Racial Justice Education Increases At GOA

By Izzi Zellan ‘23

    In response to George Floyd’s killing in May, demands for racial justice have increased in communities around the world. At Golda Och Academy, these demands are being met with new opportunities for racial justice education. ​

    Some of these initiatives were school-wide, such as summer reading books that told stories of racial inequality and creating change. Others, like the Racial Justice Club and the Race and Racial Equality elective, are high school-specific. Ms. Sonia Alexander, a new staff member at GOA this year, has been at the head of these opportunities.
    “Pippi Kessler writes about how there are three things [that should be] happening [in racial justice education],” Ms. Alexander said. “[One is] retraining, so that’s both learning the histories we don’t learn and also unlearning the ways we internalize white superiority… Two is processing feelings, so making space to feel the weight [and] reality of the harm of… racism… And three is taking action.”
    So far, the third part of Ms. Alexander’s list has played a minimal role in the racial justice programming this year, which focuses more heavily on creating discussion at GOA.
“I read “American Boys” over the summer and had a school-organized discussion about it… with some classmates,” sophomore Daniel Schiffman said. “I felt that the discussion was productive as well as interesting. I got to know some of the nuisances of the opinions of my peers and what goes into those opinions.”
    “I think the school has been good [about creating] these activities… I read “The Hate U Give. I really enjoyed the story and the message it [contained],” freshman Maya Taylor-Prince said. 
Of course, no curriculum is perfect, and GOA’s racial justice education has only just begun, so it will develop as it continues to grow.
    “I think that… because schools, in general, are so focused on educating students that the natural instinct is to start with educating students, I think that sometimes an important step in between is actually... staff and faculty focusing on educating ourselves in-depth,” Ms. Alexander said.
    Similarly, Ms. Mittleman, from the Jewish Life and Experiential Education department, hopes to broaden the scope of racial justice education at school to working with other schools, such as Robert Treat Academy in Newark, whom GOA has worked with before in Holocaust and racial justice education. 
    “Last year, we were in the process of planning grade-level events with our partner school Robert Treat Academy. Unfortunately, COVID-19 had other plans, but we hope to continue this partnership soon,” Ms. Mittleman said.
    Some students feel that racial justice programming at GOA still needs improvement.
    “The club and elective are good but it’s not doing anything for anyone who isn’t in them. If you’re not in them it’s the same as it’s always been,” junior Hadas Goldberg said.
 As the year continues and racial justice initiatives at GOA continue to grow, the hope is that more students will be included and taking action will become a central part of the curriculum.
    “We have not completely gotten into racial justice work [at] this point, but I’m sure that is ahead of us,” Schiffman said.
    ​Now that racial justice education is becoming a more prevalent part of GOA, the expectation is that it will soon progress into concrete action. As the curriculum develops, students will continue to advocate for the changes they want to see, both within the classroom and in the world.
    ​“This work is really long term and it’s really not easy, and that’s important to keep in mind as we enter into it,” Ms. Alexander said on racial justice work. “Even though it can be challenging and hard… it can also be beautiful and transformative.”