The Revolution will be on Zoom…
Mobilize for safe and just schools.
School Social Action Week- Day 2
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are considered hot buzz words in many organizations. So many Fortune 500 companies are “evaluating their organizational principles” and are implementing in-house positions for Officers of Equity and Diversity. However, while creating these positions is the first step, too many people are solely relying on the new position being created to address the long standing discrimination within their organization.
School districts are no different.
While American public schools have produced some of our greatest and most influential leaders, it can also be considered a mirror - reflecting the duality of our country. At times glorious and beautiful, on the other hand, marred and extremely flawed. With all of our accolades and accomplishments, ABCUSD was forced to reckon with our own reflection. Behind the Blue Ribbon Awards and academic awards lay a deeply embedded history of discrimination and trauma.
While the unrest and upset in America as a result of the vicious murder of George Floyd was the catalyst for change, the desire to confront childhood trauma and break the cycle of suffering in silence is what has kept us going. The NEA EdJustice School Social Action Week initiative aligned to the mission of our organization, specifically the notion of mobilizing to create safe and just schools.
While we still have a long journey ahead and a steep mountain to climb, ABCUSD’s willingness to open a position for an Equity and Diversity Officer is a step in the right direction. Our role is to continue to mobilize and advocate for schools where the culture of anti-Blackness and anti-PoC is no longer accepted, tolerated, or left without consequence. In addition to advocating for a zero tolerance discrimination policy, we also must bring the realization that and E&D Officer cannot do the work alone. There are no saviors in this narrative. This is not a fairytale. One person did not create this problem and one person cannot resolve this problem.
Multiple surrounding districts have created a department and a team to specifically address disparities and discrimination faced by student, staff, and the community at large. One of those districts is our south west neighbor, Long Beach Unified School District. It is not by chance that since LBUSD’s creation of their Equity, Access, College and Career Readiness branch, under Academic Services, they rank “first nationally on the percentage of African American male students who took one or more AP courses; second on the percentage of Latino male students who took one or more AP courses; second on the percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged students who took one or more AP courses; and second on the percentage of students with disabilities who took one or more AP courses.” Superintendent of Schools, Christopher Steinhauser said “Despite my own good fortune, I know that my experience as a white, male, able-bodied U.S. citizen doesn’t represent the array of experiences and challenges facing today’s diverse student population.” His willingness to admit is inability to walk in the shoes of non-white, female, non-cisgender, person with a disability, is what makes LBUSD’s culturally inclusive and representative commitment genuine and successful. Rather than forcing comparisons in experience, the most effective way to ensure growth is to LISTEN and HEAR from those that have experiences that differ from our everyday reality.
Dr. Sieu’s drafting of Resolution 19-114 demonstrated her willingness and commitment to ensure that marginalized students, specifically Black students, felt heard, seen, and valued. However, contrary to popular belief, Dr. Sieu is not the end all be all of decision making within the district. The buck stops with the ABCUSD Board of Trustees. The Board controls the dollars and the cents. While each board member brings their own area of expertise and experience to the table, the one thing none of them has ever had to experience is being Black. Cerritos is such an interesting town, while Asians are considered minorities in the majority of American towns, the city of Cerritos is comprised mostly of people who identify as Asian. With that being said, the stark realization of what life is like as a person of Color in America usually doesn’t hit them until college. On the other hand, being Black in Cerritos makes you the micro-minority. The experience of being a micro-minority is often missed and left unaddressed- which is why our charge is to mobilize, collectively as a community, and use our voices to advocate for the students that currently walk down the same campuses we did many years ago.
