Students lead the way in discussing systemic racism in schools, community

May 11, 2021 | By Jenny Koppang | Community News Service 

Event poster image.

In a recent online community forum led by Harwood Union High School students, community members faced questions about what students, teachers, and local residents should do to acknowledge and confront individual and systemic racism.

The event was hosted by students and Harwood history teacher Kathy Cadwell as part of a project within their “Dialogues on Race” class taught with fellow Harwood teachers Matt Henchen and Jonah Ibson and two student co-teachers, juniors Sophie Krotinger and Maia George. 

This teaching team has created a candid and receptive environment where their 20 students can immerse themselves in important and difficult discussions about race, class, history, diversity, immigration, privilege, and more, Cadwell said. 

“We see ourselves as co-learners alongside our students. We don’t intend to indoctrinate our students with a particular point of view or political agenda, we urge them to ask the critical questions to unpack the challenges that we face in a divided America today,” the veteran civics and history teacher explained. 

She acknowledged the discussion was set among the majority-white Harwood community but stressed the importance of creating the opportunity for dialogue. “We realize the limitations of talking about race, responsibility and privilege as our class at Harwood and our community is predominantly white and middle class. But we want to begin this conversation,” Cadwell said.

After a brief introduction in the Zoom forum, the group was divided into smaller, break-out groups of about five participants each for an hour of student-led discussion. 

One group’s focus 

Harwood sophomores in the class Maisie Franke and Ella Dice led one group of mostly adults who first examined the students’ role in addressing issues of race, racism, and diversity.

“I want to see diversity welcomed in our schools even if it’s not represented. I want community members to know that your silence can speak volumes. By not participating, you’re part of the problem,” Dice said. 

Waterbury resident Erin Hurley is a middle school teacher in another school district. She praised today’s youth for their courage in this political climate. “Young people have really been leaders this year. I really appreciate learning from them and seeing how gracefully they’re vulnerable. I think it’s important that adults give students the space to be leaders and give them support,” she said. 

Hurley said she wants to equip students with the tools to identify and combat racism in their backyard. “I would love to give students at all of our schools the language to be able to feel comfortable to talk about race, racism, and discrimination and to confront racism when they see it,” she said.

Christie Moulton, who teaches first grade at Jericho Elementary School, said that change is occurring at all age levels and her students are enthusiastic about learning real history. “We’ve done work to revise how we teach about colonization and indigenous people,” she said. “We’ve also been thinking about what we expose students to through read-alouds, the content we’re bringing into the classroom, and the heroes that we’re celebrating and the people of color that we’re learning from.” 

Adrianna Benson, a parent of a Crossett Brook Middle School student, said it is important that educators navigate the peaceful facilitation of discussions around race while avoiding alienating disputes. 

“I think teachers need to know how to have these conversations without conflict, without devolving into us-versus-them and right-versus-wrong,” Benson said. 

Moulton said it is meaningful to allow BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) individuals to share their experiences. She said that Jericho Elementary School has recently formed an equity committee that provides an opportunity for staff members of color or are otherwise marginalized to speak about their personal experiences at staff meetings. 

“Hearing from a Jewish staff member about antisemitism and hearing from two staff members of color about ways that the news has impacted them and things they are carrying was so important,” she said. 

The topic shifted to how the greater community can partner with the school in advocating for racial justice. 

Dice said she has heard the claim that racism isn’t a problem in Waterbury. She disputed this sentiment and emphasized a need to identify white privilege. “Just because you don’t see racism doesn’t mean it’s not there. It doesn’t mean that students at Harwood don’t see it,” Dice said. “I think being able to recognize your privilege and acknowledging that our system benefits us as white people is important.” 

She said that the community can offer support and create a welcoming environment through small but meaningful gestures, such as putting up Black Lives Matter signs. 

Hurley, an active member of the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition, said that she finds it important to engage the youth in their community meetings. “We have been considering the school’s needs, how we can support students and students of color, if there is funding we can make available, and what the students think about the work that we are doing,” Hurley said. “We’ve been trying to remember who is not at the table, oftentimes that is youth.”

Moulton proposed a program where students could engage intimately with topics of diversity, volunteer, and gain diverse experience outside their school. “It would be awesome for students to have the opportunity to intern with local nonprofits, to have a partnership with a college, or just make connections with people outside our town,” she said.

Example of the online white board with notes from a group discussion. Screenshot.

Change comes one individual at a time

Before directing the group to Jam Board, an interactive digital whiteboard, to reflect on what they’ve learned, Dice remarked that when addressing racism, significant change comes from within an individual. “Inner change starts first. By learning where you fit into the problem, you can begin to help solve it,” she said. 

One way for students to gain insight into the experience of BIPOC people, Benson said, is to read literary works by people of color. “When you hear people’s stories, you have a greater understanding of who they are and that helps you see the world from outside your perspective which is the white culture we’ve been taught,” she said. 

Back in the bigger group, Maroni Minter, an activist and a leader of the local anti-racism coalition, thanked the students for their social justice work and invited them to join the coalition’s BIPOC Affinity Group which they recently decided to open up to white students. “All of us have a role to play in these conversations, and working together will be the best way to go,” he said.

Cadwell said that this conversation is just one of many and they will be using the information culled from the Jam Board to move forward with future discussions. Student co-teacher George thanked participants for engaging in these somewhat uncomfortable conversations about race, and offered some parting words from the cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed that’s the only thing that ever has.” 

Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.