Dear Reader,
We don’t have experience with racial discrimination. In fact, like many of you, we have been introduced to the concept of systemic racism by consuming media and forming our own ideas around the topic from a bystander perspective.
When we were in elementary school, we were introduced to America’s history of segregation through a few units about the big names of civil rights activism—Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Harriet Tubman. We were told stories about slaves and abolitionists and how they fought for the freedom of African Americans in the United States.
As we grew older, we were taught more about segregation and the type of discrimination that immigrants and people of color in America faced, and the steps that our country has taken toward progress. Depending on what classes we chose to take, we learned more or less about the history of racial struggle, but outside of school, many of us have the privilege to choose how involved we really wish to become.
What we do learn within school walls, all of the stories we’ve been told, the history we’ve been taught have one thing in common: they end with a pen to paper, a signature, a law being passed. A symbolic victory that makes it easy to say that the problem is solved.
Both of us consider ourselves fairly politically involved individuals, at least to the extent that we can be as high school seniors. Our curiosity has led us to consume more in-depth media about how laws come to be and how surface-deep promises can cover up much larger shortcomings that can’t be solved in a courtroom. What we had to learn on our own is the societal shock waves and the deeply embedded systemic racism that stems from long-standing prejudices. We had to learn about cultural equity and how far we still have to go to reach it. Most of all, though, we had to learn how to step back from the conversation and listen.
Our job as journalists is to amplify voices and tell the stories that would otherwise go unheard. We write the words on the page to convey our sources’ experiences as accurately as we possibly can, but ultimately, it’s not about us—it’s about you.
This issue, “Culture Roads,” is centered around diversity and inclusion within our school district. As we discuss buzzwords and cultivate debates around heavy topics like critical race theory, antiracism, and the Black Lives Matter movement, the students of GAPS who are directly affected by policies made by the people discussing their education have been developing their own opinions and methods of inclusion.
We wanted to feature these students and their work toward a brighter future in this issue, and we hope that by reading it, the students of West will engage in meaningful conversations about their wants and needs within our district.
On page 20 you’ll find a feature that guides the spotlight toward students becoming the change they want to see in the district and discovering their cultural roots. Reporters Cali Stenger and Gabi Emery hosted a forum where they collected unique experiences and thoughts from a variety of participants that feel strongly about inclusivity in education. Packaged with this feature, reporter Cecilia Greene explains critical race theory, its history, and its future in American education. Additionally, a Q&A with English Language Development teacher Emily Mehl and bilingual assistant Evelyn Lopez details the importance of West’s recent inclusion of ELD in the school’s course offerings. These stories center on positive change, the beacons of progress in the present, and hopes for the future. By continuing to learn from and listen to those living the educational change as it’s being made, all of Albany can reap the benefits of a more inclusive and welcoming education system. An education system where no student’s voice is unrepresented or unheard.
Editors-in-Chief,
Tori Thorp and Ethan Biersdorff