The Comparisons
Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber is a predominantly always seems underfunded compared to its counterpart, SLA Center City. SLA Center City, of course, is a mostly white high school. Center City receives music and film programs as well as frequent field trips while SLA Beeber receives none of this. Instead of resources, SLA @ Beeber only gets a shortage of printing paper and a lack of forks for student lunches. Some may say that SLA Center City gets these opportunities because it is the original SLA. However, others have said that SLA Center City was not always this white, it only became whiter as the school became better. Why are schools with good education becoming whiter? Why don’t Black and Brown schools get the same resources? This can be seen in other schools such as William Meredith which was the middle school of Boyz II Men. Over the years, white parents have used gentrification to restrict the school’s access from Black and Brown children. When the catchment of the Meredith was going to be extended to more Black and Brown communities, white parents stated, “We worked so hard to make this school a ‘good’ school” insinuating that having Black and Brown children in this school would “ruin” the school.
The bold yet invisible line that separates well-funded white schools and underfunded BIPOC schools can be seen in our experiences and in plain data. EdBuild highlights the drastic difference between funding for white schools and schools of the global majority. White school districts receive $23 billion more than Black and Brown schools. These bold yet somehow invisible billions of dollars have been denied to BIPOC children for centuries. Even after the long fight against segregation and the passing of the Board Versus Education, segregation and the discrimination that comes with it, have been deliberately kept in our society. According to the Philadelphia ChalkBeat, Philadelphia was ranked 4 out of 403 for segregation severity. How has this segregation been upheld for so long?
Navigating U.S. Institutions since when?
Since the start of this “free” country Black and Brown people have always been bound down. Walking on the cracked streets knowing beneath the cracks are the countless lives lost and taken. No wonder the trees shake and quake with such memories embedded in their roots. Maybe that is why the white man cuts them down. Maybe the white man is afraid that the branches will reach out and tell the world of the sorrows in the U.S. Maybe the idea of U.S. exceptionalism will finally be shattered- just like the streets of Black and Brown neighborhoods. Me personally, I don’t ever see cracks, holes, or the slight difference in concrete when walking in a white neighborhood. But in a Black and Brown neighborhood, you best believe you’re going to trip and fall a whole lot in them holes. No matter how much this white system is poked, prodded, or slightly altered, it refuses to work for Black and Brown people. So how do we navigate? Many have created their own education such as HBCUs or schools such as Harambe (a student-created predominantly Black school that upholds the culture of the African diaspora), the Rennie Harris University (a school founded for people to get certified in Hip Hop and Street Dance), and the school founded by Robin Rodriguez. Many BIPOC artists also create identity artwork that defies the system and speaks their truths. But how do we do this if we don’t take initiative? While the student body already is, I believe we as students should start putting the “leadership” in Science Leadership Academy.
Freedom Rain Speaks 