It was only the second time the 17-year-old wore her natural hair at Guilderland High School – she had stopped for a while after her peers kept touching her hair the first time she wore it natural, even when she asked them not to. If there was more widespread education about racial justice and cultural sensitivity, maybe she wouldn’t have to deal with such microaggressions in school, Airhienbuwa thought.

A new project in the capital region has tackled the root of this question: what does equity in education look like? What can we dream of in possibility?

A collaboration between the University at Albany School of Education and the Capital District Writing Project, “Freedom Dreaming for Educational Justice” is a writing and visual arts program that has brought together teachers, administrators, mental health professionals and K-12 students across the capital. Region to examine social and racial justice in education.

“For so many students, school can be a place of joy, learning and understanding. But for so many others, it can also be a place of pain, struggle and silence,” said Kelly Wissman, director of the Freedom Dreaming Project and professor and department co-chair at the University’s School of Education. from Albany.

The program began in September, and through numerous workshops, classes and group discussions over the months, participants have used art to convey their hopes for the future of education.

The racial reckoning in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd during an encounter with police in Minneapolis has been a watershed moment for educators, especially as students voice the need for greater inclusion and representation at school. ‘school. And as education and curriculum issues become hot topics across the country, from book bans to debates about how to teach about racism, the need to create that space for students has become even more evident.

“Teachers are mostly waiting, and we know that with issues of fairness and justice, we can’t fully understand the story – kids have to tell that story,” said Amy Salamone, an English teacher at the Guilderland High School. “This group of educators, we were like, ‘How do we contribute or disrupt the narrative that continues the oppression in our schools, whether it’s your curriculum, your books, your microaggressions?’ Because something is not working and people are being killed Our students are not safe.

And so the teachers turned to the students for learning.

During a workshop that included middle and high school students, educators were struck by the incisive and powerful critiques students offered about what the education system has meant to them. Educators left the workshop asking, “Why don’t we have students around the table for each of these conversations? »

Thus, students like Airhienbuwa and her counterpart, Abigayle Tyson, who are respectively vice president and president of the Black Student Union at Guilderland High, have been brought into the program.

They held workshops to teach educators how they organized an anti-hate rally in their school. They talked about the microaggressions they experience at school, such as comments about their natural hair. And they offer insight into the lack of representation among their teachers and peers, as well as their teaching materials.

“I wish our English and history curriculum included more black voices because I think a lot of the books we read focus on the white perspective of black people – especially with ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’” said said Airhienbuwa. “I wish we had celebrated black authors in these classes.”

Tyson noted that BSU advocates a Black History course in school, but would like to see it offered as a foundational social studies class, not just an elective.

For the students, the workshops were a rewarding opportunity to see first-hand how others are advocating for them, as well as exploring their own dreams.

The integration of art into the program is intentional and a core aspect of it – and participants’ creations will be on display at an exhibition in the UAlbany Fine Arts Building from 10 June.

“I think the arts give us this place to live in a space of imagination and possibility, which I think will help us to…work towards a better system for ourselves and for our students,” Wissman said.

Both Airhienbuwa and Tyson have the same favorite piece of art they saw a peer create during a self-portrait session: the student drew a silhouette of herself, then wrote down the words of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery, in this silhouette.

“The power of the 13th Amendment coupled with a black girl — that, to me, was really inspiring and empowering,” Tyson said.