On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, Nyack High School’s Social Justice Club stood before Nyack School District’s Board of Education and presented their findings after attending a Racial Equity Workshop with principles developed from the People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond. There, they were taught ideas such as “learning from history, analyzing power, undoing racism, developing leadership, internalized racial oppression, gatekeeping, identifying and analyzing manifestations of racism and maintaining accountability.”
In their presentation, members Rachel Asoda, Gabriela Figueroa, Ryleigh Aulet, Sami Goodman, Jaden Cabiroy, Amber McDonald, Calvin Co-Mided, Josie Rothman, Medjine Cime and Jesse Woodhouse asserted that Nyack High School should adopt the workshop and offer it to 10th graders.
The workshops ended up taking place in early January of this year. The 10th grade was split into 4 cohorts, each group composed of 50-60 students. The original workshop had only 30 students, but because of the sheer size of the sophomore class, the group numbers were doubled.
The Equity Workshop was held in the library, taking advantage of its large space and smaller rooms. The workshop began with some icebreakers and friendly mingling. The group then wrote and agreed upon rules and goals for the two-day program, such as respecting classmates’ opinions and listening diligently. The instructors taught about the creation of race — a social construct — and its purpose: to oppress non-white people. The workshop was heavily focused on the history of race and its illegitimacy, touching on the effects of racism in the last century and ending with recent and local statistics.
The workshop received mixed feedback. While the presentations were informative and shocking for some, they left others wanting more. Mandy Vega, a sophomore who attended the workshop, said that she thought “they needed to get to the point faster…it wasn’t good until the second day, when the instructors let everyone talk to each other [about the subject matter].” On the other hand, Tela Kopacz said the workshop “was very educational. It was kind of shocking that race doesn’t exist, and it is super important to talk about.”
10th graders will soon receive a survey asking for their honest opinions to improve the workshop for next year. Nyack’s student body is dedicated to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in our school community.
“I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.” — Malcolm X