I’m a big advocate of kids knowing and understanding that they need someone who looks like them. Not necessarily to teach them, but they need someone who they can identify with, that they have the eye contact that we do as black people to say, “I’m here. I get it.”
I was quite a shy high schooler and tried to keep to myself. I now have a stronger voice in saying, “You know what?, Some of those experiences I had were not okay.”
If an individual, group or organization identifies a deficit, we are always willing to listen. But also, for the good of our students and our community, go a step further. Don’t just point out an issue. Lean in to help solve the issue by seeking out resources and support.
The reason why protests are disruptive is because they need to be. If we don’t disrupt, then what are we doing? As far as I’m concerned, people of color are invisible in that school district. Pretty invisible. Diversity Day is about as good as they can get.
It is sometimes difficult to make really well meaning, kind, loving white folks understand why anti-racism is important in a mostly white community.
We have anti-racism, anti-bias like a board resolution. We have policies that prohibit racism and discrimination, but we don’t have anything that addresses it more broadly and also more specifically. We’ve been working with staff, students, board members and administrators this summer to create a policy that will express commitment.
In recent months, it hurt for me to witness the disproportionately negative effect that COVID-19 has had on Black communities, as well as the anti-Black and unjust murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. I was determined to figure out how I could impact change while limited to home during the pandemic crisis. I figured, why not start with helping my former classmates petition Clayton schools, a place I hold near and dear to my heart?
There are things Clayton could work on as far as making minority students feel more comfortable, included, and respected.
There were barriers in a sense, as far as taking harder courses, Honors and AP. When I brought this up to a teacher, my freshman year, she told me that she thought that I would maybe be able to achieve C’s in Honors and AP courses, when, looking back at my grades, I had got all A’s, freshman year. So, why would you assume I would get a C if I just achieved all these A’s in every course?
Now is a time for radical change and to set an example for the rest of the school districts in St. Louis and across the state of Missouri. If you choose to ignore our pleas at this time, just know that we will not give up this fight, we will not back down until all of these changes are made.