On Wednesday, December 7th, six Fieldston students and a handful of adults got on a plane and flew to Atlanta, Georgia for two conferences by the National Association of Independent Schools. The adults attended the People of Color Conference, founded in 1986 to address the complicated dynamics that exist in independent schools throughout the nation and give educators the tools to work on improving the racial climates of their home schools. The Fieldston students attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, a spin-off of PoCC designed to help independent school students engage with diversity and improve their communities.
From Thursday to Saturday, Courtney Celestin, Jesse Cooper-Leary, Ciara Cury, Keerti Gopal, Katrina Meyer, and Enrique Rosado joined 1600 students from independent schools around the country for a series of workshops, speakers, and affinity group sessions. The focus of the conference was activism: how do we, as students at independent institutions, identify the problems in our schools and go about creating real change?
Students spent the bulk of the conference in “family groups:” assigned groups of about 70 students, led by two adult facilitators. In family groups, we had discussions about a variety of social issues, including class, race, sexuality, gender, ability, religion, and more. Throughout each day, students were given the choice to join a racial affinity group or an interracial LGBTQ+ group.
SDLC was full of conversation on what it’s like to be a student of color at a predominantly white school. Rodney Glasgow, Co-Chair of SDLC, spoke directly to students of color. “Integration happens every time you take your black, brown, red, yellow, beautiful self to those lily-white campuses. You are the Little Rock Nine.” he said in a speech to all of SDLC. “Do what slaves taught us to do,” he continued. “Eat their food, sit at their tables, learn their language. And then own the house.”
At the Closing Ceremony, SDLC and PoCC came together to watch a panel of John Lewis, Christine King Farris, and Hank Aaron. Upon seeing these three legendary American heros take the stage, the entire room erupted in a standing ovation. When the noise finally died down, they spoke to the conference attendees about how to be better activists, particularly for racial justice, but with words that apply to all forms of advocacy.
“When conflicts arise, resist the urge for physical for verbal violence,” said Christine King Farris, professor at Spelman College and older sister of MLK jr.. “Stretch for understanding.”
“There are absolutely no shortcuts,” said Hank Aaron, civil rights activist and record-breaking MLB player.
“Just love everybody and do what you can to make this little piece of real estate we call earth a little greener and a little more peaceful,” said John Lewis, U.S. politician, Civil Rights leader, and advocate during the Selma voting rights campaign. “You’ll be all right.”
Although Fieldston attends the conference each year, it is an entirely different experience for each student who goes. The following are a few testimonials from students who attended this past December.
Jesse Cooper-Leary
My mother, who has been a teacher at fieldston for 20 plus years, has gone to PoCC many times, so I when I arrived in Atlanta, I already had an image in my head of what the conference was going to look like. But when I got to the opening ceremony of the conference I could not have been more overwhelmed. The image that I had created for myself, while partially accurate, could in no way describe the magnitude of the conference. I don’t think I have ever been in a room with such a diverse group of kids and adults. About an hour into the conference I realized how great SDLC really was. A girl tapped my shoulder. It was a girl who I went to preschool with, whom I had not seen in 10 plus years. That was when I realised that not only is SDLC a conference about race in America, it also brings people together. The most heartwarming part of the conference was when we broke into affinity groups. With my mother being half black and my father being white I made my way to the multiracial group. In my whole life I have never felt so accepted. In that room, I felt like I was finally represented. The feeling of affinity and the experience of talking to kids who understand your struggles because they are like you is incredibly affirming. Identifying as multiracial at Fieldston, I’ve never felt like I could confide in someone or in a group because I didn’t see anyone who was like me. After SDLC I no longer have that issue. SDLC taught me to be proud of who I am, and I can firmly say that now I very much am.
Courtney Celestin:
I would say that one of the most impactful moments of the conference for me was the introduction on the first full day. Walking into the Omni Hotel and seeing everyone attending the conference and just witnessing a sea of beautifully diverse identities in one space made me feel like I was part of something really special. To begin the conference, all 1600 student attendees gathered in an auditorium for the opening ceremony, along with the adults from the People of Color Conference. Hearing the co-chairs of the SDLC and the PoCC conferences speak about love and diversity and coming together, particularly in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, and seeing how unapologetically proud each of them were of their identities really resonated with me in a way that I can’t even put into words. After the co-chairs spoke, the keynote speaker for the ceremony, social justice activist and lawyer Bryan Stevenson, spoke about his experiences working as a lawyer and the difficulties he faced seeing the effects of mass incarceration and the school to prison pipeline and the effects that both had on young people of color. Following Stevenson’s speech, all of the students gathered in a back room for more introductory activities, including pairing up and introducing ourselves with other students, as well as the silent movement activity in which one of the co-chairs read aloud statements pertaining to identifiers such as race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. As the activity continued, you could feel a sense of acceptance in the room. I could go on for so much longer about not only the impact of the opening of the conference but the impact of the entire conference and meeting everybody, but to sum everything up the opening ceremony made me feel like I could truly go beyond this conference and make a significant change, and it also reminded me that I, as a black woman, am powerful, beautiful, and valuable as I am.
Enrique Rosado:
Up until now, a month later, I had no words to describe SDLC. For me, SDLC was a place where I felt heard, even in a group of 1,600 other students. It was a place filled with love and it’s sad to say, but I felt more love amongst the 1,600 strangers than I do amongst my peers here at Fieldston. SDLC was important to me because it forced me to step out of my shell and speak about issues I’m passionate about to those who share different opinions. Unlike the sometimes hostile roundtables and unproductive Facebook arguments we have at Fieldston, at SDLC I was actually able have coherent conversations with people who disagreed with me. My biggest takeaway from SDLC was the ability to listen to others regardless of their opinions, because in order to actually make a change we need to meet those with differing opinions halfway. As someone who often shuts down after hearing something I find to be incorrect, I know that makes productive conversation impossible. This doesn’t mean that I’ll be letting racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, etc. go unchecked, it just means that before completely shutting you down or shutting you out, I’ll try and engage you in conversation and show you my side non-aggressively. I think this is a lesson that would be valuable for all of us at Fieldston. We are much quicker to tear each other down for unpopular opinions than we are to try and guide each other in better directions, and if that remains the case, nothing will change. I definitely recommend SDLC for all people, regardless of your “wokeness.”
