Subtle and not so subtle systematic racism

“The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone, hi-ho the derry-o the cheese stands alone.”

If you were to observe my pre-school class playing ‘hi-ho the derry-o,’ you would have observed a young me standing in the middle of a circle of children, while my teacher and peers sang this wretched song to me day, after day, after day. In this game, children choose people from the middle inner circle to be part of the outer circle. The farmer takes a wife, the wife takes a child, the child takes a dog etc. until the last person left, the cheese, stands lonely in the middle. I re-lived this experience of being ‘the unwanted cheese’ every day for about two to three weeks until my mother finally figured out what was happening and met with my teacher and principal. To many, this incident isn’t shocking. Many of you have had worse experiences in school, but this subtle example shows how educators unwillingly create exclusive and unsafe learning environments.

Due to systemic inequities and subtle and not-so-subtle systemic racism, our children become disengaged from school at a young age. Now that we have begun to build elementary programs at YES, we have more control over addressing this challenge early on. Unfortunately, 20 of our schools are starting with students at age 11 and 12. We can’t overcome the years of frustration and disengagement that our students feel overnight, but we can create a plan to establish a safe learning environment that does not reinforce an educational experience that devalues their culture and identity. This intentional action will address the most important needs of our children:

• Acknowledging and tending to the trauma they have experienced in an inequitable racist system,
• Letting students know we are working daily to create a learning environment that doesn’t mirror the system they have experienced in the past, and
• Believing that all children can and will learn, regardless of their visible and invisible identities

This authentic plan will help invest our children to want to learn at high levels and believe that they can. How are you planning to invest and motivate your students to want to achieve at high levels, while helping them believe that they can this semester? In a year where we are working to accomplish this task virtually, we know this is no easy feat.

...we can create a plan to establish a safe learning environment that does not reinforce an educational experience that devalues their culture and identity."

The wakeup call

That incident back in 1976 sparked many conversations with my mom and dad about race, racism and equity in our country. My father grew up in a two-bedroom house with eight siblings in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Like many families, ours moved north from Louisiana to find work as sharecroppers during the early 1900s. In high school, my father was involved with ‘student sit-ins’ in Mississippi and was driven to fight inequality despite the dangers that were posed then and now for Black men. My father became the first in his family to graduate college. My mother went to nursing school in New York, where she was a member of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor. She worked with the Order’s home health agency, which provided home care to low-income and underserved communities.

Their experiences had a life-long impact on the way I navigated the inequities I would experience in the Prince George’s County School System in Maryland. However, despite my parents both having college degrees, I didn’t have access to great schools. At the time, the Prince George’s County School System had about 120,000 students and two magnet high schools. If you were a student that didn’t get into one of those two schools, your chances at a decent education were nonexistent. Luckily, I got into the science and tech program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School that put me on a path of access and success. Sadly, I watched many of my friends become disenfranchised from their experiences at our local high school.

After high school, I went to college to be an engineer. I had visions of working at a firm, getting out of debt, and making my family proud. However, something happened in that first year in college. In 1990, I began tutoring Black students in math and science, and I watched my students struggle with the same inequities I faced as a student. I had come to a crossroads. Should I continue with my dream of being an engineer? Or consider how I might help students that may not be granted access to a similar magnet program that I had just a few years prior? During my junior year, I chose to change my major to English and African American Studies. Many close to me weren’t happy with my decision, but I was.

As I became passionate about literature and African American studies, I read book after book and lived in the Library of Congress for two years. During that time, I came across a short story called, “Gooseberries” by Anton Chekov. In the story, he writes that the ‘happy man’ remains happy because those that suffer bear their burdens in silence. Behind the door of every contented happy man, there ought to be someone standing with a little hammer and continually reminding him with a knock that there are unhappy people. There is no man with a hammer and the happy man lives at ease. Chekov was describing the upper-class communities and lower-class communities in Russia, but it was obvious how the description of these communities could be transferred to any society in the world. I thought to myself, “does this mean we can never be truly happy, while inequity exists?” For years I have struggled with this question. I think if we refuse to lay down our hammer, our voice, our conviction towards equity for all, especially our children then, yes, we can be happy in our pursuit of justice. We must never get comfortable or be satisfied until all children have access to the education they want and deserve, and that remains my commitment.

We must never get comfortable or be satisfied until all children have access to the education they want and deserve, and that remains my commitment."

Being an Educational Engineer for students

Since I graduated college, I found myself working in many communities across our country, from L.A. to Baltimore, to the Rio Grande Valley, and finally Houston. Although I never became a civil engineer as I planned, I did become an ‘Educational Engineer.’ You see, the civil engineer doesn’t get to complain about the size of the mountain, the depth of the valley, or the turbulence of the river. They must build the bridge across with the resources, innovation, and self-determination they have. As educational engineers, we must do the same; build the bridge across for our students with the resources, creativity, and self-determination we have. We don’t have control over poverty, crime, etc. However, we do have control over creating an inclusive, safe learning environment for all children where they have a sense of belonging.

When you find yourself in a room full of happy people that aren’t down for equity for all, you must not be afraid to slam your hammer down. Don’t let anyone witness your silence. I hope you realize, like I did many years ago, that we can never be truly happy unless we are life-long advocates for our communities, ensuring all children have access to an excellent education. Thank you for all you do to ensure that we can one day deliver on this promise to our children and families!

2021 Black History Month campaign

Make sure to check out our other entries in YES Prep's 2021 Black History Month campaign, by clicking here.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeremy Beard has been a Head of Schools since 2014. He began his career in education as a corps member for Teach For America. He continued as a corps member advisor, school director for Teacher For America Summer Institute, and then as a program director. He was named Teacher of the Year while teaching Language Arts for IDEA College Preparatory, and then became IDEA’s assistant principal and director of college counseling, later, serving as principal for five years. Jeremy has worked for Houston Independent School District as an Apollo 20 school improvement officer. He also spent three years as a national director of programs for Blueprint Schools Network. Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of Maryland and a Master of Education, Organizational Leadership, from Columbia University.