Our Freedom Dreams
“The map to a new world is in the imagination, in what we see in our third eyes rather than in the desolation that surrounds us.” – Robin Kelley
In his book, Freedom Dreams, historian, Robin Kelley writes about the historical and collective reimagining of Black people. He argues that as a people, we have not only come together around the struggle – pain and despair – but also around joy and hope for a better future.
We believe this to be true for any historically marginalized group. Guided by this idea, we are ready to fight - not only against the issues that divide us, but for the hopes in our freedom dreams.
Here, we share some of our freedom dreams for public education. We look forward to building and dreaming with our Village – in both struggle and hope.
Safe Schools
On February 14, 2018, the nation became unraveled as it witnessed the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Since then, this revelation has drawn an array of responses, including calls for stricter gun laws, mental health counseling, more police in schools, and the arming of teachers and school personnel. However, in conversations about efforts to create safer schools, a narrow definition of school safety is not helpful. We believe that bell hooks’ concept of homeplace provides a definition for us to think about safety more broadly, which in turn allows us to include but also go beyond physical school safety.
According to hooks, homeplaces must include the following:
A radical political dimension;
A space that allows students to freely confront the issue of humanization;
A space of resistance;
A space where all students are subjects, not objects;
A space where all students are affirmed in their hearts and minds despite poverty, hardship and deprivation;
A space of restoration of the dignity denied to historically marginalized groups,
Like this, we are committed to working with board members, district leaders, educators, community members, parents and students to ensure that our definitions and efforts regarding school safety are inclusive and designed to be homeplaces for all students. We are committed to all students and all families.
Because of this commitment, we must go back and get the students and families who have been left behind, neglected, historically marginalized and denied their right to an education.
Schools, more often than not, have not been homeplaces for all students.
We will change that.
Village Engagement
“They Shut the Door on Us.”
— LAUSD Parent
In 2019, at LAUSD’s Annual African American Family Day, a parent shared those words during a conversation about parent engagement in the district. Her words echo the experiences shared by so many other parents - a term used broadly to include grandparents, aunties, cousins and other caretakers.
Opening the door for continuous communication is the first step in changing this experience for parents. What that looks like is having principals, and other administrators, whose presence is always felt on school grounds and someone who actively seeks parental feedback and participation. On a level of a school board, it means listening to the Village, sharing power, and making board meetings accessible - including bringing board meetings to our community.
Additionally, we believe that it takes a village to educate a child. With this in mind, we will be a bridge that connects, and in some cases reconnects us with each other - that includes board members with parents, cafeteria managers with school nurses, children with local district administrators, and elders with teachers.
We plan to open these doors through authentic and culturally relevant relationship building with our Village. We will address the historical issues that have long lingered and disrupted engagement on the part of schools. Our hope is that, in time, our Village will come to trust us and eventually walk through our doors - both figuratively and literally.
We look forward to dreaming and working with you!