BLM at AB
BY AVA WONG '23
In the first 8 months of 2020, police in the US killed 164 Black people. One of those deaths includes George Floyd, whose unjust treatment has inspired more than 25 million people to protest against racism. “I think that we've opened our hearts enough, and we've rendered our souls enough that we're finally ready to face each other and do that pushing and pulling. We're ready to do the work,” said Kyra Wilson Cook, referring to Acton-Boxborough’s response to the nationwide call for racial equity and justice for Black Americans. Cook, a prominent community member, serves on the district School Committee and Diversity Equity Inclusion Commission (DEIC). Following the murders of countless Black Americans and AB’s own acts of racism, she and the community have rallied to fight for a fairer world.
To start, the community has looked toward existing racial justice groups, such as Racial Justice for Black Lives (RJ4BL), for guidance. Founded by local activist and minister Lowingky Jasmin, RJ4BL is the driving force behind the AB Black Lives Matter movement. In June 2020, Jasmin created a Facebook group, originally named Black Lives Matter Acton, in an effort to facilitate respectful conversation and action towards racial equity. RJ4BL does everything from community outreach to collaborating with student activists. It organized the Sunday protests this past year on Kelly’s Corner in response to the death of George Floyd and launched a virtual event this August that hosted music and speakers from the community. RJ4BL gives the town something to call their own: an outlet for rising activists and a safe harbor to share experiences. The group represents the promise and hope for a more equitable and just AB.
The nationwide call for antiracism also inspired new clubs and initiatives here at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. One example is Educators Committed to Anti-Racism, Equity, and Social Justice (ECARES), a faculty-led group founded with the goal of “raising awareness of, and advocating for, an environment of antiracism, equity, and social justice in all aspects of our school community,” according to their official website. ECARES plans to hold Activist Summits for AB students interested in small town activism and aims to work within ABRHS, proposing changes to “policies and practices” at AB. ECARES’s current initiatives include building a Parents of Color Advisory Board for the highschool, promoting faculty and student racial education, and increasing diversity amongst the staff.
While ECARES focuses on improving long term diversity and racial education within the high school, student-led clubs like ABSEJ (Acton-Boxborough Students for Equity and Justice) work to implement immediate initiatives in our community. ABSEJ is most famous for establishing the mascot change, and they are currently working with the administration and other local groups on their Call to Action Plan, which aims to bolster a respectful environment here at AB. Both groups contribute to ABRHS’s attempt at unifying the student body and faculty against systemic racism.
The change does not stop there. The DEIC (Diversity Equity Inclusion Commission), an Acton government social justice group, actively encourages townspeople to come to its meetings and share experiences to help improve the town. Similarly, the annual School Improvement Plan (SIP) for the high school included “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” as one of its goals for the 2020-21 school year, stating, “We will increase staff and student knowledge and understanding of anti-bias, cultural proficiency, equity, and inclusion.” The plan also declares that all teachers in the AB district will be trained using the Seeking Education Equity and Diversity (SEED) model.
Following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, AB seems more determined than ever to strive for a more equitable and just community. The change within our high school is tangible: new clubs, new mascot, new plans. But the more powerful and lasting change is the underlying sentiment that motivates the town as a whole to step up. “We have serious work to do, when we can, we have to do it together,” said Cook. “It can't just be one group. It can't just be one body of government. It has to be a concert.” She found that this movement towards a new sentiment is vital. Racist actions stem from preexisting racism within our town, and subduing individual hate crimes will not make our community equal. Members have to commit to finding and fixing the root of the problem.
The administration employed this long redemption process after the hate crimes against Black members of the School Committee that greatly rattled the district. AB Superintendent Peter Light released an official statement, which declared that “it is time that we all understand that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and the values we hold or presume to hold,” echoing the call for district-wide unity against racism. The statement as a whole condemns the actions of a member of the Save the Colonials group and acknowledges the “endemic pattern of racism in our community.”
ABRHS is a cornerstone of our town—it is responsible for educating students coming into the district and preparing people to lead the community and those beyond us. The precedent we set ripples throughout our community, and in this time of physical and moral division, it is pertinent that we continue to reflect and strive towards a more united community. Cook urges us to “remember, first and foremost, the person that you're talking to is another human being… And if you can find even two drops of grace, to land, just in that space,... you can at least walk away, honoring your own humanity. But by lending that grace to the other human, you've earned grace for yourself.”
To start, the community has looked toward existing racial justice groups, such as Racial Justice for Black Lives (RJ4BL), for guidance. Founded by local activist and minister Lowingky Jasmin, RJ4BL is the driving force behind the AB Black Lives Matter movement. In June 2020, Jasmin created a Facebook group, originally named Black Lives Matter Acton, in an effort to facilitate respectful conversation and action towards racial equity. RJ4BL does everything from community outreach to collaborating with student activists. It organized the Sunday protests this past year on Kelly’s Corner in response to the death of George Floyd and launched a virtual event this August that hosted music and speakers from the community. RJ4BL gives the town something to call their own: an outlet for rising activists and a safe harbor to share experiences. The group represents the promise and hope for a more equitable and just AB.
The nationwide call for antiracism also inspired new clubs and initiatives here at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. One example is Educators Committed to Anti-Racism, Equity, and Social Justice (ECARES), a faculty-led group founded with the goal of “raising awareness of, and advocating for, an environment of antiracism, equity, and social justice in all aspects of our school community,” according to their official website. ECARES plans to hold Activist Summits for AB students interested in small town activism and aims to work within ABRHS, proposing changes to “policies and practices” at AB. ECARES’s current initiatives include building a Parents of Color Advisory Board for the highschool, promoting faculty and student racial education, and increasing diversity amongst the staff.
While ECARES focuses on improving long term diversity and racial education within the high school, student-led clubs like ABSEJ (Acton-Boxborough Students for Equity and Justice) work to implement immediate initiatives in our community. ABSEJ is most famous for establishing the mascot change, and they are currently working with the administration and other local groups on their Call to Action Plan, which aims to bolster a respectful environment here at AB. Both groups contribute to ABRHS’s attempt at unifying the student body and faculty against systemic racism.
The change does not stop there. The DEIC (Diversity Equity Inclusion Commission), an Acton government social justice group, actively encourages townspeople to come to its meetings and share experiences to help improve the town. Similarly, the annual School Improvement Plan (SIP) for the high school included “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” as one of its goals for the 2020-21 school year, stating, “We will increase staff and student knowledge and understanding of anti-bias, cultural proficiency, equity, and inclusion.” The plan also declares that all teachers in the AB district will be trained using the Seeking Education Equity and Diversity (SEED) model.
Following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, AB seems more determined than ever to strive for a more equitable and just community. The change within our high school is tangible: new clubs, new mascot, new plans. But the more powerful and lasting change is the underlying sentiment that motivates the town as a whole to step up. “We have serious work to do, when we can, we have to do it together,” said Cook. “It can't just be one group. It can't just be one body of government. It has to be a concert.” She found that this movement towards a new sentiment is vital. Racist actions stem from preexisting racism within our town, and subduing individual hate crimes will not make our community equal. Members have to commit to finding and fixing the root of the problem.
The administration employed this long redemption process after the hate crimes against Black members of the School Committee that greatly rattled the district. AB Superintendent Peter Light released an official statement, which declared that “it is time that we all understand that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and the values we hold or presume to hold,” echoing the call for district-wide unity against racism. The statement as a whole condemns the actions of a member of the Save the Colonials group and acknowledges the “endemic pattern of racism in our community.”
ABRHS is a cornerstone of our town—it is responsible for educating students coming into the district and preparing people to lead the community and those beyond us. The precedent we set ripples throughout our community, and in this time of physical and moral division, it is pertinent that we continue to reflect and strive towards a more united community. Cook urges us to “remember, first and foremost, the person that you're talking to is another human being… And if you can find even two drops of grace, to land, just in that space,... you can at least walk away, honoring your own humanity. But by lending that grace to the other human, you've earned grace for yourself.”
