Meet Anthony D. Wilson, II | Executive Director, Equity in Education (EiE)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony D. Wilson, II and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony D., what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Most people are familiar with the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” but I think people don’t think enough about how they are members of the village and have the power to change educational outcomes for Atlanta’s children. And that’s where we’ve gone wrong as a city.

Education is connected to everything but many of us are blindly unaware of how we experience the success and failures of our educational system on a daily basis. If we sit and connect the dots we can see how education influences crime rates, economic growth, health, civic engagement, employment opportunities and the list goes on.

I need “outsiders” of the education industry to know, you’re actually an “insider.” Education isn’t just a parent or teacher thing, it involves every member of the village from the local restaurant owner to the millennial transplant. I don’t care how you engage – voting, donating time and resources to the school within walking distance of your home – but know by being a member of the village you have an obligation to do something. So don’t just talk about it taking a village, be the village.

What should our readers know about your business?
What’s most important to me is people and how they experience and live in our shared world. I love seeing people thrive and live lives that are full and free. Everything that I’ve tried to do and am passionate about is geared towards understanding and improving humanity, and myself in the process. I want the world to know I am real and this is not pretend.

I work in education because it’s easier to raise strong children than to fix broken adults, and schools are the only place where you have oodles of time to help kids grow strong. At the same time I know that in order for kids to be free to learn and create, the adults around them need the tools to help them heal from racism, the prison industrial complex and the many societal ills we’ve all been broken from. And to be clear, racism negatively impacts the Black person as well as the White; poverty impacts the rich and the poor alike; and crime reflects the tension between who the world works for and for whom it doesn’t. We share in this deep brokenness that requires the whole of the village to heal each other however and as expeditiously as we ought.

I’m really trying to prove at Equity in Education (EiE) that we can leverage local democracy to radically improve how children experience life through policy, elected governance and neighborhood organizing. We’re totally committed to developing the most robust, honest solutions to inequity and we believe that if we can activate and connect every member of the village, we can create an equitable education for every child in Atlanta. And once we prove what could be true for all children who grow up in this city, it will be a model for the country, because Atlanta influences everything everywhere.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If I’m being real, the place we’d be having the best (and spending the most) time is my home in the West End. I love spending time at home with the people I love and care about. In between vibing at the house where I am cooking improvised gourmet breakfast, lunch and dinner, we’d take a jog down Cascade, grab some wings from J.R. Crickets in Midtown and wind it down with a hot chocolate and nutella crepe at Cafe Intermezzo. For a night on the town, we’d start off with happy hour at The Gathering Spot, go over to Rock Steady for some Afrobeats vibes, and return home where I pretend to be a mixologist.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Black women. I don’t know where to begin. Black women have created everything that we know to be true and have done all of the hard work necessary to create a beloved community from their innate knowing. And somehow, Black women still find the energy to help the rest of us build a world worth living in. I appreciate the Black women who continue to lead and support me in this work.

I think a lot about my brilliant and beautiful mother who is currently on the road to getting her doctorate degree, and continues to strive to be more for her community, for her faith and for her children and grandchildren. My mother has always ministered to my life and held all of me when I frequently fell into pieces. Her constant presence, her care and her dogged determination to do right by God and all His people, regardless of the rules and isms, inspired me to live boldly. Knowing that she’s got my back with both fists bawled has given me my wings and the wind beneath them.

Website: https://www.edequityatl.org

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