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›- Cloaking Inequity By Julian Vasquez Heilig
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Cloaking Inequity By Julian Vasquez Heilig - Education & Personal Development
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Missing the Pattern: What Trump and Kirk’s Shooters Tell Us – Cloaking Inequity
When political violence erupts in America, we reach for easy explanations. The media wants a headline. Politicians want a talking point. Audiences want a villain that fits neatly into their worldview. So we seize on whatever detail stands out — a $15 political donation, a bullet casing scrawled with a slogan — and spin it…
From Watchlists to Cruelty: The True Legacy Charlie Kirk Left Behind – Cloaking Inequity
Charlie Kirk once declared, “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage.” It is a stunning line—not just for its cold dismissal of compassion, but for what it reveals about the worldview he helped mainstream. Empathy—the ability to recognize another’s pain, to…
When We Start Eating Our Own: Why We Must Stand United – Cloaking Inequity
Tariffs have triggered splits between the UAW and Canada’s Unifor, while former President Trump has increasingly pitted police unions and Teamsters against teachers’ unions and federal government unions. These dynamics are a textbook example of the divide-and-conquer strategy: breaking groups into smaller, more manageable pieces, addressing each piece individually, and leveraging that fragmentation to achieve…
Charlie Kirk Shot: No More Bullets in Our Politics, No More Blood in Our Communities – Cloaking Inequity
Today, on September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, the ultra conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot in the neck while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour” an he remains hospitalized, with no further updates yet on his condition. This is not just an attack…
Western Herald: Former WMU provost speaks on leadership – Cloaking Inequity
Over the past year, many of you have asked why I chose to step down as provost and what comes next. The Western Herald captured that journey with care: the moment that tested my values, the exchange program I proposed to help students and scholars displaced by war, and the larger lesson I keep returning to, failure…
Supreme Court is Colorblind in Classrooms and Color-Conscious for Cages – Cloaking Inequity
You’ve probably heard about the Supreme Court’s latest decision: being visibly Latino (and working at a car wash, speaking Spanish, etc.) can now count as a legally “relevant factors” for harassment from law enforcement. The right-wing majority on the Supreme Court LOVES to proclaim “colorblindness.” When it struck down race-conscious college admissions in Students for…
Which Joy Inspires You? – Cloaking Inequity
When we talk about justice, we often focus on resistance, sacrifice, and struggle. These are real and unavoidable parts of the story, but they are not the whole of it. There is another current that runs through liberation work, one that sustains movements and nourishes people when the fight becomes heavy. That current is joy.…
Football Kickoff: Why Being Down Is the Only Chance to Make a Comeback – Cloaking Inequity
Every September, fans across the country settle into couches, stadium seats, and sports bars with the same anticipation. The football season begins, and for the next several months we get to witness the complexity of the game: strategy, athleticism, competition, and drama. Every year there are new stars, unexpected contenders, and, of course, the inevitable…
Race Relations at a Nadir?: Obama, BLM, George Floyd and the Politics of Division – Cloaking Inequity
When UC Berkeley scholar Travis J. Bristol speaks of a “second nadir” in U.S. race relations, he invokes a chilling historical echo. The first nadir followed the end of Reconstruction—when the Ku Klux Klan rose, lynchings of Blacks was commonplace, and Plessy v. Ferguson enshrined “separate but equal” into law. Today, Bristol argues, we are…
Why Autocentric Leaders Choose Unqualified People for Key Roles – Cloaking Inequity
The upheaval at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should give us pause. The firing of Director Susan Monarez, followed by the resignation of senior medical officials, illustrates how quickly political interference can destabilize an institution built on expertise and public trust. If history is any guide, the replacements will likely fit a familiar…
Melania Trump: A Cautionary Tale of Absence? – Cloaking Inequity
If you have to explain that you are doing something, are you really doing it? If you have to insist that you are influential, but the public only sees absence, can that influence be trusted? These are the questions that define Melania Trump’s second turn as first lady. Her defenders describe her as quietly influential,…
Back to School Special: Ringing the 3-Alarm Fire Bells – Cloaking Inequity
Back-to-school season is often a time of celebration — fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils, and the promise of new beginnings. But this year feels different. Instead of quiet optimism, it feels like sirens are blaring. In our recent Power Hour — Back to School Special: Ringing the 3-Alarm Fire Bells for Education aire — we dug into the urgent…
AI Red Alert: Robots Will Control Everything That Moves – Cloaking Inequity
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has presented a sweeping and ambitious vision for the future of manufacturing and technology. He describes a world where everything that moves, from cars to delivery drones to industrial equipment, will be autonomous and robotic. In this scenario, every company will operate two distinct but interconnected factories. The first will produce…
No Confidence: The Ugly Truth About How Leaders Talk About Labor – Cloaking Inequity
I have been in enough rooms with executives and managers to know what is really said when the microphones are off and the doors are closed. I have heard leaders mock unions. I have heard workers described as lazy (e.g. faculty and staff). I have watched decision-makers joke about “screwing over” union leaders or laugh…
Why I Should Have Stayed a Dean (and What That Says About Career Ladders Everywhere) – Cloaking Inequity
Climbing ladders in life is supposed to be the surest way to more impact. For example, in universities, the ladder is mapped out with precision: start as an assistant professor, earn tenure, advance to associate professor, then full professor. From there the rungs shift to leadership—program chair, department chair, dean, provost, and if you’re lucky,…
Sabbath Discussion: Pulpits as Political Platforms? IRS Rewrites the Rulebook – Cloaking Inequity
In summer 2025, the Internal Revenue Service quietly reshaped the American political and religious landscape. In a court filing that surprised both legal scholars and faith leaders, the IRS announced that houses of worship may now endorse political candidates during worship services without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. This move represents a dramatic reinterpretation of the…
Republicans Just Leaked Trump Won’t Last – Cloaking Inequity
The quiet part was just said out loud. Vice President JD Vance told national newspapers that he is “ready for the job” should “a terrible tragedy” strike Donald Trump. That one sentence tells us more than a hundred White House press releases. If everything were fine, if Trump’s health were truly “incredible” as Vance insists,…
Chickens Coming Home to Roost: Latino Voters and Trump’s Assault on Them – Cloaking Inequity
I have met many African Americans who are angry at Latinos for voting in large numbers for Donald Trump. The frustration is not abstract. It comes from watching a community that has endured the brunt of racism, voter suppression, and systemic inequality for generations now see another community lean into a candidate whose platform repeatedly…
The Uppity Minority: What We Will Not Be Apologizing For – Cloaking Inequity
In August 2025, George Mason University’s first Black president, Gregory Washington, faced a demand that speaks volumes about race, power, and leadership in higher education. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights wrongly concluded that GMU’s faculty diversity practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. As part of a proposed resolution,…
Build the Base: Why the Courageous and Bold Must Organize – Cloaking Inequity
The conversation started like so many others. Someone in a leadership position, someone committed to justice and positive change, reached out to talk about the pressure they were facing. A campaign of criticism had begun to circle. The local press had picked up a selective narrative. A few influential figures were stirring doubt about their…
Maybe People Like Dictators – Cloaking Inequity
You may have thought I’ve been blogging too much about dictators and authoritarianism lately. There is a reason for that. Today, Donald Trump looked into the cameras and said the quiet part out loud: “Maybe people like dictators.” Are you paying attention? This is how authoritarianism works—not in a single cataclysmic moment, but in small escalations…
Donald Trump Wants to Rewrite History by Silencing Smithsonian – Cloaking Inequity
Donald Trump wants to rewrite history by silencing museums that teach the truth about slavery. That is not leadership, it is dictatorship. When Trump rails against the Smithsonian and other museums as “woke” for teaching how brutal slavery was, he is not just throwing around a campaign insult. He is signaling that he wants to…
Integrity and the Urgency of Choosing People Wisely – Cloaking Inequity
Recently, billionaire investor Charlie Munger died at the age of 99. Known for his decades-long partnership with Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway, Munger built a legacy not only through financial acumen but also through a set of principles he insisted were deceptively simple: live below your means, keep learning, act with integrity, and avoid toxic…
Why Universities Keep Failing Native Students—and What We Tried to Do About It – Cloaking Inequity
I was angry when someone who reported to me in the provost’s office wanted nix our funding commitment to the Native American community on campus. His justification stopped me in my tracks. He said, “There are only four or five Indians on our campus.” I was incensed. The comment was not only inaccurate, it was…
Why Change Makers Are Fired First – Cloaking Inequity
There is a certain kind of leader who is deeply committed to making sure nothing really changes. They are often praised for their ability to “keep the trains running on time” and for their calm focus on efficiency and return on investment. They measure success in the neatness of spreadsheets, the tidiness of processes, and…
The Santa Barbara Story of Education Success and Why Communities Deserve Custom-Made – Cloaking Inequity
Audiences can always sense when a speaker is recycling a talk or going through the motions. The slides look generic, the stories do not quite connect, and the message hovers above the realities of the room. That is why I never give the same keynote twice. Every audience, whether teachers in Santa Barbara, community advocates…
Dictator Level: The $1 Billion Stranglehold and a Test Balloon for Military Rule in America’s Cities – Cloaking Inequity
Donald Trump announced today he is placing the Washington, DC, police department “under direct federal control” and deploying National Guard troops to the nation’s capital. The move comes after Trump ordered a seven-day surge in federal law enforcement within the city last week, citing several high-profile crimes. This is not just a story about Washington,…
The Uppity Minority: From Pet to Threat, the Cost of Leading Boldly – Cloaking Inequity
They call you visionary, fresh air, the leader they have been waiting for. But the moment you do what they hired you to do, lead boldly, speak truthfully, and push for real change, the applause fades and the temperature drops. What was once celebrated becomes condemned. What they once praised becomes politicized. This is the…
From Acceptable Persecution to Uncancelling Colbert – Cloaking Inequity
What happens when persecution wears a blue suit and red tie? When repression is filed through bureaucratic memos and budget reallocations instead of tanks and teargas? In today’s political climate, both abroad and increasingly at home, a dangerous trend is accelerating: authoritarian regimes are learning how to persecute legally. They are not burning books in…
Pardons, Power, and the Maxwell Mystery: What Trump Doesn’t Want You to Ask – Cloaking Inequity
Donald Trump has repeatedly treated the powers of the presidency not as a sacred trust but as tools for personal preservation. Among those powers, the presidential pardon is among the broadest and most unchecked. Yet even that authority has limits that are moral, legal, and political. If a sitting or former president offered Ghislaine Maxwell…
Back to School, Back to the Tests!? – Cloaking Inequity
As students sharpen pencils, log into portals, and pack their backpacks for a new academic year, one thing is clear: the tests are back. Stanford University has joined a growing list of elite institutions reinstating standardized testing requirements. After a brief pandemic-era pause, universities across the country are dusting off the SAT and ACT like…
Swipe Right?: Ask Why That Job Is Single – Cloaking Inequity
So you’re looking for a new job. Maybe you’re fresh out of school. Maybe you’re burnt out. Maybe you’ve been swiping through job boards like it’s LinkedIn Tinder, and one finally caught your eye. It seems promising: competitive salary, progressive values, nice pictures of diverse people smiling on the website. But hold on. Before you…
The Uppity Minority: Dominate Your Box – Cloaking Inequity
At a recent curriculum development meeting in Detroit, I was reminded that some of the most powerful leadership lessons are passed between colleagues, not through formal training manuals, but through lived wisdom. JoAnn Chavez, a dedicated leader in Detroit and our work at the Michigan Hispanic Collaborative where I serve as a senior advisor, shared…
What We Stand to Lose: Black Teachers, School Closures, and the Civil Rights Issue of Our Era – Cloaking Inequity
Across the country, the closure of public schools in historically Black and Brown neighborhoods has been sold to the public as “reform.” Politicians and privatizers claim these closures are about performance and efficiency. But if you’ve spent any time in these communities, you know that the story they tell is not the story we’ve lived.…
AI Code Red: Why Libraries Will Matter More Than Ever – Cloaking Inequity
My love of libraries was born between two cities and two generations. In Saginaw, Michigan, my grandmother was the librarian at Houghton Middle School. I spent endless days with her, nestled between the stacks, flipping through weathered books and searching for interesting books like buried treasure. Her library was my sanctuary, a place where the…
Join us Friday at “Not Like Us”: I’ll be Singing During My Keynote – Cloaking Inequity
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…
The Idea Fairies: When Help Hurts and Allyship Misses the Mark – Cloaking Inequity
You’ve met them. Maybe in a meeting. Maybe in your inbox. Maybe at a conference. Maybe at a community event where they float in with “a great idea,” something they’re convinced will change the game. The problem? That “new idea” is something your community has already been doing for a decade. You may have helped…
DOJ’s Political Attack on George Mason’s Educators is a Threat to Us All – Cloaking Inequity
In a country that claims to value academic freedom and democratic discourse, the news that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into George Mason University educators, for passing a nonbinding resolution of support for their president, should terrify all of us. But it should not surprise us. The facts are clear. On…
Decline Is Not Destiny: The Fast-Track Formula for Success – Cloaking Inequity
Decline is not destiny. That might sound like a slogan, but I have lived it. I have seen institutions that were written off as lost causes set new records in just two years. I have watched change arrive faster than anyone expected, not because of a miracle, but because a community decided to stop waiting…
Hey Students! Step Up: Learn to Lead with Purpose and Confidence – Cloaking Inequity
As we look ahead to the start of the Fall 2025 semester, I am excited to get back in the classroom and want to extend a personal invitation to all Western Michigan University (WMU) undergraduates: join me this semester for two courses that will change the way you think about leadership—and yourself. Whether you’re a…