Black Student Voices: Reflecting on Race and Racism in 69传媒
Amid a national reckoning on race sparked by the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black people, thousands of high school students joined demonstrations across the country against police abuse. Some are now leading campaigns to force their school districts to create anti-racist curricula.
Against that backdrop, Education Week spoke with 10 Black high school students from across the country about how they think issues of race and racism should be handled in school.
In the first two videos of this series, students tell educators what they need from their schools to feel safe and supported, and how they鈥檝e experienced classroom discussions about race. The next two videos focus on students鈥� views on the importance of having Black teachers, and the role of school police.
In alphabetical order, the students featured in the videos are:
Jaden Adeyemi, a senior at Highland High School in Albuquerque, N.M.; Helena Almaw, a senior at DSST: Green Valley Ranch High School in Denver; William Bell, a recent graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C.; Malik Coleman, a recent graduate of Fairfield Central High School in Winnsboro, S.C.; McKenzie Curry, a recent graduate of Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio; Onome Grell, a senior at John D. O鈥橞ryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury, Mass.; Zo毛 Jenkins, a senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Lexington, Ky; Davion Pilgrim, a junior at Morningside High School in Inglewood, Calif; Zion Sanders, a senior at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami; and Rena Mateja Walker Burr, a junior at Cleveland High School in Seattle.
Credits:
Video edited by: Bridget Fetsko
Text: Madeline Will, Catherine Gewertz, Sarah Schwartz