winning. I was going to say, "Knowledge is power." But in the past decade or so, we’ve learned to rely more on visibility to convey power. The perceived authenticity of information is sometimes as important as its actual veracity, and indeed, its mere publication. Ultimately, if something is seen, it becomes more credible than if it hasn’t been revealed at all. And in today’s information era, an imaginative graphic or creative clip is all you need to give that information the visibility it deserves to be seen and believed. As a Black American man, I see this trend having particularly pernicious effects in the Black Community. It’s not that Black People are unintelligent or uninterested in reading. The problem is...

At the end of the day, a face-to-face conversation over a cup of coffee or dinner is better than posting on social media; let us be very clear, it’s entertainment - but for some, it’s a lifestyle, unfortunately. By Don Allen, Journal of A Black Teacher (Editorial Opinion)  Comedian Katt Willams (in one of his stand-up acts) said, “I’ve never seen so many influencers on social media who don’t influence anything.” Undeniably, social media has the ability to keep people in contact with their past. In a way, it works digitally just like the scrapbook—saving moments of our lives and letting us relive them at will. Beyond personal memory, social platforms become vehicles for historical narratives. Any given day could bring out threads about the civil rights movement, posts marking a special historic event, or even simply a viral tweet citing one of the major leaders, for example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Encounters of this sort could sometimes be educational and informative in the sens...