4.9.21

"The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated."
-James Baldwin
  
When we were confined to our homes last spring, the whole nation watched as George Floyd was murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin. The confines of our quarantine made it impossible for us to ignore Mr. Floyd’s death in broad daylight and in front of eyewitnesses. I do believe that if life last May had been normal for us, it would have been easy for us to look away or be outraged for a few days or weeks. 
 
 
We couldn’t look away. Last summer despite COVID restrictions, people took to the streets to protest the deaths of many Black Americans at the hands of police across our nation. Now that Derek Chauvin is on trial for murder, fewer of us are home, but many are still paying attention. And we cannot help but steady ourselves for our nation’s reaction when a verdict is reached. 
 
The last year has called upon us to painfully confront our unfinished business around race and racism in the United States. James Baldwin wrote, “People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.” Between the Black Lives Matter movement, an election tainted with racism, a dramatic increase in brutal and sometimes deadly assaults on members of the AAPI community, an insurrection on the nation’s capital, suppression of voters' rights, and disparities that put people of color at a greater risk of contracting and dying of COVID and limit their access to COVID vaccines, we cannot simply decide to look away. 
 
Our children are not looking away. In the curriculum, discussions in advisory and affinity groups, and programming sponsored by the student-led Diversity Committee, FCS will continue to be a place where children's questions and concerns are heard and valued. 
 
In peace and partnership,
 
Angela 
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Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.
Friends Community School
5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
301-441-2100