Embrace Inclusion, Rectify Inequity

As an intern with Parsippany High’s school counseling program, I’ve been connecting my studies at Seton Hall University with experience by meeting student academic and socioemotional needs. Moments with students have oscillated between supporting student achievement and alleviating students struggles with adjustment during COVID-19. As the pandemic has brought a re-education of what education can look like, our capacity as a collective community to change is promising, because such energy can be applied toward racial justice in schools.

With increased attention toward reciprocity in the educational system for students systemically oppressed, now is a moment where we can embrace inclusion and diversity in our communities through programs and policies to rectify historical inequities. Although some communities label such goals as indoctrination and erasure of culture, it is rather honoring and supporting the multiplicity of identities that make our communities what they are. Such difference can and should no longer be diminished for the sake of the status quo. With youth particularly vulnerable to changes in their environment, engaging in the work of racial justice is vital to uphold the individual in the here-and-now and work towards a just future.

How can a community which embraces racial justice reflect such values? Inclusion is the cornerstone, because it encompasses one’s intersectionality, meaning the many identities and positions one carries. As a white, cisgender non-conforming male, I recognize that what makes me, me, informs how I move through life. To that end, identity is an influencer of how we see and engage with the world, and if the world does not value our identity, we suffer for it, as individuals and as a larger community. If inclusion is absent, youth whose intersectionality differs from the status quo suffer a crisis of identity and confidence, as school norms and values do not reflect themselves. A hardened reality develops, that they, their lives, their bodies and their experiences ultimately do not matter. This speaks to how systemic forces of institutionalized racism and privilege are very real forces affecting students, requiring advocacy efforts to combat this to create compassionate and resilient communities that cherish the spectrum of student identity.

Considering the expanse of racial justice in society, such a movement must include schools, because they facilitate much learning and growth. Not only do students learn foundational knowledge necessary for life beyond school, but they also polish their ability to engage in relationships, define their passions, and create the belief in themselves that they can continue to grow and achieve beyond their high school experience. This is facilitated by the countless hours and efforts educators, counselors, social workers, administrators and service workers provide to support students in their position. Leaning into policies and procedures for racial justice ensures that this is a commitment to all students, for if one student is diminished, we all suffer that loss. 

An echo of this lies in James Baldwin’s 1963 address to educators titled “A Talk to Teachers.” In it, Baldwin contrasts the ideal of education for the individual with its practice in society. Where education should expand consciousness and be a mode of empowering the individual, all too often it compartmentalizes students within the lanes of society, signaling conformity. In realizing racial justice, this truth must be considered, that in order for communities to foster the individual, they must be on the task to see education as liberatory. To do so requires inclusion and commitment to systemic changes, for then individuals can believe in their capacity to succeed because a community fosters a place for them. As Baldwin illustrated, what is a crisis of identity on the individual level is also a crisis of identity on a societal level, and schools can be integral institutions that embody racial justice our world so desperately needs in this moment, for our children, ourselves and our communities as a whole.