Black Lives Matter has erupted as a global movement in the weeks following the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a police officer, fueling a fire in the face of a massive pandemic. The movement, which was founded in 2013, has led the way in protests across the world including Ithaca, in which community members and students have held rallies and protests to call for action on racial equity across the city.
On Saturday June 6, Ithaca City School District (ICSD) students and alumni gathered on the grass in front of Kulp Auditorium at Ithaca High School to listen to students of color share their experiences with racism at ICSD. With the pandemic still at large, each of the estimated 50 protestors wore a mask as students came and found a spot in the grass alongside their peers. The day was windy, making the speakers’ unamplified words harder to hear, but by the complete silence of the student-filled crowd, it was clear they were listening. There were moments where speakers could barely be heard over the wind, but nobody asked them to talk louder, and instead the crowd moved in to listen.
IHS student Saba Weatherspoon ‘21 acted as the MC of the rally, opening for each of the over twenty speakers. Maddi Carroll, an IHS alumna, opened strongly with one of the first speeches of the day speaking on her experience as a black student at IHS. “I was told that I was too loud and too disruptive. I was criticized because my questions were distracting and I was reprimanded because my words made my white peers uncomfortable,” Carroll told the crowd. “Ithaca City School District, I am talking to you. We won’t stop until changes are made. We will not back down until we receive justice. And we are stronger than you think.” After a couple of speakers, the floor was open to any student or alumni of color to share their experiences, and for the next two hours, the floor was flooded with past and present IHS students sharing their stories and memories.
Caitlin Mallory, another alumna, took the stage (the sidewalk in front of Kulp) and offered her own perspective. She recounted sitting in on board meetings and being a member of the student council, citing her experiences as she brought up ICSD’s school suspension rates that disproportionately impact black students. According to ICSD’s 2019 Equity Report Card, 10.37 percent of black students were given out-of-school suspensions compared to 1.62 percent of white students.
Another topic brought up frequently during the rally was the lack of books written by authors of color in the curriculum and how that adds to the racist division between kids at a young age. Mallory brought the issue up in her address: “How are we expected to unlearn things if we aren’t given the tools to unlearn those things? So every single classroom, especially elementary schools, needs to have a library overhaul.” According to research done by Weatherspoon from the 2018 reading list, only 6 out of the 83 books that are in our high school English curriculum were written by authors of color. Therefore, 93 percent of the books we read and analyze throughout high school are works from white authors.
Kemet Rivkin-Denham ‘22 recited a poem about her experiences attending IHS, stating, “When you go to a predominantly white school, you will realize if your hair is too big and your voice is too loud and your thoughts are unclear and your skin is too brown, so your lips are too big and your nose is too wide and you realize this place isn’t for you, so you must go hide… Above all, you will learn to be comfortable, being so so uncomfortable.”
The students urged ICSD for real change in how students of color are treated at schools. Black students recalled moments of being used as the “token black student” by peers, teachers and administrators, peers asking them for the “n-word pass,” teachers monitoring black students more closely and enforcing rules white students didn’t need to follow, teachers inappropriately touching their hair without permission or even with permission, and more. Each of these specific cases were brought up by multiple students, showing how the environment at ICSD has made them feel uncomfortable and disrespected.
The rally stretched about a half an hour over the original end time as more and more students came up to speak. Eventually the intimate event ended with the song “We Shall Overcome”, a protest anthem that played a key part in the civil rights movement.