On Friday, August 8, I am going to sing during my keynote for the Not Like Us Conference. Not as a performance, but as a promise. A promise that this will not be another safe, forgettable speech about education. It will be rhythm and resistance, melody and memory, truth carried on a beat that connects our ancestors to our students today. At 11 a.m. Eastern, the room will feel the mariachi horns, hear Kendrick’s fire, and see how music can carry the fight for African American education further than words alone. I will sing a few verses, words born from our history and aimed at our future, and yes, I’ll even be wearing my new Kendrick Lamar flare jeans, because sometimes you have to dress the part when you are bringing the art.

The keynote draws on the full arc of Kendrick Lamar’s GNX — from the fiery defiance of Wacced Out Murals to the urgency of Squabble Up, the tenderness of Luther, the reclamation of Man at the Garden, the clarity of Hey Now, the ancestral weight of Reincarnated, and the solidarity and authorship of Gloria. Each track becomes a lens on the struggle, the victories, and the unfinished work of African American education, but I am saving the details for those who join me live.

This will be a session for people who believe that education is a mural worth defending, that the fight for equity is worth the squabble, and that vision and joy are as necessary as data and policy. It is for those who understand that our work is both present-day advocacy and an unbroken line to the ancestors who made our learning possible. And it is for anyone ready to leave the room not just inspired, but with a covenant to act.

On Friday, August 8, at 11 a.m. Eastern, join me at the Not Like Us Conference. Come hear the verses. Come feel the beat. Come see how music, movement, and truth can meet in one room and move us closer to the schools our children deserve. The mural is not done. The story is not finished. The music is still playing. Register now.