Black Lives Matter

Dear Brightworks Families, 

We are moved to reach out to our community to open (or continue) conversation, resource-share, and build toward productive action that we can take to support and join with Black people, and communities of color, who are facing a fight for their lives.  We know that many of you have already taken steps to engage, support, and donate.  Our intention is to share resources for how to help you support your children in learning about and processing grief around racism as well as create a space for a discussion of how to channel our grief into action.  

The recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, along with the false accusations of Amy Cooper, are reminders that we live in a society where Black people, and people of color, are disproportionately affected by police violence. The protests in Minneapolis, and around the country, represent generations of pain, grief, and anger in reaction to the lack of safety and due process afforded to Black people in this country.

As we imagine is true for many of you, we feel increasingly hopeless and helpless as we look at the unjust world around us. We worry about the world that our students live in and that our future children will experience. We are concerned that we as a society are upholding a status quo that privileges some and oppresses, excludes, and victimizes others. We are not content to live with that knowledge. 

We recognize that talking about race can be difficult. For parents of our youngest students it can be daunting to figure out how to frame current events in a developmentally appropriate way.  For parents of our older students that follow the news, it can be difficult to figure out how to support them through feelings of anger and powerlessness. However, we feel that it is vitally important to engage in conversations about racism at any age, because, in the words of sociologist Margaret Hagerman, “kids are learning and hearing about race regardless of whether parents are talking to them about it.”  We’ve assembled a google doc full of resources to help in starting and sustaining these conversations.  We invite you to contribute your own resources to this document as well.

Brightworks as a school is committed not just to being non-racist but to being actively anti-racist.  As Ijeoma Oluo, an African American Writer and Educator states: “The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.”  We recognize that our school has work to do in examining our own biases and fighting racism and we welcome your help in becoming more inclusive and self-aware.  

Let this be a lovingly open door to an important conversation. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mackenzie, Anthony, and The Brightworks Staff