Elizabeth Todd-Breland
@etoddbreland.bsky.social
Educator, Historian (US, Urban, Black Politics, Education, Policy, Chicago), Former CPS Board VP; Books: I Didn't Come Here to Lie (Haymarket, 2025); A Political Education (UNC Press, 2018); personal account; she/her
Pinned
I am forever honored that Karen Lewis entrusted me to co-author her memoir--I Didn’t Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education @haymarketbooks.org Karen was a powerful labor leader, formidable fighter & staunch defender of students, teachers & public education 1/ www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2444-i...
Yesssss!
A plan to significantly boost funding for public education in Illinois has been introduced to both houses of the state Legislature as some lawmakers aim to eventually tax millionaires and digital advertisement to help bridge billions needed to finance schools.
Illinois lawmakers announce plan aimed at closing school funding gap
chicago.suntimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Yesssss!
Visited Jacqueline Lazú's powerful exhibit--Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón:Young Lords in Chicago--before it closed yesterday(on Benito Bowl Sunday)! On Puerto Rican organizing & displacement in Chicago & struggles for health care, housing & self-determination--lots to be inspired by & learn from!
February 9, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Visited Jacqueline Lazú's powerful exhibit--Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón:Young Lords in Chicago--before it closed yesterday(on Benito Bowl Sunday)! On Puerto Rican organizing & displacement in Chicago & struggles for health care, housing & self-determination--lots to be inspired by & learn from!
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Reporting is not a crime!
UPDATE — The Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is calling for the immediate release of Lemon and Fort, and for all charges against them to be withdrawn.
thetriibe.com/2026/01/jour...
thetriibe.com/2026/01/jour...
NABJ Chicago calls for the immediate release of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort arrested after filming Minnesota church protest • The TRiiBE
Journalism organizations condemn the arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort as vindictive attacks on press freedom.
thetriibe.com
January 30, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reporting is not a crime!
THIS Saturday Jan. 31st @ 2pm join me & the Working Women’s History Project to discuss Karen Lewis's memoir at my favorite Black woman-owned bookstore in Hyde Park—Call & Response Books! Event is FREE, but you can reserve a book ahead of time here: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-...
January 29, 2026 at 4:59 PM
THIS Saturday Jan. 31st @ 2pm join me & the Working Women’s History Project to discuss Karen Lewis's memoir at my favorite Black woman-owned bookstore in Hyde Park—Call & Response Books! Event is FREE, but you can reserve a book ahead of time here: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-...
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
It’s easy to forget since he’s still a high public official but Homan straight up took $50,000 in cash from undercover agents on camera and then nothing happened
January 29, 2026 at 2:53 PM
It’s easy to forget since he’s still a high public official but Homan straight up took $50,000 in cash from undercover agents on camera and then nothing happened
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Grateful to @hammerandhope.bsky.social for recognizing the importance of Dr. King's work with Chicago gangs. Blackstone Rangers leader Jeff Fort stressed what a good listener King was —and how he saw their potential for community leadership & organization. hammerandhope.org/article/mart...
The Martin Luther King Jr. We Don’t Know
His work with gang members in Chicago shows how much he valued the part played by young people in the Black freedom struggle.
hammerandhope.org
January 28, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Grateful to @hammerandhope.bsky.social for recognizing the importance of Dr. King's work with Chicago gangs. Blackstone Rangers leader Jeff Fort stressed what a good listener King was —and how he saw their potential for community leadership & organization. hammerandhope.org/article/mart...
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
NO FEDERAL SCHOOL VOUCHERS FOR ILLINOIS is front page news!
Vouchers are bad education policy—they hurt equity and fund discrimination without improving academic outcomes.
Vouchers lack the accountability and oversight provided by public school systems.
#publicfundspublicschools
Vouchers are bad education policy—they hurt equity and fund discrimination without improving academic outcomes.
Vouchers lack the accountability and oversight provided by public school systems.
#publicfundspublicschools
The front page of today's Chicago Tribune. Read the e-edition here: trib.al/UewIRg2
January 28, 2026 at 3:55 PM
NO FEDERAL SCHOOL VOUCHERS FOR ILLINOIS is front page news!
Vouchers are bad education policy—they hurt equity and fund discrimination without improving academic outcomes.
Vouchers lack the accountability and oversight provided by public school systems.
#publicfundspublicschools
Vouchers are bad education policy—they hurt equity and fund discrimination without improving academic outcomes.
Vouchers lack the accountability and oversight provided by public school systems.
#publicfundspublicschools
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
The survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre “became, late in life, the subject of national recognition, because that’s what America is good at—celebrating survivors of the harm the country allowed, not compensating for the misfortune it has caused.”
What America Lost When It Lost Mother Fletcher
With nearly all of the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre now dead, the country must find other ways to rectify its wrongs.
www.theatlantic.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:02 AM
The survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre “became, late in life, the subject of national recognition, because that’s what America is good at—celebrating survivors of the harm the country allowed, not compensating for the misfortune it has caused.”
So appreciate our mayor’s @mayorofchicago.bsky.social steadfastness moral clarity in this moment!
Yes, I'm going to continue to encourage Chicagoans to stand up to the cruel authoritarianism that's spreading from the White House.
January 28, 2026 at 4:54 PM
So appreciate our mayor’s @mayorofchicago.bsky.social steadfastness moral clarity in this moment!
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Almost every reason people have for defunding or abolishing ICE is also a reason to defund or abolish the police, yet many people who are rightly calling for action against ICE would never come close to doing to the same for police. But this fight goes beyond just ICE. ICE represents a larger issue.
January 27, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Almost every reason people have for defunding or abolishing ICE is also a reason to defund or abolish the police, yet many people who are rightly calling for action against ICE would never come close to doing to the same for police. But this fight goes beyond just ICE. ICE represents a larger issue.
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Video from this morning shows ICE agents deploying tear gas outside a Minneapolis preschool as parents shout, “This is a preschool! There’s kids here!”
January 27, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Video from this morning shows ICE agents deploying tear gas outside a Minneapolis preschool as parents shout, “This is a preschool! There’s kids here!”
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
I think a lot of us get hope wrong. Hope, I do not believe, is an emotion. In fact, hope makes space for lots of emotions to exist alongside it. You can DO hope scared, angry, sad etc...
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
January 25, 2026 at 2:05 AM
I think a lot of us get hope wrong. Hope, I do not believe, is an emotion. In fact, hope makes space for lots of emotions to exist alongside it. You can DO hope scared, angry, sad etc...
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
Hope doesn't find us. We make hope through action and struggle. It's a practice of living and is re-made daily.
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
I've been studying the history of US, and indeed, global policing my whole career and I can't make it more clear to law makers that this isn't a bastardization of policing, it is its purest form and logical conclusion. The impunity, militarization, deference, legitimacy, racial targeting, etc.
January 25, 2026 at 2:20 AM
I've been studying the history of US, and indeed, global policing my whole career and I can't make it more clear to law makers that this isn't a bastardization of policing, it is its purest form and logical conclusion. The impunity, militarization, deference, legitimacy, racial targeting, etc.
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
January 24, 2026 at 12:38 AM
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Minneapolis you are an inspiration
I'm on the Green Line towards downtown Minneapolis ICE OUT protest.
The train filled immediately. Even 20 stops away from our destination we reached capacity.
People are cheering at every stop when they see people waiting to board because we are all starting to realize how big this is.
The train filled immediately. Even 20 stops away from our destination we reached capacity.
People are cheering at every stop when they see people waiting to board because we are all starting to realize how big this is.
January 23, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Minneapolis you are an inspiration
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Minneapolis's anti-ICE organizing grew, in part, from seeds planted in the 2020 uprising. And as Minneapolis organizers @jonathanstegall.bsky.social & @annekosseffjones.bsky.social write, "By protecting our neighbors from ICE, we are practicing abolition."
truthout.org/articles/min...
truthout.org/articles/min...
Minneapolis’s 2020 Uprising Laid an Abolitionist Groundwork for ICE Resistance
The George Floyd uprising laid foundations for the politicized networks of care that are organizing against ICE now.
truthout.org
January 24, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Minneapolis's anti-ICE organizing grew, in part, from seeds planted in the 2020 uprising. And as Minneapolis organizers @jonathanstegall.bsky.social & @annekosseffjones.bsky.social write, "By protecting our neighbors from ICE, we are practicing abolition."
truthout.org/articles/min...
truthout.org/articles/min...
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
So all colleges and universities will bring back the DEI stuff they cut when obeying in advance right...............................................................................................................................................right?
Re the February Dear Colleagues letter that threatened funding for schools & universities over DEI-related efforts:
‘[Ed Dept]…moved to dismiss its appeal. It leaves in place a federal judge’s August decision finding that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment & federal procedural rules.’
‘[Ed Dept]…moved to dismiss its appeal. It leaves in place a federal judge’s August decision finding that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment & federal procedural rules.’
Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools and colleges
The Trump administration is dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colle...
apnews.com
January 21, 2026 at 7:42 PM
So all colleges and universities will bring back the DEI stuff they cut when obeying in advance right...............................................................................................................................................right?
And makes Higher Ed’s preemptive compliance all the more egregious
Today’s decision to give up the legal fight and drop this appeal is an admission that the Trump Administration’s effort to bully schools and colleges into abandoning lawful diversity and inclusion work was wrong and unconstitutional.
apnews.com/article/dei-...
apnews.com/article/dei-...
Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools and colleges
The Trump administration is dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colle...
apnews.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:57 AM
And makes Higher Ed’s preemptive compliance all the more egregious
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
I’m sharing this video again because people don’t really get what these data centers and ai are doing to our planet and our communities. Especially Black communities because they were strategically placed there.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
January 20, 2026 at 11:16 PM
I’m sharing this video again because people don’t really get what these data centers and ai are doing to our planet and our communities. Especially Black communities because they were strategically placed there.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
8 ways to be like King for the struggle today—Coretta Scott King, that is
—by @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com with incredible art by Howard Barry
inthesetimes.com/article/mlk-...
—by @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com with incredible art by Howard Barry
inthesetimes.com/article/mlk-...
“Always More Than a Label”: 8 Ways to Be Like King for the Struggle Today—Coretta Scott King, That Is
Investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, analysis of national and world affairs, and cultural criticism that matters.
inthesetimes.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:49 AM
8 ways to be like King for the struggle today—Coretta Scott King, that is
—by @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com with incredible art by Howard Barry
inthesetimes.com/article/mlk-...
—by @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com with incredible art by Howard Barry
inthesetimes.com/article/mlk-...
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
My latest for the Guardian...Happy MLK!
On embracing the ‘urgency of now’ and unconditional love on MLK Day www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
On embracing the ‘urgency of now’ and unconditional love on MLK Day www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
On embracing the ‘urgency of now’ and unconditional love on MLK Day
People across the US are moving on from the empty platitudes MLK Day often evokes – and embodying King’s words
www.theguardian.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:45 PM
My latest for the Guardian...Happy MLK!
On embracing the ‘urgency of now’ and unconditional love on MLK Day www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
On embracing the ‘urgency of now’ and unconditional love on MLK Day www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
“the federal agents flooding this city, like the president,…have misjudged the ground beneath their feet: a state full of ordinary people…who’ve decided that watching their neighbors being dragged away is an intolerable sin. “ www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...
Opinion | In Minneapolis, I Glimpsed a Civil War
www.nytimes.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:27 PM
“the federal agents flooding this city, like the president,…have misjudged the ground beneath their feet: a state full of ordinary people…who’ve decided that watching their neighbors being dragged away is an intolerable sin. “ www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Renee Macklin Good’s wife says she nurtured kindness
On Wednesday, Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent. Becca Good, her wife, shared the following statement with MPR News.
www.mprnews.org
January 9, 2026 at 4:46 PM
"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Reposted by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
These students are being brutally harassed by their government and still showing more bravery and integrity than most college presidents.
By Lila Dominguez, Editor in Chief of the Roosevelt Standard, news site of Roosevelt High School: "Later in the afternoon today my high school Roosevelt was paraded by ICE vehicles during dismissal. Our community and staff stepped up to protect one another."
ICE Needs To Get Out Of Minneapolis
On Wednesday January 7th at 3:20 pm I was working in the wrestling basement of Roosevelt Highschool to publish an article about the tragic event that occurred earlier today in South Minneapolis when a...
rooseveltstandard.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM
These students are being brutally harassed by their government and still showing more bravery and integrity than most college presidents.