In response to the murders of Ahmaud Arbury, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and all of the Black Lives Matter protests, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team and Affinity Group leaders offered a processing space for all students.
In an email to the student body Arhm Wild wrote, “In light of recent events involving police brutality and anti-black violence, the DEI Department, in collaboration with Affinity Group Leaders would like to offer a processing space for students based on the anti-bias domains of identity, diversity, action and justice.”
The meeting was held at 1pm on Tuesday, June 2nd via google meet. It started off with the
entire cohort of students who signed up, then the meeting broke up into separate affinity group meetings. Students had the option of joining a WAG (White Allies Group), a Latinx Affinity group, a multiracial group, an Asian affinity group and a Black affinity group. In the larger meeting, Mx. Wild told everyone to use this affinity group time to come up with ways for the student body to act and focus on action. After meeting in separate groups, everyone reconvened to talk about what each group had discussed.
While some groups had over 30 people which was a challenge for a google meet conversation, the multiracial affinity group only had four. Taja Grayson (V) was in the multiracial group and said, “The multiracial affinity space was a smaller group than some of the others so it felt more like a conversation. Because of the size, everyone had an opportunity to speak and respond.” With a smaller size, the group was able to brainstorm ways to act as well as reflect on their own identifiers. “We discussed the role of social media in the movement, as well as the place of those with dueling identities. Themes of physical privilege, societal perception and allyship were spoken on as well,” said Grayson.
Jeremiah Ortiz (V) was in the Black affinity group and expressed a yearning for support and activism from all Fieldston students. “I think that the best thing as a community, for the high school right now, is for everyone to do their part in helping our racist society become anti-racist. When I say everyone, I mean everyone. Black students need the unconditional support from the faculty and administration, and need to know that they will be there for us when moments like these translate. As for my fellow classmates in high school, we’re at the age where we have the ability to form our own opinions and voice where we want change. This is the time for us to step up to the plate and make the changes that will benefit the future generations to come. If we do not step up, the same narrative will repeat continuously, which leads to the idea that being a bystander is considered acceptable, which it is absolutely not.”
Micaela Greenfield (V), one of the leaders of the White Allies Group expressed happiness at the number of people that showed up: “I’m happy that so many people showed up and are taking the first step!” The affinity group consisted of around 30 to 40 people and its conversation focused on what it means to be a white ally. Participants discussed reading a book about white privilege over the summer together, the importance of having conversations with family members about racism, and examples of negative allyship. Since the meeting, the White Allies Group has created a Facebook group where members have been sharing books, articles, ideas for how to act and asking questions about how to be the best ally. The leaders have also been planning for a future meeting, during which members can further discuss their allyship and privilege.
“We are hoping to build the group up over the summer by creating spaces to phone bank together, watch movies together and read books together. My hope for the white ally group is that it becomes an actual regularly occurring space to learn from each other and build meaningful ally ships. At some point we hope to partner with other schools in the city in order to further our learning. We hope that when the social media dies down people are still willing to show up and do the work!” said Greenfield.
Even though the school year has come to a close, many students still feel the responsibility to stay active and engaged. Students in these affinity groups pledged to continue their hard work, hoping that change will come.
