Advocate for Your Children

My parents made a lot of sacrifices to put me through private school.  But I wanted to be with all the cool kids.  And the cool kids went to public school.  I begged my mom to let me go to public school in the 8th grade.  She relented.  But at the young age of 12, I was unaware of educational disparities.  I went from high standards & expectations to some form of babysitting.  

I will never forget going to the Vice Principal to ask for permission to join the honors classes so I could be challenged more in my academics.  He told me, “You’re fine where you are.”  (My blood still boils, to be honest.)

I didn’t get my parents involved because, hello!  This is what I asked for.  Don’t you know that by the end of the year, I was begging to go back into private school.  Systemic racism is not political fodder.  It’s a freakin’ reality that I was exposed to at an early age.  I’m asking parents of color to be consciously aware of the people in charge of educating your child, starting from pre-school until they graduate from high school.