BLACK GIRLS DON'T GET LOVE

BY JOSHUA MICHEAL KING

Underserved, underresourced and unrePRESENTed...there is alot of work left to be done.

I am compelled to use this opportunity to address a mounting concern. Our voices are present, yet stifled by the exuberant sounds of privilege all around us. Those that are being heard and charged with huge decisions aren’t always accounting for those that elected them. While seemingly harmless and pure of intentions, power and positioning is offered to those that usually are not directly impacted by the decisions that they make. Many really only notice that there is a difference because their own entitledment tells them that they might not be getting what they feel like they deserve. They recognize that there are discrepancies only because of their lived experiences, while failing to make a move to engage, educate, or empower those that wouldn’t know the difference. These are also the same people that create confusion and division by way of tactics that are questionable, all while saying that they want the community to come together. Clearly we are not having the same conversations. It is clear that even when trying to be helpful, they can be harmful by highlighting experiences that are not their own. The disparities and disconnect can be witnessed in the ways in which officials divide up what insufficient resources we have. We see it in their proposals for aquariums, athletic leagues, shady development deals, and in our schools. We can see the difference, yet say very little. They’ll watch individual schools struggle, while entertaining a revolutionary concept for a countywide STEAM High School that includes the students whose families have historically excluded themselves into the safety of invisible district lines in the suburbs. We don’t tend to say much about the people that serve our community so well that they take the city’s tax base to building up neighborhoods that not all people are welcomed in. Some even have it so well that they’d rather pay taxes AND tuition elsewhere, in order for some schools to be underperforming and underresourced; thus avoiding the challenges that are faced by a growing majority.

All of this matters. RePRESENTation matters more today than ever before. The message cannot solely be to just tax the rich or Flip the Leg. Those that are still here will leave for the sanctuary of some other city, town, or village. What’s worse is if they stay in Syracuse and decide send their kids to CBA, Bishop Grimes, or MPH. We have to have a better solution and encourage them to stay or rejoin our school district, as well as be intentional about using privilege to support and push forward the voices that need to be heard. All students across this district are impacted by the loss of funding and decades of shortfalls; however, the residuals of such are more pronounced in certain schools, neighborhoods, and homes. We cannot create equity in our district if we continue to miss opportunities to leverage privilege in a different way. We could stand to revisit and revise our understanding of neighborhood schools, school choice, and the ways we allocate resources to execute missions and become more effective and efficient with our policies, procedures, and protocols.

Self determination is a key component to success, yet often we see that that too is being prescribed by others. We have enough standards to compete with from the State of New York, without also having to contend against our own neighbors for the crumbs that are provided to us all. Even the decisions to return to school were absent of true input from all families, and the choice was left to chance. Students are asked to act locally and think globally, but there are some that will likely never leave their own neighborhoods. Systemic, social, and georgraphic barriers all but ensure that the experiences vary wildly from home to home and school to school. If an alarm is to be sounded, it is one that has been ringing for quite some time in schools where situations and circumstances create sometimes insurmountable obstacles for students and families. As we get closer to the election season, we should all be considering who has been selected to represent us and why. I would suggest that there are often far more experienced, better equipped, and otherwise appropriate voices to be heard. Whether or not anyone can hear is dependent on whether we are truly willing to take a step away from our own privilege to actually listen.

Even when those voices are heard, it us often times clear that nobody is listening. Hearing and Listening are not the same operation. Students and families should not have to be of affluence and influence to have their most basic educational needs prioritized or be rePRESENTed.

Captions:

On Friday, March 24th, Masking

& Kompany CEO Joshua Michael King gathered an intimate group of community leaders and industry innovators to discuss child welfare concerns. King is among one of the regional consultants for the Redlich Horwitz Foundation (www.rhfnd. org/) who is currently taking their strategic initiative to amplify the voices of youth and families throughout NY State. This has led to those who have viable solutions for some of the most common and complex social problems. Organizations like Black Girls Don’t Get Love are paramount in the fight to address