Each of us has a unique way of experiencing the world, but one thing that doesn’t change is our desire to be treated with respect and kindness! Learn more about neurodiversity with our playlist of kid-friendly videos discussing the experiences of those with different neurotypes! 🌈
You can also find more resources on how to support young people in your life from the Neurodiversity Celebration Week Resource Hub.
Hana Terpstra is a current senior in high school with a focus in art and design and a love for storytelling. She believes community and learning how to learn are vital, and hopes that all future students get to learn these values.
Making sure all kids get to learn important topics like these, as well as skills like connection and a desire to learn, is a message I’d love to help spread. My main interest is in the arts; Almost all of them, from sewing to writing to painting to drawing. Recently, I have been looking into art applications for colleges and art-based scholarships, and I came to realization that I don’t really know which art I want to focus in. The whole college search is a very anxiety-causing process, but this specific fear, that I have to make decisions about my future when I don’t even know what I want to do yet, was the most looming of all.
Then I thought about one of the most defining books for me- Scott Mccloud’s “Understanding Comics”. In it, he describes the art of making comics like an apple- (though perhaps an onion is more accurate) with different layers. From the outside in, it goes surface, craft, structure, idiom, form, idea/purpose. The metaphor works for the entirety of art as well; Starting out, most people’s art is “surface level”, then as their craft develops they begin to play with structure, genre, what form the art takes, and the central idea of the whole thing. I am fascinated with that last one; the question of “Why am I doing this?” Though my art is just “surface”, the concept of a reason is appealing.
Taking this idea in mind, and my anxiety over looming portfolio requirements, I created an experiment. I would try and find my “reason” the best way I knew how – through research – and then use that new information in my art. A piece of visual art advice I always get is “draw from real life, not from others art – at least to start.” This is given because learning how to see the world and communicate it through your own lens is critical in defining your style – but perhaps, it also could be critical in find an interest, a reason.
So I took to the internet and began to research, putting what I found into a slideshow presentation. Then, I came to another realization. The skills I had learned in school, from reading material to advice from my art teachers, even from science projects and English reports – they were vital for this project. I used my friend, a fellow art student, to keep me on track to my goal. Even the purpose of my search- curiosity, questioning- was something taught in school! I was using these skills to my benefit in my craft, something I hadn’t noticed before. I am very lucky. If I didn’t have the opportunities I had in middle and high school, my visual library, skills, and connections would be much worse. I wouldn’t have had the interest in learning, in reading books, in finding advice, in keeping motivation to stick through a big project like this – if I didn’t have the desire to learn.
And that is something education instilled in me. Heck, even now, writing this, I am using foreshadowing and formatting in an essay-like structure. It’s not just about the topics in school – though those are certainly helpful as well – but the skills. And just now, going into my last year of high school, I’m starting to understand what my teachers have been saying all along – the skills you build here will help carry you through life later. Carrying this knowledge with me makes me feel a little more prepared for life. Even if I don’t know where I’m going, I know I have the skills to get there.
Naavya J. is a current senior in high school, and is fond of computer science, biology, and different topics that pique her interest. She wishes to see a change in educational systems that will equip future generations of learners with the skills to transform the world in unimaginable ways.
The enormous arched doors of school open wide everyday,
Promises of integrity and empowerment sweep the halls.
Chittering students discussing and debating,
A vision so strong that a brand new future calls.
Education used to be a haven of democracy,
A place for citizenship and competency, one could see.
Alas, snapping back to reality, it’s clear,
The only haven that exists is filled with anxiety.
It’s not only test scores, and grades that scare,
But also the lack of intellectual stimulation and preparation in trust.
School should be a forum of open debate and discourse,
Allowing ideals, issues, and great works to be discussed
Everything revolves around perfection and mastery,
Everything in a school system looks great in writing.
Boasting immense funding with a large list of clubs and activities,
But what about a curriculum filled with intellect that is uniting?
What if we dreamt of a world where curiosity was prized?
What if we believed contradiction was a blessing, not a curse?
What if we opened the floor to open discovery and research?
What if we finally believed in innovation and the power to converse?
An expansive universe sits in anticipation,
A million secrets left to unfurl, waiting for recovery.
A new generation of potential born every year, a new wave of solutions,
But the universe waits in the forefront of discovery, just for a voice.
In May of 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill requiring the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander history in K-12 curriculums in Florida public schools. This came right on the heels of Governor DeSantis barring public schools from participating in a pilot of the College Board’s course on African American Studies.
In response to the Florida Governor’s decisions, many activists were outraged and spoke out in opposition to the educational and social-emotional harm the decision against the African American Studies course would have on students in Florida. This harm would be especially impactful for the Black students being told by their leaders that the histories of their communities were not worthy of being taught in school, while the histories of their Asian American and Pacific Islander peers were deemed to be necessary. Education advocates and community members were also deeply concerned with the potential rippling effect DeSantis’ policies could have on local and state education policies in other parts of the country.
The pair of decisions to bar African American Studies while simultaneously mandating Asian American and Pacific Islander History may initially appear contradictory. Unfortunately, this would not be the first time unsavory political actors have attempted to pit Asian Americans against other ethnic and racial minority groups in the United States.
The model minority myth, a stereotype of Asian Americans that creates a hierarchy within communities of color, was invented and continues to be perpetuated to block those seeking to end the educational, economic, and social disparities facing marginalized communities. This harmful stereotype and resulting racial stratification hurts everyone, including the Asian American students and community members that are being used as tools against solidarity.
Unfortunately, often lost in the intentionally drummed up outrage is space for conversations about the harm that being used as political pawns has on Asian American communities. We also lose sight of the reality that there is a near complete lack of Asian American history or Pacific Islander history being taught in American public schools. Currently, just 11 states require K-12 students to learn Asian American and/or Pacific Islander history at any point in their years of schooling. This is a serious issue that does need to be addressed, and not just used for political aims. Clearly, we have a real need for a thorough and accurate Asian American History and Pacific Islander Education in our schools.
First popularized amid the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the model minority myth was created to define Asian Americans in opposition to other racial and ethnic minority groups.
Relying on stereotypes and out-of-context data, this myth paints Asian Americans collectively as financially well-off, hardworking, and socially and politically docile. The model minority myth creates a monolithic story of over 26 million Americans with family ties to nearly 50 countries, erasing the vastly different backgrounds, histories, and lived experiences of dozens of different communities.
AAPI is a commonly used acronym for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Historically, the United States government has grouped Asian Americans with Native Hawaiian people, as well as others from islands across the Pacific including Guam, Samoa, and Tonga.
While there is a long history of these communities intentionally linking themselves in the United States as a way to form networks of solidarity and push collectively for positive social change, the grouping can also be seen as a harmful generalization. This is especially true for Pacific Islanders who may feel that the grouping erases the distinct histories and cultures of their nations and communities. Due to the fact that most education policies being pushed make this link between Asian American and Pacific Islanders, it is the framework most often used to discuss the current debates and issues in education. It is important to recognize that the term AAPI encompasses millions of Americans with heritage from dozens of different nations, and for education advocates and leaders to seek specificity when available and appropriate.
Like many marginalized communities in the US, most of us could sum up what we learn about Asian Americans into a few pages in our United States history textbooks— if we’re lucky. For most American public school students, that might look like a brief discussion of Japanese internment during WWII, the red scare and rise of communist China, a blip about the Vietnam war, and for current students and recent graduates, possibly a lesson on the War on Terror. That is, if they make it that far before the end of year exams.
In these limited conversations, the stories, contributions of, and impacts on Asian Americans are rarely mentioned, if at all. In all these historical moments, Asian Americans are painted as “the foreign other” to be suspicious of, never as fellow Americans. This serves to isolate Asian American students and educators in the classroom and Asian parents and families in the broader community.
Discussions of the histories of Pacific Islanders in the United States are even rarer. Few students in the United States learn anything about how the state of Hawai’i became a part of the United States, let alone anything about the island’s history pre-European contact. This is also true of other United States territories of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Millions of Americans have ancestry from these islands and other parts of the Pacific, yet their histories go completely unexamined in most American classrooms. These gaps in our textbooks end up disappearing the voices and contributions of Pacific Islander communities in the US.
The way we currently teach Asian American and Pacific Islander histories (when we do) leads to real world harm. When Asian American and Pacific Islander students see their community members exclusively painted as a threat when mentioned, and otherwise disappeared from the rest of their textbooks, that causes serious mental and emotional harm. And it has major impacts on these students’ social and educational outcomes.
Paired with the pressure of unattainable standards perpetuated by the model minority myth, Asian students report experiencing adverse mental health conditions, including alarmingly high reports of thoughts of or attempted self-harm. Pacific Islander communities similarly experience erasure of their histories from textbooks along with high rates of young people reporting mental health issues.
This also manifests into violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from people who have spent their whole lives being taught to distrust their peers and neighbors.
When we teach an inaccurate and incomplete American history and refuse to be honest about the ways that shapes the present, all students are harmed as they are robbed of a quality education and the opportunity to learn about the contribution of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. And Asian American and Pacific Islander students take the brunt of this harm— mentally, socially, and academically.
1. Resist the Bait.
Politicians have long used Asian Americans and Pacific Islander as a wedge between communities of color looking to advance goals of equity and freedom. We must avoid allowing ourselves to be distracted by these attempts to separate those of us pushing for change. Instead, form relationships and find spaces of shared struggle and solidarity with everyone in the fight for educational equity for all students!
2. Get Educated.
It is critical to educate ourselves and the people in our lives on the impacts Asian Americans have had on this country, issues facing Asian American and Pacific Islander students and communities today, and the need to join in the fight for safe, equitable education for every child.
3. Push for Change.
We have to continue to push for more opportunities for teaching Asian American and Pacific Islander history both in specialized classes but also as mandatory parts of a comprehensive United States history and civics education.
What was your experience learning about Asian American and Pacific Islander History? Let us know in the comments below or by sharing your story here.
National Library Week is here, and the time to rally behind our libraries is now. As extreme politicians seek to attack education and defund libraries through harmful policies, our support during this week is more critical than ever.
That’s why we joined our partners at We Believe, PEN America, and EveryLibrary to sign the joint open Love Letter to the librarians who support our schools and communities. And now, it’s your turn!
1. Sign the Library Love Letter. Join Stand and our partners from We Believe, PEN America, EveryLibrary, and other organizations in showing your support to libraries and their staff as hubs of knowledge and community by signing onto this Library Love Letter!
2. Sign up for a library card. Sign up for a card to get access to a multitude of books, movies, and other resources all while supporting continued funding for your local library.
3. Get Connected. Explore We Believe, PEN America, and EveryLibrary’s National Library Week Action Guide for a range of activities at various levels of engagement, from sharing virtual stickers to urging Congress to protect the freedom to read.
One of the most effective ways we can all support libraries and library staff this National Book Week is by signing up for a library card and visiting our local library branches!
Need some suggestions on your next read? We asked our staff members what books they’re reading. Here are 5 reads they can’t stop raving about:
What books are you reading this National Library Week? Let us know in the comments below or join the conversation on social!
On January 20, 1969, eleven school children sat down for breakfast in the St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, California, free of charge. The children ate eggs, grits, fruit, and milk donated by local grocery stores, planned by nutritionists, and prepared by community volunteers. This was the start of one of the most impactful grassroots social welfare programs in national history, organized and operated by the Black Panther Party, a Black power political organization operating at the height of the 20th century Black Liberation Movement.
The BPP’s Free Breakfast Program was a collaborative effort of community members coming together to address a need in their community— namely, children’s lack of consistent access to nutritious food. By the end of the first week, that group of eleven children had ballooned into over 130. And by New Years Day of 1970, the BPP had served breakfast to over 20,000 school children across the country. At its peak, the Free Breakfast Program was responsible for providing breakfast to thousands of children every day across 45 different cities, regardless of their race.
The program immediately showed positive results. “The school principal came down and told us how different the children were,” recalls Ruth Beckford, a volunteer with the Free Breakfast Program. “They weren’t falling asleep in class, they weren’t crying with stomach cramps.”
And the BPP didn’t end their social welfare programming at breakfast, expanding to providing dozens of other programs at no cost to the community. In response to anti-Black policies that left Black, low-income, and urban communities to fend for themselves, BPP ran grassroots programs like their free health clinics, ambulance services, senior support services, and even free pest control for urban housing often left in dilapidated conditions by local governments.
While the popularity of the program quickly skyrocketed, everyone wasn’t quite so happy about children getting free food. The radical liberation group had long been a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, which saw the Free Breakfast Program as a threat that built trust between Black and urban communities and local Black Panther Party chapters. The FBI director feared this community building would lead to a further expansion of BPP’s ideas. But despite open, and often violent hostility from federal and local officers, the program continued to grow as thousands of children showed up to eat breakfast before school each day.
This popularity put pressure on politicians to create their own program to feed children before school. In 1975, the federal government implemented a permanent School Breakfast Program. Today, the SBP feeds over 14.5 million children before school. The implementation of a federal school breakfast program was a direct result of the community organizing of the Black Panther Party and serves as proof that local actions can have massive ripples. The work we do with our neighbors today has the ability to impact generations to come.
5 Ways You Can Make A Difference For Students Today
If there’s one lesson from last year, it’s that good things happen when we come together. As we step into the new year, let’s continue leveraging the power of community. Regardless of your advocacy role, here are 5 ways you can make a difference for students this year:
1. Amid ongoing book bans, consider taking action outside of the classroom. Visit your local library with your student to help expose your student to more diverse stories and improve their literacy. Signing up for a library card can go a long way in supporting your library system. Look to our library friend @mychal3ts for recommendations and inspiration.
Amid ongoing book bans, consider taking action outside of the classroom. Visit your local library with your student to help expose your student to more diverse stories and improve their literacy.
— Stand for Children (@Stand4Children) January 4, 2024
Look to our library friend @mychal3ts for recommendations and inspiration ✨📚 pic.twitter.com/0cfrsYmtul
2. Harness the power of community! Collaborate with local organizations, educators, and parents to create a supportive network for students. By working together, we can address challenges, foster inclusivity, and create a nurturing environment for learning. Join our Education Champions Facebook group to find like-minded education advocates and resources.
3. Commit to actively supporting & advocating for students. Whether it’s providing mentorship or amplifying student voices, let’s ensure they feel seen & supported. Check out Rose from Concrete, an organization working to support students in their community.
4. Think globally, act locally. Advocate for policies that prioritize student well-being and education at the community level. Together, we can build a supportive environment that fosters growth, learning, and success for EVERY student. Get involved here.
5. Stay Connected! Follow us on social media and join our email list to receive updates, resources, and action opportunities all 2024!
If there's one lesson from last year, it's that good things happen when we come together.
— Stand for Children (@Stand4Children) January 4, 2024
As we step into the new year, let's continue leveraging the power of community.
Regardless of your advocacy role, here are some tips and resources to guide your journey this year 🧵
What are some ways you are planning to be an advocate for students in 2024? What are some tips you would give to others who want to make a difference for students? Let us know in the comments below!
A Q&A with our partners at Rose from Concrete, a youth led organization working to support students in their community through mutual aid, direct advocacy, and youth mentorship.
It’s because of community members like you that we are able to join our partners in the fight for an equitable education for students. Connect with us to receive regular updates that empower you to make a meaningful impact on the lives of students and contribute to a more just and equitable education system!
Kayla Williams:
We at Rose from Concrete have grown to understand love as the will to extend yourself for either your own or another person’s growth. Thank you bell hooks. And we’ve got examples of love and what it looks like in action, right? Because we believe that love is action it’s not just words or feelings. And so I say that I love myself, I love my community, I love my people.
And I’m frustrated by the conditions that we are often expected to live in, in complacency. But how could I be complacent? How could I not be, you know, angered, fearful, upset, by, you know, the scarcity, the violence that we’re, you know, expected to live under? So, yeah,
I’m motivated by love to play my role in creating community or co-creating a world that reflects the needs and desires of my community.
Shanniah Wright:
There’s a long list of reasons that I was able to co-found Rose from Concrete. The main one, I think, is because I come from a single parent household. My mom raised both me and my brother by herself, and I had to watch her every day, not even knowing that sometimes think about how she was going to feed us, how she was going to pay rent and just ultimately watching the system in general fail her.
She was able to put me in a position where I can think critically about the issues and problems that go on around me, which allowed me to co-create and co-found Rose from Concrete. But I know that every single day that there are other single mothers, there are other community members or just people in general that the system is consistently failing.
I think that people should not have to choose between happiness and survival. I think that survival should be the bare minimum and that everyone should be able to choose to do what they want to do without the pressures of whether they were going to eat, sleep or breathe weighing down on them.
Osariemen Aiyevbomwan:
What pushed me to start this work is that I come from a big Nigerian-American household, and so for many of my siblings and myself included, being black and marginalized has really disrupted our connections to safety in our homes and in the world at large. And the violence inflicted
on us has corrupted our intimate relationships with ourselves, but also with one another and each other. And because of these struggles, we’ve been alienated from our home, whether it be an unconscious or conscious effort.
And I’m of the mind that we all belong here, that we all have a right to feel safe and free during our time here on this earth. And so,
I want to restore the relationships with ourselves in our environment so that our descendants inherit a more free world.
I believe that we are redeemable and that justice is possible through coordinated action to get us free. And for me, RFC has presented the opportunity to do just that and also feel at home while doing it.
Shanniah Wright:
Rose from the concrete is a play on word rose as in the verb and the noun, the rose as a flower rose, as in the act of rising. And this is a really cool play on word because we use concrete as talking about the jungle that is New York, the concrete that we walked every single day that we grow up in roses sprouting from it and actually rising from our circumstances.
I love our name just because it allows us to create and nurture and play on those words of growth and growing and something beautiful, which are flowers and concrete being something rough. And as a big Tupac fan Rose that grew from the concrete. I think we embody that and we want other people to see themselves in that beautiful lens as a rose as something to be nurtured and grown. And that can grow in the most unexpected places.
Kayla Williams:
I would say that students face very a multifaceted set of challenges. I think I kind of think of them or characterize them in three ways. First, I think there are material and basic physiological needs, right? We live in a society that allows scarcity to exist in abundance, which means that families deal with things like poverty, housing insecurity, food in access, that sort of thing.
And so children, you know, they belong to families, they are part of families. And they don’t simply shed that when they walk into the school door. So, you know, children, many of them are coming to school with these material needs still existing. And then, of course, they’re dealing with, I think the attack on education that we’re seeing. But that has been going on for, you know, frankly, forever.
Right. Are we ever really learning the truth I think an empowering truth in our schools, that’s up for debate. And then I think there is the socio-emotional, you know, challenges that come with being a young person, feeling powerless in a society that is telling you what you should look like, what you should be like, constantly reminding you how you, you know, pale in comparison to that.
Osariemen Aiyevbomwan:
When I was in school feeling the pressure to remain OK, and also remain a good student, but also navigating a school environment that was very frustrating and dismissive of my experiences I leaned on the experiences of those who came before me. So mentorship really carried me through my school experience. And that is why RFC prioritizes peer mentorship and community as a protective factor in the lives of young students. When feeling anxiety it’s something that I do to reassure the youth in my community is letting them know that they have resources and they have people who look like them, who can relate to their experiences and keep them grounded in the power of love and in the power of community. So that is something that has also reassured me.
Kayla Williams:
I would say that we aim to respond to the three buckets of needs that we identified. So material needs we aim to address through our mutual aid efforts. So aiming to have resources and funds pooled together so that if, you know, emergent needs do arise for youth, that we are able to offer them, you know, tangible support or connect them to someone who can do that.
Because once again, how can you prioritize the academic or the emotional if you know, you have more dire needs in front of you? We also offer, you know, like academic training and curriculum. So tutoring. Shaquille recently started a robotics program, you know, like to give tangible academic skills and support. And then finally we aim at the socio-emotional through our curricula on love and through our mentorship program.
I would definitely recommend that people just start to have conversations. I think, like I said before, one of the most powerful tools
of opposition is to convince folks that they are alone, that you are an individual against capitalism, you are an individual against white supremacy, you are an individual against misogyny. And so you feel like in response to that, I need to, you know, pick myself up by the bootstraps instead of coming together as a collective right, as a team, as a group, you know, as is done, you know, across sectors, right?
Usually creating progress in the direction that we don’t want. People aren’t doing that as individuals. They’re doing that, you know, with the help of decades of systems and policies and groups and people. And, you know, so I think talk to people around you recognize that you’re not alone in your beliefs and your desires, what you want to see in the world. And once you start to realize, wait you want the world to look like this, you want it to look like this too, you do too. Why doesn’t it? Right.
Collectively, we have power, we have voting power, we have spending power, we have political power. So, you know, why doesn’t the world look how we want it to look?
Osariemen Aiyevbomwan:
Some starting points for parents and for the folks who are looking to be more and more involved in their community would definitely be to start small. I’ll start looking right. We are under the misguided impression that we need to go elsewhere and abroad to find something good. But I would say talk to your neighbor for an extra ten to 15 minutes.
Share your struggles, problem solve together. You don’t know what nuggets of wisdom these conversations may unlock within us just by virtue of our continued existence here in these environments, we all have access to so much knowledge and expert or problem solving skills that deserve to be shared and used to generate community solutions.
So form little groups and little gathering spaces and be intention in fostering those intimate connections. You never know what love and magic comes out of those efforts.
Kayla Williams:
Folks can support funds. Like I said before, we want to be able to respond to immediate needs, physiological needs, basic needs through resources and funds that we pull together so folks can contribute to that. And I think we need support as well as an organization, marketing support, communications, volunteering you know, media, really anything and everything we could really support on.
And I would say, yeah, it’s a mutual aid organization and so we aim to bring our time, our resources, our efforts, our knowledge together and to collectively drive change with that so you can fit in that wherever you know, feels right to you. But I would also say that you can do things in your own community too closer to you, with your people, your family, your friends, your you know, I think that is a larger vision that we’re working together for that has, I think, space in your city, in your home.
It doesn’t have to be in Brooklyn where we are, though that would be nice. We believe that love is a force that can through it all, despite the concrete, grow roses, create futures that we’re told are impossible ones of life and, you know, nourishment and fruit. So, yeah, we believe that we can do the impossible collectively, and through love at Rose from Concrete.
In August of 2021, Chicago mother Ida Nelson stood with her son, Jett Hawkins, as Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed the Jett Hawkins Anti-Hair Discrimination Act into law. A year before, Jett, age 4, was sent home from school with an ultimatum— change his hairstyle or face suspension. The hair in question? A freshly braided set of cornrows, a traditional hairstyle in the African American community. “That day, Jett had worn his hair in braids, something that made him feel proud and happy.” Ida told me.
Even though the Crown Anti-Hair Discrimination Act has been signed into law in 20 states since 2019, these racist policies exist both in writing and in practice in school districts around the country. Discretionary dress code policies have been especially wielded against Black and Indigenous students who are disciplined at alarming rates for wearing their hair in its natural state or culturally significant styles. This wasn’t the first time Ida had heard of these discriminatory policies at her son’s school—but she made sure it would be the last.
“I oftentimes get upset about the injustices that I see. But being upset is just a starting point. It’s a call to action for me to decide what I can do about it.”
The Jett Hawkins Bill was signed into law in 2021, protecting over two million Illinois students from facing learning disruption for wearing their natural hair and cultural hairstyles. But Ida’s work isn’t over. And now she is calling on parents around the country to follow her lead. “I know that my community is going to be changed for the better in my lifetime by me just doing these little things and getting other people to buy in and to do the little things with me. And that has a snowballing effect and can make big changes.”
With the repealing of policies of inclusion in schools across the country, in tandem with the rising passage of book bans and restrictions on teaching students about marginalized communities in America, many parents are faced with similar scenarios at their own schools. I sat down with Ida Nelson to shed light on her journey and the pathways other parents can take to change these policies and protect their children.
JY: Okay, so you get a call from the administration of Jett’s school telling you to change his hair or he’s getting suspended. How did you know what steps to take next to push back against this discrimination?
IN: I am a person that once I start thinking about something, I won’t let it go. I am also that person that whenever I see something wrong, I’m not going to go to the manager, I’m going to write corporate.
For me it’s important to really hone in on what the issue is. Why did I feel so upset hearing this? Because it was not just about hair. That was the surface problem, but it was the combination of all the things that we’re talking about. Like why is it that my four-year-old little Black boy’s hair is offensive and banned with zero tolerance? That’s teaching kids that how they show up is not acceptable, and that they must change that in order to fit in with their society. And we know that that’s not true.
If you’re constantly targeting Black children for behavioral things, messing with their mentality or their understanding of what makes them special and unique, you know, interrupting their confidence, then that disrupts what they believe that they’re able to do and it keeps perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
But it also was about me being methodical and strategic. I knew that this was bigger than a hairstyle instinctually, but I needed to figure out how to articulate what the actual problem was and not from just an emotional standpoint. So, I started doing my research and writing out the statistics for how many times Black children have their academics disrupted for their hair. I started collecting all of that information, then I started collecting information about other instances of Black children being targeted with academic disruption and being kicked out of school for these zero tolerance policies.
JY: And after all this researching, how did you know who to contact about your problem?
IN: So, I did start with the proper channels. I started with the school, and the principal and I requested to speak with the board. And then I worked my way to the alumni. You know, I found my allies. When I felt like I wasn’t being heard I went to social media.
Then I went to the media after I got folks to buy into the idea that this is a problem, and why it’s a problem. And then we started working on the law, like I started reaching out to legislators, and working on trying to get it started with my aldermen, my own senator, Trisha Van Pelt, state representatives. And I looked at precedents. The Crown Act was the precedent that I was able to run off of, showing that my issue was something that was against the law.
JY: As you’ve worked on getting the Jett Hawkins Act passed and now implementation, you’ve been forthcoming about your own background. Why is it important to you to talk about your personal story?
IN: That’s the thing about storytelling, you telling and sharing your story is going to empower and inspire somebody else. And that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to empower and inspire.
Ida continues to spread positivity and have an impact on her community today, whether it be in policy implementation or using her ice cream business to get local parents and children involved in the community. She stands as a precedent for other parents who are facing similar issues in their own local communities. My key takeaways for how parents can learn from this conversation with Ida are:
Whatever path you take, know that you, like Ida, can make a difference in the lives of your community.
Humans are wired for storytelling. It is how we learn about and relate to the world around us. From movies, to campaign speeches, to restaurant recommendations from friends, we experience and share stories everyday that shape our thoughts and actions.
When we use those stories to inspire changes in the actions of our friends, families, and communities, that is called Public Narrative. Simply put, public narrative is using storytelling towards a shared goal.
People are ignited by their emotions, which is why we focus on storytelling. But passion alone is not enough. We need to direct that passion towards a common goal. This is why public narrative cannot be done in isolation. Unlike a personal story, we must engage with the collective story of the community we are in.
We develop public narrative through deep listening. That means being an active part of the community. Remember, sharing our stories is an act of leadership that inspires others to join us in making change! So, introduce yourself to your neighbors, attend local events, join a book club! Find ways to get to know the people around you so you can have a nuanced understanding of the shared values, experiences, and beliefs you have with the people around you.
“Well-told stories help turn
– Marshall Ganz
moments of great crises into
moments of new beginnings.”
We can imagine building a Public Narrative as telling a story in 3 acts. Those are the Story of Self (call to leadership), Story of Us (shared values and experiences), and the Story of Now (urgent issues + strategies).
Remember, Public Narrative is about the process, not strict rules! These are all guideline to help you get started. We develop our storytelling skills by sharing, listening, reflecting, and then sharing again. Make this story your own, and applicable to your community!
Feel free to play with the order of these for the most compelling version for your experiences and whoever you are talking to. What is important to remember is that all of these pieces are connected and feed into one another!
We can think of the story of self as the reason you were called to speak about the issue at hand. In this part of the story, we are looking for the experiences and memories you have that make you feel passionately about the issue. Give clear images and details to paint the scene. Below are some reminders and guiding questions to keep in mind when writing your Story of Self:
This is the point where you connect with the other person or audience. Why should they care about this issue? And why should they trust you? We want to build trust through grounding the story in the shared values, experiences, and beliefs you have with your audience. Below are some guiding questions and ideas to keep in mind when writing your Story of Us:
In the final part of the story, tell the other person what is happening right now that needs their attention. Three things to remember when discussing the current issues facing your community is to describe why the issue is urgent, why it is important, and to give them hope that they can help make a difference. Below are some guiding questions and ideas to keep in mind when writing your Story of Now:
The key plot points to remember are the challenge you faced, the choice you made, and the outcome of your choice. Below are some guiding questions for each of these plot points.
Dig into those things you relate on to find common ground and build trust in your audience that you are someone they can relate to.
We want to highlight shared values as motivation for action. Describe how these values are impacted by the issue you care about. Paint a picture of how their values would be realized if they act or threatened if they do not take action.
In the final part of the story, tell the other person what is happening right now that needs their attention. Three things to remember when discussing the current issues facing your community is to describe why the issue is urgent, why it is important, and to give them hope that they can help make a difference.
The urgency + importance of an issue can often be upsetting.
We need to also leave the audience with hope that the world can change.
Paint a picture of a world where your goals are achieved.
Remind the audience that they can make a difference!
You did it! Combine your practice responses from questions 2-5 to create your own public narrative. And when you are finished, share it with us! With all our voices together, we can make a difference!
Remember, this is a guideline, not a rule book. The best way to develop this skill is to practice! Every time you work your storytelling muscles by engaging your friends, family, and neighbors, your story will improve. As you continue to mold your story, the feedback and responses from your audience will help you grow as a speaker and add nuance to your understanding of the issue, making you a better advocate. Whether talking to a family member or speaking at your local parents’ group, remember that your stories have the ability to change minds and make a difference. So, use your voice!
Want to start the conversation with your community? Download the Empower app and invite 3 people you know who also want to discuss these important issues. Together with our communities, we can find new solutions, and make real changes.
