Prevention of Equal Education

The Educational system in all districts are made to provide the best form of learning to many of its students within their communities/neighborhoods. But things we have been left in the dark about is why certain schools are properly funded to benefit those that aren’t of different color/diversity. Not only that but even after many years after segregation of schools, it is evident that many schools are selective of the type of students chosen to be able to receive acceptance as well as opportunities to take advantage of their school system regardless if it's deemed as “public”.

According to one of our district city hall meetings, we have established what the need for resources is its entire purpose. However, it's evident that a divide in the amount of resources provided to people are often considered another form of systematic racism and here is why. Firstly, less resourced schools are schools that keep minorities within while more resourced are ones with mostly white schools. This is seen as highly unfair. Not only should resources not be an important thing to be held away if a student doesn't seem eligible or met towards the requirement of obtaining, but this also imposes a way of systematic racism in our heads. For example, schools that are more resourced prioritize white students while less resourced take in any they get. This directly shows the unequal treatment and relationship in the diversity in its students. This sparks a need for resourced equity in schools and the children that are taking the advantage of it without any exclusion of people that are seen as different from whatever they prioritize to be acceptable for its educational infrastructures. 

The prioritizing of who deserves to be eligible for getting access to good resources and schools based on race is highly unacceptable since it diminishes other youth. For example, it causes many people of color to be left with the remaining (lesser amount) of resources implemented in their schools instead of getting any access to what white people are gaining from their public schools, because of this realization, there is now a need for more funding for public schools that are well in need in many districts, which in long term, could create equilibrium between the white public schools that are already properly funded. If this continues any longer we will be implementing into our public youth day by day that white people are more worthy of resources and financial support then black people that should just stick with what they already have and manage. Not only that but there are also other forms of educational systematic racism we don't take to account such as the gentrification of white people moving into minority based communities, but not sending their children to the schools in those neighborhoods. Instead, they feel their children are more worthy of schools that are more funded with resources and are predominantly not of diversity. This has been completely normalized for too long. Hence, I believe it's necessary that we push and advocate for a break in this educational system that prevents the people of color (minorities) from obtaining anything that is even close to the proper funding and resources that the predominately white public schools are often given, and allow for more developments of integrated schools that provide equal opportunity of learning with properly funded resources from their districts to occur.

—By: Gbenga Akinrosoye

Dec 16, 2020

Liberation in our schools- It's necessary

Liberation in schools has been a big discussion, the main goal is to offer a curriculum that is lacking at a lot of high schools. This is to expose a more wide variety of subjects to the students. They plan to add different workshops such as meditation and art to the schools. The main goal is to center on learning growth and less about competing for the best grades. With many of these criteria’s met and advocated for, there can be more possible changes to occur that can help suffice the people and youth of the U.S. as well as NYC, bringing fourth social progression. High school students had the chance to join a meeting that covers this discussion. I encourage you to take a look at these reports or if possible, a little research of your own. 

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In the integrated nyc meeting, we tackled many concepts that centered around collective power. My colleagues and I noted the many initiatives that youth like ourselves can take to help push for more changes to be presented to the public of NYC as the election draws near. Not only that, but also the many expectations that the youth of our cities need for our upcoming future president that wins the 2020 election. There were various important requests and adjustments listed that are needed for people to have more social progress as the next  4 years tie over.

Firstly, it was stated in this meeting that there should be a set of things that the youth should be able to obtain through policy and litigation. For instance, it was stated within one of the slides presented to us that “ students drive unprecedented litigation, legislation, and policy to: shift material resources to support and educate youth(real integration) as well as increase youth autonomy in legal systems(youth abolition). These are necessary goals implemented for the youth to be able to reach as they begin to advocate and take more direct action into establishing more social progress in NYC. Additionally, one more goal for youth “peer defense projects” was for an “elevated institutional power of NYC youth”. This mainly insinuates how there should be more advocacy for youth voting rights in ways that make it more eligible for people of young age to be included and take action with less requirements that limit their voice. Not only that, but we had also established ground rules that should be presented to our future president as a way for them to understand what must be in place to allow for the citizens and youth of the U.S. to feel protected and have social progress. It was stated that the inner city youth are pushing for “abolition, liberation of all people & authentic and sustainable social progress.” They also strongly aspire for “joy and unapologetic self-love are radical practices of resistance.” To conclude, as shown from the Liberation lesson meeting it is evident that with many of these criteria’s met and advocated for, there can be more possible changes to occur that can help suffice the people and youth of the U.S. as well as NYC, bringing fourth social progression.

By: Gbenga Akinrosoye

During this zoom call we talked about what we thought was going to happen in the election tomorrow. There were people who said they were afraid of what was going to happen and how it was going to impact us. We then watched a video about their campaigns. We then met Shesheena Bray who made us do some breathing exercises. This made us less stressed and more comfortable. After that we had Danielle speak to us about liberation in schools. The main goal was to offer a curriculum that was lacking at a lot of high schools. This was to expose a more wide variety of subjects. They added different workshops such as meditation and art. The main goal was to center on learning growth and less about competing for the best grades. Next we had another speaker named Emma who talked to us about a campaign called our future for president. She talked about how the election doesn't offer an opportunity to address urgent issues and offer more tangible change in the form of policy. Rather than focus on any particular political candidate we will push people to vote with our futures in mind. She also said that this will demand that the voices and priorities of young people are present in political conversations. She then said how our future president is not just about making changes in policy but about building the power of people so that they can control their own narrative and decision-making process.Our next speaker was Fria who talked about how to get the youth voice heard. She said how the power of social media has allowed us to show that young people can and should have a say in all these issues. We would be able to create a strong organization of youth to work together around issues that matter to us and our organization would allow us to teach each other about these important issues and continue to spread our message to more people. Our last speaker was Aneth and she talked to us about the peer defense project. This was to gain resources to support and educate the youth. She also talked about elevating institutional power of the youth and increasing youth autonomy in the legal systems. I learned a lot from this meeting and I agree with what they stand for. 

By: Gabriel Moreau 

Police Reform and Reinvention

Recently, there has been a collective meeting between the NYPD of each department as well as the inner community people. Within this listening session, there was a main goal that the police department yearns to obtain which is to gain the trust of the people they protect back. The Department has taken a wide initiative at aiming to reform their way of policing in New York city. Because of this, the police within the meeting brainstorm new ideas of how they can keep people safe without violating the rules set up for them, causing the people in our communities to not feel any tension between themselves and the police.

Firstly, as the listening session plays out, they establish various ideas on how they could properly continue policing without harming or violating the peace between them and the people they are sworn to protect. Some of the ideas were collaborative policing, increased non enforcement options, creative crime reduction strategies, and community/government advocate relationships. In order for these ideas to be enacted, they find instant and refurbished training to be necessary, whether it be blended training or virtual(online platform). These training programs will include crisis intervention training, implicit bias training, and investigative encounter training. Not only that, but within the meeting, it was stated that “the current police department training we are coming up with aims to reduce the necessary amount of force needed to keep others safe.” This is a very significant goal of change as it can help to reduce many casualties or injuries of criminals or even civilians within our communities when encountering an intense situation. This can also allow for the reduced reports of police shootings. Another police duty that is being reformed is the “stop, question, and frisky” law that many cops use it to interrogate anyone deemed suspicious. Over 700,000 citizens have been faced with these preliminary investigations while showing no criminal intentions. Although this may seem as processional policing, it unnecessarily violates the privacy of an everyday citizen within New York. A reform on this training and mandatory investigation could lead to trust being gradually brought back between Police Officers/Law enforcers and Citizens.

To conclude, these various ideas of reforms being presented in this meeting are aimed at bettering society as a whole. Instead of unauthorized and excessive use of police power, the Police Departments can improve their law enforcing system with disciplinary guidelines as well as reducing the excess actions taken to regulate the crimes with NY. Overall, this can allow for the citizens of the city to be able to have more trust in the police as well as reduce the excess amount of police brutality and incorrect use of the law enforcing power given to many police officers, making New York a better place.

—By: Gbenga Akinrosoye

During last week's NYPD Youth Reform I was highly disappointed with the way it was handled and it didn’t seem professional at times. We put our trust in the NYPD and when some comments were made they laughed at it. What really surprised me is when the police commissioner addressed black people as “you people”. When I heard that it felt like somebody spit on my face and I couldn’t do anything about it. That showed me that the commissioner doesn’t have the same respect for black people that he has for others. I think next time they need to be more mindful of their words. One thing that stood out to me was that it was more like us asking them questions and them not answering. I felt like that defeated the purpose of meeting. The point of it was for the NYPD to hear the YOUTHS opinions on what police could do better. Marwa and I were the only youth that got a chance to speak and get our points out, but it felt pointless because the questions we asked weren’t even answered. They were answered with “Good comment” and the next person was asked to ask their question. The NYPD were asked about Covid-19 questions 5 times last night and not one time were they answered. It felt like they were avoiding answering questions all night. They didn’t even try to make an effort to even make a short statement or say they would get back to us via email. I feel like the police department should do a better job next time to have a more professional meeting dedicated to the youth.

—By: Brandon Lino