All language subtitles for Defining.US.2022.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

[relaxing music]

[child 1] I pledge
allegiance to the flag--

[children]
Of the United States of America.

[child 2]
And to the republic.

[children]
For which it stands.

[child 3]
One nation under God.

Indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.

♪ My country, 'tis of thee

♪ Sweet land of liberty

♪ Of thee I sing

♪

[Paul] This movement
is not a moment.

It is a movement.

Hundreds and thousands
of people. We now have power.

[all] To learn. Yes.

And we have the platform.

[children singing]

♪ And so, let freedom ring

And we are going to stand up.

♪

If we have associations
and beliefs

that certain parts of our
population could be written off

and marginalized,

our society
is in for a lot of trouble.

♪

[explosions]

[sirens wailing]

[news broadcaster 1]
Tensions have now escalated.

[news broadcaster 2]
The social media outrage

and the public outrage.

[crowd chanting] U.S.A.

Let's begin by saying

that we are living
in very dangerous times.

[tense music]

Americans are bewildered
and they are afraid,

but most of all,
they are filled with rage.

We know that
the Browning of this country

has caused
anxiety for many people.

[crowd] Black Lives Matter!
Black Lives Matter!

[Kenyatte] We have
a long history of using fear

to prevent progress
versus using a hope and belief

in our children
and investment in them

to really dictate where we go

and how we move in the future.

wWell, let's be real.
Fear is a survival skill.

Fear is a part of being human.

And we have to acknowledge that.

But we also need to overcome it

and we need to address it
and we need to talk about it.

What should the conversation
on race consist of right now?

... being taught in schools

is putting teachers
and students on the front lines.

[man] I want to treat
people based on character.

So, what is equity?

To every citizen
in this country,

and particularly to those of you

who are dealing with the hearts
and minds of young people,

you must be prepared
to go for broke.

[crowd]
No justice, no peace!

No justice, no peace!

-[man] What's his name?
-[crowd] George Floyd.

[Courtney] I think
the murder of George Floyd

began to-- to wake us up,

especially many
of us as educators,

to what has been happening

to our-- our Black
and Brown children for years

right in front of our faces.

There is a proverbial knee
on the necks

of our young people
through the systemic racism

that exists in the policies,
in the procedures,

in the lack of representation,
in the deficit thinking,

both at an interpersonal
and a systemic level

that for many of us
went sight unseen.

[George] So you're talking about
a population

that has been left behind

When your breath is
taken away in school,

it looks like retention,
special ed, dropout.

Housing, it looks another way.

Shelters, homelessness,

and the penal system,
it looks another way.

I haven't even
been found guilty yet.

I just don't have the money
to make bail.

So, I have to spend a year
in here.

Either you're
going to do a fast walk

or a slow walk to failure.

[Bennett] You know,
a statistic that I like

to repeat often is
for a young Black or Brown boy

in New York City, in uptown
Manhattan or in the Bronx,

they have a one in ten chance
of graduating from college

from the moment they're born.

I can tell you from
my experience with my students

that as they've grown up,

they haven't
been treated equally.

And unless you
stand in their shoes,

I don't think you can
really know what it's like.

[Courtney]
This really speaks to,

um, what is referred to in
this country around race,

as our Black students
in particular,

always representing
the essential below.

200% more likely to be suspended
than their white counterparts.

150 to 200% more likely
to have failed a class

than their white counterparts.

Regardless of gender,
socioeconomic status,

all of that,

um, that race is the thing.

Race is the thing
that matters most

when it comes to predicting
what will likely happen

to our young people in our
public schools in this country.

[Alison] What we have
in this country

is reinforced narratives.

If race is the biggest predictor

of how I'm going
to succeed or not.

And you're already telling me,
based on my race,

this is my outcome.

The past should
not predict our future.

And that is why right now
is the time to act.

We need to take action
and do something different

so that we don't
get the same results.

Race, zip code, poverty,

parent, education, should not
predict a student's future.

I always blame myself.
Like, why me? Why God?

Like, why is this
happening to me?

Why can't I just live normal
like any other kid?

Why couldn't my parents
go to school?

Like, I will always,
you know, beat myself down.

Throughout history,
persons of African descent

have always wanted to belong.

The question is:

does America want them?

And so, we have to have
this conversation.

What does that mean?

If we can't talk about race,

we sure can't understand
the impact

that it has on our
decision making as educators,

on how we write policies
and on how we, uh, position

and make choices
around curriculum instruction

that our young people
experience every single day.

Absolutely. Race functions
so deeply in all of our lives.

Just look at the census.

I mean, the way that
we're counted, you know,

we have to identify as a race.

When children enter schools,
intake forms, race,

when we go to the doctor,
"What's your race?"

Everything is
categorized by race.

We can't get away from it.

So, to say that we're not
going to talk about something

that is so fundamental
to the creation of this country

and this society,

I don't think
that that's realistic.

It's about having
constructive conversations.

And constructive is a keyword.

To move forward
understanding around race

and around racism.

[Paul]
I'm Paul Forbes.

25 years in the Department
of Education here

in New York City.

I don't have any kids,

but I see these guys
as those guys that are mine.

Historically,
we haven't done a good job

of educating
Black and Brown children.

So now, I think
what's going to happen

if they're
a majority in this country.

People want to say
minority, minority.

We're actually the majority.

We've got to do better.

If we look at the history
of public education in America,

it wasn't about
everybody succeeding.

It was about
finding the best next leader,

the best next worker. All right.

It was about sorting.

And so,
at this critical juncture,

we have to address
the reason why we have school.

And I would argue that school

is about
liberation for everyone.

Are we in education to control
and to be in power over others?

Or are we in education
to liberate and empower others?

[David]
My name is David Kirkland.

I'm the executive director
of the New York University

Metropolitan Center
for Research on Equity

and the Transformation
of Schools.

I'm also the Vice Dean
for the Steinhardt School

of Culture, Education
and Human Development

and a professor
of urban education at NYU.

Chimamanda Adichie
says that stories matter.

Many stories matter.

[applause]

I'm a storyteller.

And I would like to tell you
a few personal stories

about what I like to call
the danger of the single story.

The consequence
of the single story is this:

it robs people of dignity.

It makes our recognition
of an equal humanity difficult.

It emphasizes
how we are different

rather than how we are similar.

I want to start
with the story of students,

because this is a story
to the students that matter.

Our kids experience pain
in their communities,

in their homes,
and at their school.

Everywhere they turn.

Stories have been used
to dispossess and to malign,

but stories can also be used
to empower and to humanize.

When we create
the opportunity for our youth,

our little ones,
to tell their story,

it opens up their humanity.

It allows them
to connect to who they are

and to be active listeners
of who others are.

And she encouraged me
and compelled me

to share the story
of the student that I know best.

[David]
The year that I was homeless,

I used to break
into my middle school.

Few people knew about it.

I would crawl into a window
into the janitor's closet

and I would sleep there.

I would break into the lunchroom

and I would steal juices
and lunches to eat

because usually after lunch,
which was around 12 noon,

I didn't get any other food
for the day.

One day,
I broke into the lunchroom

and there was a sign on it

that said, "Stop stealing
from us," and had a lock on it.

I would go to school every day.

I would go to school
every single day.

I had nowhere else to go.

And school, for me, represented
a space of stability.

I grew up with
a single mother who,

in order to put food
on the table,

ended up selling her body.

So, my mother raised us
in a brothel

in order to make
these courageous sacrifices

so that we could eat.

As a result,
she began to self-medicate.

In the 1980s, when crack hit,

they didn't have the compassion
that they had

for the opioid epidemic.

A whole generation has
been condemned to death.

[David] They weren't
talking about, you know,

the anxiety that comes from--
That comes with self-medication.

They talked about the
criminality of Black mothers.

They called them
"welfare queens"

and other things like that.

As a result,
my mother self-medicated

and couldn't take care of us.

By the age of 12, I was living
on the streets of Detroit.

12 years old,
homeless, living by myself

in a city that
was itself dangerous.

The anxiety,
the depression was ever felt.

It lived in my body.

And so often,
my story was represented

by the stories of my peers.

Why did we have
similar narratives

and why do so many of us
have similar narratives?

[Tyrone]
There is a narrative that exists

around young men of color

that they are prone to crime,
they don't value education.

They are menaces to society,

individuals and young men
who we should be fearful of,

concerned about, weary of.

And I saw that
narrative play out so many times

when I was growing up.

I saw it
growing up with my peers.

I mean, the perception is...
is real, right?

They're perceived
oftentimes as monsters.

They're perceived
as threats to society,

to people, to other kids.

They're perceived as
unsuccessful.

And that's just based off
of the color of their skin.

And if you believe
that the community hates you,

it causes a lot of pain.

It causes trauma,
and especially for young people

who are still
growing into their identity.

For what reason am I going
to go to your institutions?

Am I going to try to, you know,
to learn from your institutions?

Am I going to try to
follow all of your rules?

The single story
creates stereotypes.

And the problem with stereotypes
is not that they are untrue,

but that they are incomplete.

They make one story
became the only story.

When we start putting these
boxes around people's color,

identity, language.

You're more than what you see.

You cannot judge a book
by its cover.

[Angel]
My name is Angel Diaz.

I was born in Bronx, New York.

I've been here for
almost my whole 18 years.

I live with my mother.

What time is it?

Two.

[Angel]
My sister is Maria Garcia.

She's just my heart and soul.

There you go.

She doesn't have
a father right now,

so I have to try
to take the role of that

to try and make sure
this family stays together.

Stop, stop, stop.

Um, so, what are
your hopes for me?

Follow your dreams.
And not only for yourself,

for your sister too so that
she can follow your steps.

There's a lot of stereotypes
on Latino and Black men.

And, you know,

sometimes I understand
where they come from,

but then you always have to say,
don't judge a book by its cover.

Umoja is a Swahili term
for unity.

[teacher] So, you guys are all
leaders in your own, right?

[Ingrid]
It is designed to ensure

that our young men are able

to exercise their
leadership skills in a way

that will make them
college and career ready

and also be able
to impact their community

both inside
and outside of the school.

Whatever you do
becomes contagious to others.

I really look at them
and I call them my blood.

I call them my brothers.
I call them my family.

We are always on top
of each other. Do your homework.

Make sure you come to school.

[Averi] If your brother's down,
you pick them up.

If he's doing bad in school,
you help him with his work.

If he's having problems at home,
you speak to him.

Ask him what's going on.

If he needs to spend
the night at your house,

then you let that happen.

Whatever you can do
to help another person out

for the better.

Without Umoja,
I would have probably never

be sitting in this chair.

They helped me a lot,
saved my life.

For me, when I think about
Umoja and good teaching, right?

Because those things
come hand in hand.

Um, we aren't making
anything new.

These kids and these young men

already have everything
within themselves.

And I think Umoja is
just an opportunity for them

to see that within themselves.

Um, because everyone says
it's there.

They're like,
"Oh, it has to be there."

Um, and so whatever
that in-ness is,

whether it's leadership,
strength, power,

all these things combined,

we help them
see that that's there.

We have to examine our beliefs.

When we see a young Black man,
a young Black youth,

what do we see, right?

Do we see the narrative,

the prevailing
single story narrative?

Or do we see possibility?

Do we look at these young people
for what they can become?

[David] One day, you know,
I go to school.

You know, I'm not doing much,
but sitting in my desk

and this teacher
gives me a detention.

She gives me this detention.

I show up
and at that school this day

and I walk into
the teacher's room

and I sit down and she gives
me a stack of papers to grade.

I start grading them.

And then she reaches
into her pocketbook

and then she grabs out
two sandwiches.

One for her and one for me.

How did she know?

How did she know I wasn't
eating every day after school?

How did she know
that I needed space?

That I needed refuge
after school?

Well, to make
a long story short,

I break into the school one day
and I go up.

I break into school and there's
this bag with my name on.

And when I see the bag,
I'm like, "Oh, shit."

But I'm a curious kid.
So, I walk up to the bag

and I tear it open
and it has clothes in it.

And it has food, apples.

To this day, apples
are one of my favorite foods.

How did that teacher know?

She must have recognized

that I was wearing
the same clothes every day,

the same t-shirt,
the same pants.

She must have recognized
that something was off.

School made a difference to me.
That gesture.

That gesture
that my life mattered.

That somebody was noticing.

That someone saw me.

Helped me to make it through
the hardest year of my life.

Or at least one
of the hardest years of my life.

That did something,
that changed something,

that challenged something.

We can teach in a way
that helps students understand

that their feelings,
whatever they are, are validated

because of the experiences
that they are having.

When you help them understand,

not everyone lives
like this and it's not fair

that you see this
in your community

that you have to walk to school
through violent streets.

It's one thing after the other
for these children,

and they have
the right to be angry.

Instead of us saying to them,
"Something's wrong with you,

you have a mental health issue.

Let me send you
to someone to fix you."

No, we need to fix
these structures

so that you can
be whole and happy

and have a normal,
healthy childhood.

Everyone has their own unique
experience. They are here.

They get placed in
their life in their part,

and it is what it is.

There's nothing you can do
as an educator to undo it.

So, the theory that works
is that you take it

and you embrace it.

My name is
Qwantayvious Stiggers.

I'm from Atlanta,

graduated from B.E.S.T.
Academy High School.

I met Dr. C in 2015.

It was at the student
town hall meeting.

She was like,
just somebody not knowing me

from a pile of bricks
on the street and saying like,

"Yeah, like
I see potential in you,"

and for someone
to believe in me and say,

"Yeah, I care about you.

I really do love you
as a person," like I--

It made me feel special.

[Meria]
Kids are simply looking for

that mentor or adult
or a caregiver to say to them,

"I care about you and you
bring gifts and strengths

to your school, to your
classroom, to this family.

And because you do that,

I believe you can do what you
believe you want to do."

I want to say thank you
to my beloved mentor,

best friend forever,
and homie for life,

Dr. Meria Carstarphen.

During my high school
experience...

[David] Some people
would point to me and say,

"Look, our system works.

I made it.
You're an exception, right?

You-- you beat
the odds, you know?

Um, Professor Kirkland,
you need resilience.

You-- you had grit."

Well, our students aren't
lacking resilience or grit,

especially when
a system is aimed at them.

Might it be
that I'm one of the lucky ones?

We don't want students
to have to beat the odds.

We don't want them to make it
in spite of the system.

We want them to make it
because of the system.

♪

Education matters,
especially when it's like

what that teacher did for me,
when it's loving.

And that love is expressed
through practice.

[gentle piano instrumental]

[Mayra] My name is Mayra Messi

and I work at
Central Park East High School.

We really just operate
as sort of a family unit.

Our boys desperately
want to be men

and they want to be successful.

Nobody wakes up in
the morning and says,

"I want to be a failure."

[laughter]

You know, you have to get
to know them and figure out,

like, really what's going
on and then take it from there.

I think one thing
that PGC has helped me

with is realizing my potential.

If you look at it at the kids
like they're human beings,

you can learn a lot.

And in that, figure out,
you know, better ways to help.

And there's no
one size fits all.

You have to be willing
to sort of adapt.

My name is Moyagabi Drame.

I am a senior at Central Park
East High School.

It's kind of hard
to answer who I am

because I've been
like trying to find myself

as an individual.

My mom and my dad
are from the Ivory Coast,

or as people will call it,
the Côte d'Ivoire.

My dad was so eager
to come to America

to live the American dream.

I'm under a lot of pressure

because my mom
is always telling me

like I am like the savior
in the family, to--

to-- to help them grow
because they don't want me

to live the life they've lived.

Moyagabi, um,
he is a driven young man,

but he's also has had
a difficult time emotionally.

Um, there's a lot of self-doubt.

I've always gotten the sense

that he really
wasn't in a rush to go home,

and so his sort
of escape is school.

Then, I think that he depends
on his best friends

for that emotional support.

[Roberto]
My name is Roberto Lebron,

and I would
describe myself as like,

you know, outgoing person.

Um, I'm a kind person. You know,
I care a lot about people

try to help people
as much as I can.

And, you know, I just--
I'm not a bad person.

You know,
I have a good sense of morality.

Robert, um, is my best friend

and we've been best friends
since the sixth grade

and we've both
came to the school.

I told him before,
he's more than a friend.

He's literally a brother.

So, with Mo, Moyagabi,
I don't know where I would be.

Like, because in middle school,

I was going through a lot,
like, mentally stressed,

you know,
depression and everything.

But he was going
through it as well.

He was also depressed
for certain things, too,

and we had
those one on one talks.

At times,
we held each other and cried.

And, you know, and it was--
it was-- it was pretty tough.

♪

[Moyagabi]
I always think back on my life

before high school
was a nightmare.

Living in a shelter
for four and a half years.

[man]
I'll kill you!

[woman]
Come in here, come here.

Underneath me, there were guys,
like, just selling drugs

right underneath me and like
playing loud music, partying.

And then every--
every night after every party,

there was always
a commotion and fight

up to where
somebody pulls out a gun

and I hear like a loud bang.

And then,
every time that happens,

I always run into my mom's room.

And then, I remember I told her,

"I don't want
to live like this."

This is-- this is not us.
Why are we living here?

♪

[Roberto] My dad was pretty
abusive and I witnessed it.

Like, my dad would hit my mom
and yell at her.

My mom couldn't take it.
When she was hit,

there was like marks and stuff
and she was tired of it.

She just left. 2006.

That was the last year
that I lived with my dad.

I always think back
to my sophomore year

as being the worst year
I've had in high school

because my dad, he, um,
he went to prison

for something he didn't do.

Um, he was a cab driver
and, um, a cop stopped him

and thought-- He thought he was
using somebody else's I.D.

Just him being in jail took
a lot from me, up to where--

um, up to where I-- um,
I didn't care about school.

I wanted to drop out
to help my family.

[Mayra] Students are not
one-dimensional.

Like you're good, you're bad,
you're smart, you're stupid,

you're lazy, you're hardworking.

It's not that simple.

You know,
I've had a straight-A student

and she was
cracking under the pressure

and just stopped showing up
to classes. She's not lazy.

There's stuff going on.

My dad called once.

He asked me
how am I doing in school.

And that right there,
I took time to answer.

I was like,
"I'm not doing great in school."

And then, he was mad.

He was like,
"Why aren't you doing school?"

And I tell him,
"Because you're in jail.

How can I focus
if you're in jail?"

After that phone call,
I just-- I went into my room.

I cried my eyes out.
I cried myself to sleep.

I mean, like,
there's all these other things

that are preventing
all these children

from caring enough
about themselves

to see the purpose in school

and resent all the people
that keep telling them

to go to school.

[Meria] These are kids who--
who come to us

from environments
that the school

did not technically create.

They are under a lot of pressure
at a very early age

that just hasn't aided
in their ability

to stay emotionally connected
to the things

that they're going
to need the most.

They are going
to need an education.

They are going to need people
and connections

to be able to get
to the next step.

But their-- their experience,
with adults especially,

has been one that is so negative
that in many cases,

I think that
the country owes them a reset.

There's a belief
that if you talk to people,

they will do the right thing.

And it's cognitive. The brain
will then figure it out

and be rational
and do the right thing.

But we're not rational
beings. We're partly rational.

It's relational
more than anything else.

And we have to restore
the relationship.

Focus, create conditions

in which the relationships
allow people to interact,

get to know
and respect each other.

If we encourage them,
if we challenge them,

and if we love them,

and I think that's
what oftentimes is missing,

real hopeful types of love
and concern and care,

where these
young people feel like

there's no limit
to their promise,

there's no ending
to their-- their potential.

And if they believe
in themselves,

I think there's no limit
to how far they can go.

[woman]
I'm proud of this year

is improving
communication skills.

The first step is
we have to acknowledge that

in many communities,
my community

and many others
across our country,

it's not like trust
has been lost.

I don't know that trust
was ever there.

-[woman] No justice!
-[crowd] No peace!

-[woman] No justice!
-[crowd] No peace!

[Timothy] We've had
a long history in this country

of calling ourselves
the United States of America.

But I'm not sure we've
ever really been united.

You can't restore something
that has never been built.

There's a community, um,
that has never been established

with many marginalized people.

So first and foremost,
we have to build that.

[teacher] You see this big,
metal web we have here?

Um, what do you think
this symbolizes?

-[student] Us.
-[student 2] My life.

We can't get by any longer
unless we can figure out

how to weave the relationships
of the future

based on equity,
based on justice,

based on giving
everybody a chance.

If we can't build
those kinds of relationships

and those kinds of institutions.

I dare say we don't make it.

So, then going
back to the schools,

we have to do that as well.

We have to acknowledge

that schools have
under served millions

of millions of children.

And then from there,
say let's come, let's build,

let's build our community
here on an individual level

in the schools, but then on
a collective level nationally.

Because I used to think

that asking for help
was seen as weak.

And I think that
over the year, I'm happy

that I was able to see that
just because you ask for help

doesn't mean that
you're weaker than someone else.

I think that it
makes you stronger.

[Mayra] When it comes
to schools improving

and addressing the needs
of kids, you very rarely hear,

you know, people in positions
of authority talk about,

you know, approaching it from
a socioemotional perspective.

Um, and really, a lot
of the schools that are failing,

it's-- it's
a socioemotional issue.

One of my main goals
was also to accept myself

and to learn how to continue
being a leader throughout...

I believe that
when you teach self-awareness,

it ties in to understanding
one's history and culture.

When you're teaching
self-management,

it helps you understand
that part of

what you're dealing with,

part of the trauma
you've experienced,

part of your anger is
because of your experiences

that are not of your own doing,
for the most part.

And then there's
the social action element.

You then are given a strategy
to take action

instead of just walking around
being a victim

or being angry
and making a poor decision.

[Marc] I think it's a human
right to have self-awareness

and emotional
intelligence research,

which is measuring these skills
of reading emotions

and regulating emotions.

They're highly predictive
of good and bad things.

And so, people who score higher
in these skills

tend to have
greater mental health,

tend to have more
positive relationships.

They tend to perform
better academically,

they tend to have greater
satisfaction with life

and even workplace satisfaction.

And we find just the opposite.

You know, when you don't have
these skills, think about it.

When you don't have the ability
to be aware of your feelings

and you don't use effective
strategies to manage them,

life is difficult and people
tend not to get fired,

for example, because
of their general abilities.

They get fired because people
don't want to be around them

because if they're
not regulated,

they haven't learned
how to manage their feelings.

11 years ago,
the state was considering

closing the school down.

The graduation rate
was about 35%.

Teacher turnover at the time
was dramatically

and horribly high,

and it was just generally
an unhappy environment.

You got to create the culture

and if you can't
create the culture,

you're not going
to change anything.

You're not
going to give children

the kinds of experiences
they need to develop, learn.

Be responsible,
and take responsibility.

We brought in a good number
of organizations

and created partnerships
that helped us to learn

what the needs were
and help us to learn

what we can do
to ensure their success.

So, we have
mentoring programs today

that we never had before.

We have peer to peer
mentoring programs

that we never had before.

We have a college access program

that stretches
across four years.

It's part of our curriculum,

and we've seen
incremental improvements

for the last 11 years.

Most, if not all, of my students
are enrolling in college.

And so for us,
it's teaching them that,

you know,
regardless of what's going on,

that there is
hope for their future.

And if they know
that there is hope,

then-- then maybe they can
start believing in themselves.

And know that they're actually
working towards something

that is possible
and plausible and tangible.

[teacher] This program gives me
a unique opportunity

to see you guys well
beyond just being students,

but to see who you guys
really are as people,

as individuals,
as young adults growing up

to be pretty incredible adults.

There's been a lot
of growth in this classroom.

♪

[Bennett] This is
the United States of America.

Everyone's supposed to have
the same opportunities.

And-- and if our students
don't learn

that they have access to these
same kind of opportunities

when they're in school, then--

then they're not
going to feel like

they're part
of the American experience.

And if we're graduating an
entire generation of teenagers

out of high schools
who feel like they're--

they're apart from
the "American experience,"

or American Dream

America is going to have
a lot of problems down the road.

And-- and so
I kind of see it as--

as-- as making certain that
our young people are invested

in the future of the country.

Given the fact that school
is this place,

that from the time
young people are three,

four or five years old,
are engaging with educators,

teachers, counselors
every single day.

I mean, that is
a huge opportunity.

No other group of professionals
has that kind of contact,

has that kind of touch
with students like educators do.

So, I think
we have to be mindful

of the significant role
that education plays

in helping to lift up
a population

or really helping to take away
that hope from the population.

[Mayra]
It's about being a human being,

being emotionally
open and available

and reaching out to other people
and making those connections.

I had a real good connection

with some of the teachers here,
and Ms. Messi,

I got to connect with her

and tell a little
about my story and Bennett.

I actually have a real
good connection with him, too.

Even my junior year,
I was in a program called PGC.

It's like a mentoring program.

The juniors help the freshman
transition into high school,

and he had to substitute
for one of the mentors there.

And I got even closer with him,
or even from freshman year,

he saw me
and Moyagabi's friendship.

And he always talked
about it. He was like,

"Man, you guys are
really good friends, keep that."

[laughter]

Our boys are--
I mean, they're people.

[laughing]

They're amazing human beings.

And I think that everyone
deserves, um, I said it before,

everyone wants to be loved.

Everybody deserves
to be loved and cared for.

[Robert] When his father
came home from prison,

I was there that exact day.
His mom called and said,

"Oh, go upstairs,
there's a surprise for you.

Go upstairs, go upstairs."

And we're like,
"What's going on?"

And I told him, I'm like,
"Imagine if your dad is home."

He said, "Nah, I'm going
to get my-- my hopes up."

And I'm like, "Bro, imagine."

My mom called me and said

that she needs me
and Robert home immediately

to-- to talk to us.

And at first I'm like--
like, "What's going on?"

So then, I try to every--
Like I finished all my homework.

And then I rushed home
with Robert

and she was outside
just waiting for me.

And then she told me
to go upstairs with her

and she told me to
look over the couch.

And I looked over
the couch and I saw my dad.

And that was
when he looked extremely skinny

and his face looked different.

I didn't-- I didn't believe
that was my dad

until he came and he just
gave me a hug and I was like,

"I-- I can't believe it."

♪

Our advisors really
wanted us to take the risk to,

you know,
talk about our life in general.

And I wasn't
the type to talk about my life

because growing up,
my mom and dad always told me

that if you talk
about your feelings,

then you're seen
as like the weakling.

And then people would treat
you like as like you're weak.

But peer group connection
changed that for-- for me

to where, um,
I started to realize

that you don't
talk about your feelings

and talk about
what's going on with you.

It doesn't hurt to, you know,
to talk to somebody

that's-- that's there
to listen for you,

that's there to give you advice.

And it was, like,
empowering, you know.

And they were
telling us, you know,

"You have goals and dreams
you can reach those dreams

you just have to
remain-- remain positive."

And that program actually
helped me a lot because,

you know, it gave me,
like, a chip on my shoulder,

like, I come from
an inner city, you know?

But that's not going
to define who I am.

[gentle music]

Maybe what makes
them different here

than in a lot of other places
is that, um, after a while,

our boys learn that it's okay
to let people know

who they are.

[indistinct chatter]

I'm different now
than I was three years ago.

And I will always say
that every morning I wake up

and then I will always feel good
in the end

because-- because if
I never went to this school,

then I wouldn't got this
opportunity from anywhere else.

What I've learned from
Central East High school

taught me that don't
be afraid to take the risk

because you--
because you don't know

what opportunity
you might leave off.

We got a lot of work to do
to overcome steep problems.

But the one thing I am sure of

is we cannot do it
in an us versus them mindset.

And in schools today, teachers,
parents, administrators,

many pupil personnel, folks,
they're working really hard

to create a mentality
that says everyone belongs

and our hope and dream
is to create a coherent place

where belonging and purpose

and desire are nurtured
for everyone.

That's a vision for the United
States, not just for kids.

You know,
if you have dreams and goals,

you've got to keep going.

Doesn't matter where you are,

who you-- Like, who you are.

Background, anything.
You just gotta keep going.

Keep pushing.

♪

I'm really excited for
the future because again,

I don't know what I want to do,

but I'm just trying
to live the American dream

as everybody else
is trying to live.

I don't-- listen, I--

I'm scared every time,
and I said it to my seniors.

You know, there's a part of me

that's scared
every time they leave.

Um...

They're still growing and...

You know,
I just hope that they, uh--

that they find-- along the way,
that they find people,

at least one person
that's going to help them.

[Ruby]
I'm Dr. Ruby Ababio-Fernandez,

and I am the senior
executive director

for the Office
of Equity and Access

and New York City Department
of Education.

This is a long haul work.

And why are we so fearful
to tap into the power

that comes from these moments?
In these moments?

This work is a very deeply
personal work for me.

♪

I believe that my life
is purposed to be in the arena

and to make
everything that I do,

the payment for my existence.

The social ails that
our children get to experience

in the hands of adults,
the inequities that show up,

the ways in
which the ways we behave

actually perpetuate
generational poverty in health,

mental health,
and actually instruction

and education
scares me at night.

I came into this country,
um, turned double digits,

and I spent
the first ten years of my life

in Accra, Ghana.

I come from a broken family
which has parents divorced.

Um. There were days,
quite frankly,

where my mom had
to pull little Ruby

and explain that
there was no food coming.

And so in light
and in spite of all of that.

I didn't know
that I didn't have anything

until I came into this country.

And it was-- it was subtle
and nuanced and, like, you know,

a teacher calling
my father saying,

you know, "She's very quiet.
We're not sure."

Having conversations with him

about, like, exploring
special ed as a path for me,

in many cases is a silent scream
rather than an American dream.

Our students of color
come with amazing assets

that sometimes
aren't recognized.

And when our families
immigrate to this country,

we don't notice the assets
that they bring with them

and the ancestral wisdom
that they bring.

There's something for me around

what do we believe is possible
about children

that may or may not
look like us,

that we have to absolutely
examine in the way

that enables every child
to live up to their fullest

and greatest potential?

[Sikirat] My name is Sikirat.
I am a 12th grader

at the Brooklyn Latin
High School,

rising college freshman
at Columbia University.

I am proudly Nigerian,
I'm Nigerian-American.

Um, I am the daughter of a
strong immigrant, single mother.

Um, we are actually
in our shop right now.

We own two African
hair braiding stores

in Jamaica, Queens.

Um, and my Nigerian identity
has definitely influenced,

um, a lot of
who I am as a person.

One of the biggest things
that we value as Nigerians

is just bringing together
a community

and really finding that
community in any place you go.

I'm Bola, Amazing--

the owner
of Amazing Outlet in Queens.

Sikirat. She's, uh--

She's the only
daughter I have.

And she is such
a brilliant girl from baby.

I always tell her that,
"I know from when I have you,

when you're a baby,
that you're going to be

a very brilliant
and a great child."

[Sikirat] My mom
is literally my everything.

Being a mother, a single
mother of three children,

that is not
an easy task, right? Um...

If you speak to her, she'll
let you know the same thing.

[Bolanle] There was
a time that is really,

really, very,
very difficult for me.

Very, very difficult. Way, way--

If I'm walking, I'll be
crying because I'm pregnant

with the last baby before
the father move back to Nigeria.

He decided to move to Nigeria
and we kicked out of the house.

I don't know what to do.

I was pregnant and all
I can do was keep walking

and keep looking.
Until I got myself a job.

Um...

When I got the job, I was
like, "God, I gave you glory."

Many people encouraged me,
like, go to shelter,

get government, you know, like
section A or whatever,

like that, but I don't have
paper at that time,

so I can't
do any of that.

And I told them that,
"No, I'm going to get a job,

and do it."

[speaking Nigerian language]

Yeah, something like this.

[Sikirat] One of the biggest
things that I have learned

from not only being here
with my mom open the shop,

but also being here for
the years that we've owned it,

is just the ability
to continue on.

Bow your head.

They-- they know
all I've been through

and every day I talk to them.

I let them know that,
"You can make it,

you can make it,
you can do whatever you want

to do because that's
opportunities in this country.

So you have
to take the advantage of it.

You have
to do whatever you want to do.

If you see something wrong,
you know, you make it right."

[bright guitar music]

[Sikirat] In middle school,

I went to a school
where there were

so many inequities, there were
three people sharing a textbook.

They were consistently crossing
out outdated information

in our textbooks because
we couldn't afford new ones.

There was just
the overall lack of resources

in my middle school.

I didn't notice that
when I was in the middle school

because I thought that
that was normal at that age.

I was entered
into a lottery program

for low income students that
were mainly Black students,

where most of them
did not even get the chance

to get the test prep to get
into specialized high school.

So a lot
of students that do get

into the specialized
high schools are higher income.

And after I got
into my current high school,

Brooklyn Latin,
that's when I noticed that--

the straight divide
and amount of resources.

That's where I really
noticed that happening.

Education's lived in a world
of scarcity for some time.

And what I mean by
that is there isn't necessarily

adequate funding,
adequate resources in education.

So as part
of a national dialog

that we're having here today,
it's also about adequacy, right?

We need to be funded
and we need to be resourced

in a way that every student
gets what they need.

Right now, the resources
in this country are both being

hoarded and limited so that
there are some who have access

and there are
far more who don't.

And because of that,
there becomes an aspect

of both competition
and there becomes an aspect

of protecting
the system to maintain itself.

[man] So throughout
the country, your school system

budget is based
on how valuable your homes are.

And there are massive
disparities in homeownership

and the ability to own homes
over time that appreciated

and allowed people to buy
bigger homes and better homes.

Right?

There's also
neighborhood exclusion,

not allowing Black and Brown
people to live in there.

And so that's why
you see massive disparities

in schooling
throughout the country

is because
it's tied to zip code.

So the line that often gets
drawn is-- is about poverty,

but it's also
very closely tied to race.

And so what happens
in schooling is that when people

decide
in their housing patterns

where they live, how much
they can afford to buy,

what is available
to them as a family.

You start seeing
patterns like concentrated

poverty in neighborhoods,
which means the school

within that neighborhood,
if you have an attendance

area, tends to be
incredibly poor or all one race.

-If we don't get it.
-[crowd] Shut it down!

-If we don't get it.
-[crowd] Shut it down!

[Sikirat] And in 10th grade,

that's when I said
I have to do something.

We are Integrate NYC.

[cheering]

Which is
all about spreading equity

in the New York City
schooling system

as well
as challenging inequities.

When I joined as a lead,
I learned so much more

about why the schooling
system looks like this.

And I also learned
that my voice matters.

And from there I am, um--
I started to truly use my voice.

[crowd chanting indistinctly]

Students that aren't
told that they belong somewhere,

they don't believe
that they belong there,

without any support,
that student--

where do we expect them to go?

Right.
What do we expect to happen?

Equity is complex.

It's a word
that's used regularly.

It's heard across the country.

And it's sort of
in fashion to talk about equity.

But it's not easy.

It's actually saying
to students, you belong here.

And you matter.
And you are a scholar.

I will help you
in any way I can

to learn what you need to
learn in order to be successful.

I'm not going to sort you.
I'm not going to fail you.

I'm going
to do whatever it takes.

I think that what,
what often happens

is that the way this gets
articulated, there's a fear.

And the fear
very simply, is this.

Are you asking me to do
something at my expense?

Right.

Are you asking me to do more
for these young people

and less for my own?

And so the question
that we have to begin

to grapple with is,
is it important for us

to increase the investment in
the lives of our young people?

You know, there's never been
a moment in America's history

when America wasn't
able to do what it wanted to do.

[narrator] Once
in a great while in the history

of a nation,
there comes a moment

when a change occurs
that affects everyone.

At a moment
like this, people know

that something
fundamental has shifted.

[announcer]
This is Radio Moscow

and here is the news.

[Russian man] Our Satellite
Sputnik lifted at 22 hours,

28 minutes, Moscow time,

and entered
orbit around the Earth.

[Lester] You know,
I'm old enough to remember

the whole thing
with Sputnik and all

of a sudden no one
in America can understand.

"Well, how could--
how could Russia get

people into outer space
before us?"

And so the president
at that time said,

"In ten years,
we're going to be number one."

Education was in the spotlight.
And it was like somebody slammed

on the accelerator
and all of a sudden everything

was open
for discussion and examination.

We've come to face with
the realization that schools

and survival are inseparable.

And so what did they do?

What did we do?

There was a major investment
in math, science and technology.

And in ten years,
we were number one.

We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon.

[applause]

We choose to go
to the moon in this decade

and do the other things,

not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.

[Martin Luther King Jr.]
And I say to you today

that if our nation can
spend $20 billion to put

a man on the moon, it can
spend billions of dollars to put

God's children on our own
two feet right here on Earth.

[applause]

[Lester] If we're serious,
we have to do the same thing

for poor children
and children of color that

we do for their white peers
in other communities.

If there needs to be
a nurse in the school,

then we need to do that.

If there needs to be
a social worker in the school

to provide them with
the support, we need to do that.

If we understand
that the college application

process is very
complicated, that we--

then every highschool
ought to have a college advisor,

not just the communities
that can afford it.

And when we really think
about doing whatever it takes

as a system to ensure that each
of our students are successful,

it's going to take
inequitable resourcing because

some students are going
to need more and different.

That doesn't mean
others are losing out.

[John] And that's the challenge,
the--

The challenge is if you want
to change the world because

of past injustices
and ineffectiveness,

then you've got
to do something different.

And you can't
expect people for whom

the system has given
them opportunities and privilege

to-- to automatically
embrace that change.

And that's why I think,
um, you're not going

to get change
without some friction.

But the friction
doesn't have to be destructive.

I think that
it can be managed

in a way that's
instructive for people.

We need to talk about race.

We Need to talk about class.

We need to talk about
the constructions that we all

live under
every time we're together.

Because as we keep separating
them, when these things pop up,

it's always
going to make it look

like it's a deficit in
the community and in the child.

This is not just
about changing behaviors.

All right?
It's about changing beliefs.

[John] I grew up
being told that being

colorblind
was the best I could do.

Okay. Just be colorblind.
Just be colorblind.

And when I interacted
with a Black person,

the way I did that was
I pretended they were white.

And that's racist, because
the only way I could interact

with them on a lev-- a level
playing field was by denying

their race
and making them my race.

And that's not right, because,
um, I should be appreciating

that they're Black, because
Black has different experience--

Most Blacks
have different experiences

than whites, and I should
be able to treat them fairly

for who they are,
not who I want them to be.

Perceptions matter.

Race matters.

As a person of color,
you can't escape it.

It's part of who I am.
It's part of who my mother is.

It's part of who my father is.

It's part of our students'
lives and their identity.

So to ignore
it and to be colorblind

is ignoring who
we are as human beings.

[announcer]
When Black students try

to enter the school
through a side door,

violence flared
in the nearby streets.

[John] Civil rights
was probably so effective

because of television,
because for the first time,

people in the north could see
what was happening in the south.

They could see
young children being hosed.

[newscaster] Hoses would turn
loose on the Black protesters.

[John] They could
see the beatings that

occurred,
they could see the courage

of-- of-- of Blacks to stand up
in that situation.

-[people shouting]
-[dogs barking]

It changed what
was right and wrong,

what we believed was right
and wrong. To be a good person

meant we had
to behave in a different way.

And we absorbed those values
so that we have this view

that, um, we're good people
and we abhor prejudice and bias.

At the end of the day, we're
all-- we're all in it together.

We're one community.

So, it's tragic when we start
tearing ourselves apart.

But the problem is, uh,
we're not just conscious beings.

We also have an unconscious.

So in a diverse world,
a large portion

of at least
white Americans are walking

around, uh, believing
we're not prejudiced.

Truly, in our hearts, you know,

we embrace
egalitarian principles.

We want to be fair and just.

But who we are
is shaped by, you know--

who I am is shaped
by 60 years of experiences.

And those experiences
have created associations

that still operate, still affect
the way I behave, still drive

my behavior in certain
ways, uh, that I'm not aware of.

We have to educate
each other and everybody

has to be open to that.

We have
to educate each other

and we have
to challenge each other.

There has to be,
when do we change over?

When do we become a level
of consciousness

that we can no longer say,
you know what,

"These children"?

Because this is the job.

This is the work
that we have to do and we have

to be mindful, but we have
to question and check ourselves.

We have
to check ourselves.

You know, it's a lot.

That's all I'm going to say.

[Patrick]
It's always emotional work.

People have to be more
in touch with their emotions.

And I always tell
people, "Yeah...

I under-- is-- I'm-- It's great
to know what you think, right?"

Because we always
could rationalize that.

But what do you feel?

And people often say, "I don't
like this, I don't like

this training, I don't
know why you're doing ot."

And then I'm like, "Okay,
now we're getting somewhere."

A lot of times
teachers have triggers.

We get frustrated.

[Richard] And part
of the conversation

that we have to have
with teachers is bringing

to the forefront,
like, their ideas,

their experiences
around race,

and bringing their ability
to recognize situations--

uh, racial situations that
are happening in their school

and provide their students
with positive racial messages.

[teacher] I missed you so much.
I'm so glad you're back.

What do you
see when the children

come into your classroom?

Do you see kids
for who they are,

the full dignity of who they are
as students, as human beings?

Or do you see some
kids in terms of pathology?

This child can't.

This child
is coming from a home

that's a broken home
where it's a mother.

The father is in jail.

And so don't expect
too much from this child.

It's-- it's really
helping teachers

to examine themselves
in terms of their own biases,

in terms of their own
understanding of what

they are expected
to do in the classroom

as teachers
to teach every child.

[Eric Adams] It starts here
in the burrow of Brooklyn

with 2.6 million people.

If we get it right here,

one classroom at a time,

one school at a time,

one teacher, we get it right
across the entire globe.

It starts
in the burrow of Brooklyn.

[applause]

You have communities
where children start the morning

reliving their trauma.
They're broken, they're hurt.

And if all we are
attempting to do is say,

"We're going to teach
you how to read and write,"

they're saying,
"What the hell?

You gotta deal
with this pain I'm feeling.

And I don't even know
how to articulate it

to you because
I don't understand it."

We have hopes
and dreams for every child

to get what
they need when they need it.

For every child
to be, uh, educated

in a variety
of different perspectives.

And, uh, to have access
to resources

and experiences and exposure,

all right, that they may
not have had previously.

If we don't do something
about these babies

and keep them prepared, not only
academically but emotionally

intelligent, and be able to find
who they are as individuals,

we'll never succeed,
no matter how smart they are.

[Alison] So our job in education
is to help our students

think critically--
our students and our adults

in the system, right?
To not judge based

on perception, to get
beyond what we actually see.

And our minds are tricked.

We have to ask
those deeper questions.

We have to be thoughtful
and self-aware and aware

of our perceptions
so that we can address them,

and we can't address them
if we don't talk about them.

We have to give you the tools
to go beyond the classroom.

And move the science
of education not only

to rote learning,
but move it to the science

of doing a complete
holistic approach of developing

the full
personhood of the child.

Take broken
individuals and attempt

to make them whole again.

We have to give you more.

And I think
that's why you have

to have the community dialogue.

If we can help
these young people, you know,

if we can ensure that-- that
more young people can graduate

from high school prepared to be
successful at the next level...

[cheering]

... be it postsecondary
training or college--

If we could ensure
that more young people

can penetrate
the middle class, see,

that's going
to help the entire country.

Because the byproduct of that

is we will have fewer
people on public assistance,

we'll have fewer people
being incarcerated.

And so this notion
that if I do for you,

I have to do it
at my own peril is a false one.

Diversity, inclusion
and equity has to be---

have to be baked
into every decision you make.

Right? So there's
not a decision you make

that should not
include the idea of whether

I'm being more inclusive,
whether I'm being more diverse,

whether
I'm being more equitable.

And the minute you miss it,
you miss something.

And if you think about it,
you miss someone.

Open it.

-Wait, wait, wait.
- Just click the button bro.

[cheering]

I got in!

My name is Sikirat Mustapha.

I'm a 2021
Coca-Cola Scholar,

as well as a New York City
public school student.

Um, this past year
I've been doing a lot

in regards to public
education in New York City.

I do recognize that I am very,

very, um, privileged
to even be a Coke scholar.

That in itself is just
an opportunity that I do

not take for granted, right?

The Coke scholarship
has a less than

1% acceptance rate,
very rigorous.

But in my application,
what I did hone in on was just

the immense, um, part, the--
all the parts of my identity,

and how they have shaped
me to be who I am today.

["Pomp & Circumstance" by Elgar]

I believe that my experience,
it was worth something

and it was something that
the whole world needed to know.

[woman] Sikirat Mustapha.

[cheering]

I really want, um,
everyone to know, right?

Whether you are a low income
student, a high income student,

whether Black, white, um,

whatever
your racial identity is,

whatever you identify as,

it's only through
using our voice, right?

It's only through really
challenging societal norms,

challenging what
we deem as normal is when

we will really be able to
create, like, that real change.

It's clear
that if you can get

your arms around young people,
provide them with the support

that they need,
that they will do well.

And in fact, uh,
there's evidence to suggest

that they will
exceed all expectations.

So I-- I believe
that's the narrative

that we need to project, that's
the story that needs to be told.

[gentle, inspirational music]

[Darion]
People that don't know me,

I probably say they-- they just
think I'm just some kid.

I got the crazy cool hair.

I got the-- just the look
of just a Black guy,

you know, just like
an average Black guy.

I wouldn't say I'm average,
I'm anything but average.

You know,
I have very good grades.

I'm taking AP classes,
honor classes.

I do a sport.
I'm in three clubs.

You see me walking down
the street, you might just be

thinking, I'm just walking
down the street, but I'm always

walking with a purpose
because I'm always going

somewhere
to make my life better.

[Lester] I think it's important
for our young people

to understand that-- that you

have some control
over what happens to you.

Right?
It's not totally dependent

upon what
other people do. Right?

Because you--
you know, you can't think

of yourself
as a victim in this situation.

So it's just like learning.

Learning is not
a passive activity. Right?

You have to do something.
You have to be engaged.

You have
to keep the pressure up.

Right?
You have to make the case.

And-- and you
have to be the leaders

in your own liberation.

[Darion] I live
with my mother in an apartment.

And, you know, I-- I look at
her, to-- as being my provider.

You know, she provides for me
and she puts food on my table.

And, you know, we're-- um, we're
dependent on the world.

You know, we just-- we're living
day by day, month by month.

We're never
in a very stable situation.

But that's okay.

Because, you know,
she gives me that--

you know,
that we're going to be okay.

You know, it's-- I don't-- I--
she doesn't have to say it,

but just being around her,

I know it's
going to be all right.

[Dana] As a child,
he was always very--

he was a happy kid
and he was always smart,

even from kindergarten.

Even when my mom
started him playing the piano,

he just kind
of picked it up.

[gentle piano music]

[Darion]
She doesn't want me to be

what the world expects me to be.

You know, she wants me
to live up to her expectations.

And I don't have to be
the stereotypical

Black young adult.

I can be whatever I want to be.

And she wishes that for me.

♪

I'm very proud
of the young man he's becoming.

You know,
it's like you always want

your kids to do
better than what you did.

And he's definitely
doing way more than I ever did.

And sometimes it throws
me off a little bit because

it's just
so far from what I expected.

♪

[Darion] First major
turning point in my life would

probably be the day
that my mother was

in jail and my father was
also incarcerated in prison.

[somber music]

My father, he was a gangbanger.

He did all
the gangbanger stuff

that gangbangers do,
and he paid the price for it.

He saw people that were,
you know, directly close to him,

all around him saying,

"We can be your family.

You don't have
to worry about anything.

You don't
have to worry about money."

And they give you that bond,
that-- that brotherhood.

And he said, "Yeah,
I-- I can-- I can do that."

[Paul] You know,
we usually have this idea

that, oh, these young people,
especially our young men,

they're going
to gangs and they're out there

doing things
that's, um, risky behavior.

But if you stop
and ask yourself why?

Why are they joining that gang?

What is it that's
causing them to be drawn

to what we would
see as risky behavior?

And I would
argue that it's about

the sense of belonging
and the sense that you're being

seen and you're being
heard and you're being honored.

There's so much that's trying
to pull them in and attract

them and say,
"No, just go this route

and-- and be out here
on the streets and do this.

It'll be easier.

Instead of fighting
against and trying to make

yourself better, this will
make it better for you."

[Dana] My issue
was I experienced

death at an early age.

My uncle had passed, which
was my father's only brother,

and we were
very close and he was

part of my financial
stability at the time.

Somewhere along
the road I just got

involved in a lot
of different things that

I know I shouldn't
have been involved in.

By the time he was four
or five, I had started,

you know, committing crimes
and doing different things.

And then, um, I did go to jail.
I went to federal prison.

I remember that day.

You know, you were,
um, sitting in the police car

and I had to ride in another
police car right behind you.

And it was just
something where it's like--

You know, I don't
want to be doing this.

That was heartbreaking for me.

It was so hard for him.

I just felt
like I had failed him,

like I had
failed him completely.

There's no way
that he should have made it

to where he is right now.

He should have been a dropout.

He should have been
a gang member, or he should

have been on drugs,
or just a runaway kid.

[Darion] I remember
when my mother was, um--

my mother was taken
in prison, the officer said.

"She's not a bad person.
She just made a bad decision."

I had to make a mature decision
to say, "What am I here for?

My father's gone. My mother
is gone. What am I going to do?"

Not saying I'm gon'
end up like my mother,

like my father, saying
that they're bad figures.

But what am
I going to do to make sure

that I know
I'm on the right path?

[Yolanda] What does
it mean to be a Black male?

There are prescriptions
that have been written for that.

I may think
that I am a certain thing

and I walk out into
the world and the world

has a description for me
and I'm bumping into walls.

Well, I'm going to have to
come to some kind of negotiation

if I'm going
to live in the world.

I'm concerned about
people breaking free to liberate

themselves from the scripts
that society is offering.

[Alison] You really
have to be a chameleon

that can live
in different worlds.

Who your family
is and what you do

in your home life isn't always
a match to mainstream society,

and you have
to learn how to do that.

And our students
need the self-awareness

and the language to be able to
speak about these experiences.

The challenge is that--
is just that part that

you're navigating,
how you're constantly

being seen, and how you're
constantly being policed,

how you're constantly
being looked at as a threat.

A lot of it is being able
to exist in both worlds, right?

Exist in, like,
for lack of a better word,

the white world
and exist in the Black world

or Brown world
and be able

to navigate
those two worlds successfully.

But they always have to navigate
the fact that someone

might actually see me and see
me as a threat and I could die.

And that's, like, worst
case-- case scenario, obviously.

But like, that is something that
many of our kids think about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Children are really savvy.
Like, from a young age,

um, we're getting signals
from our parents

we're getting signals from
our teachers around, uh, race

and how folks are--
behave towards others

who look differently.

All of those signals, the--
ignite certain reactions

in our bodies,
the tsunami of emotions...

... that can overwhelm someone
who actually starts to recognize

that they're having
a racial experience.

[George Floyd]
I can't breathe.

Please. The knee on my neck.
I can't breathe here.

[Paul] When I watched
George Floyd,

as I watched him,

um...

as he was murdered, and I
watched as a police officer

was able
to just casually kneel

on his neck for over
eight minutes as he screamed out

for his mother,
as bodily fluids flowed

from him, as his spirit,
his soul essence left him--

we watched that.

It made me really
think about the work

I do and why I do this work.

And it really bothered me.

It had me questioning
whether or not with all the work

that I'm doing,
with all the work that

so me and my colleagues
are committed to,

what difference
are we really making?

And at one point
I said, "You know what?

That's it. I'm done.

This doesn't make sense."

We've had histories
of this and now in 2020

for that to be happening,

I just kept thinking, "How?
How could that be happening?"

But it worries me
when I could see it in 2020

what I witnessed in Minneapolis.

And how many
young people witnessed that.

In the same way that
I had a reaction of saying,

"Why am I doing this?"

I think about them and how
they may be thinking, "Why--

why are we going to school?

Why are we trying
to get this education?

Why are we doing
these afterschool programs?

Why are we working
hard to be better?

If this can happen there,

and to him,
and I see myself in him,

what will happen to me?"

All right.
Have a good day, be careful.

We need to come
to the table and talk about

these important things,
about race,

about culture,
about all of the isms,

so that we can really get
to a place where we know

that we honor our communities,
the children that we serve.

And we have a way of lifting
individual identities.

[James] The school
has an opportunity and multiple

experiences in school
where you feel support,

where you feel
a part of the group,

where you have successes,
where you have failures

but learn how
to handle the failures.

All of those things
prepare you for the increasingly

complex society
that you live in.

And it is as you do that,
as you gain those capacities,

that you really
begin to feel able.

And it's feeling able,
feeling good about yourself,

feeling like
a competent, able person

that encourages you,
a child, to want to gain more.

[man]
I am!

[crowd]
My brother's keeper!

[man]
I am.

[crowd]
My brother's keeper!

[man]
I am!

[crowd]
My brother's keeper!

[applause]

[man] My Brother's Keeper
is an initiative

that would significantly
improve the opportunity

for our young men of color.

It began as a result

of former President Obama's
call to action in response

to Trayvon Martin.

In the aftermath
of the Trayvon Martin verdict,

with-- with all the emotions
and-- and controversy that it

sparked, I spoke about the need
to bolster and reinforce

our young men
and give them the sense

that their country cares
about them and values them

and is willing
to invest in them.

And I'm grateful.

It's designed to help
them understand the world

that they live in.

To-- to view it critically.

To think what they have
to do to make a difference

and to help them understand
and build the strengths

that they need
to handle unfair situations.

It can't do everything,
but it is to build a defense.

It is really to help
young people thrive in America.

Are you your brother's keeper?

[crowd]
Yes, I am.

Are you your brother's keeper?

[crowd]
Yes, I am.

Are you your brother's keeper?

[crowd]
Yes, I am!

Thank you.
You may be seated.

What MBK is doing
at all levels is really

working to say how do
we grow young men of color?

I'm going into my second
year of being an MBK fellow.

So that they are ready
to enter the conversation

not just within their own
community, but the national

conversation,
the state conversation.

The local conversations,
um, conversations with groups

that-- that they don't
share lines of similarity with.

My name is Alex Morales.
I'm from Roosevelt High School.

And like me and my other
fellows from Yonkers,

we are future hometown heroes.

We are going to make differences

for our community
one way or another.

I think what we're seeing
is we're seeing young

people, um, and we're seeing--
and particularly we're seeing

young men of color saying,

"Nope, I now need
to step into this."

And yes, this is
the new civil rights.

This is the-- this is the way
that we, um, spread our message.

This is the way that
we ensure that people see us

and understand
the "why" of what we're doing.

Um, and ultimately, this is how
we're going to make changes.

What really differentiates us,
everyone here--

what really differentiates
us from other youth,

it's the fact
that we're thinkers.

When people say, "I can't do
it," we say, "How can we do it?"

We-- The brain is always going.

We never know when to stop.

We're always on our toes.

MBK allows us to see the pain
that comes within the system.

But as I was preparing
my speech, the spirit told me,

"Don't let your pain
control your purpose,

but let your purpose
drive you past your pain."

[cheering]

Underneath the pain lies
the power. What we want to do

is bring everyone together

and say, "Listen, we can
achieve this American dream."

Right?

America was created
as almost like a-- you know,

this is going to be
an example of what we could be.

So yeah, let's be that example.

And we want it to be
inclusive of all:

male, female, Black,
white, gay, straight,

because we know pain,
we know poverty.

Who better to lead than those
that have experienced the worst?

["This Little Light of Mine
[Glory Shine Gospel Version]"]

[by Izo Fitzroy and the Soul
Sanctuary Gospel Choir]

♪ Glory

♪ Glory, glory

[Darion]
Every voice counts.

And I know
my voice can have a lasting

impact for not
only my community,

but for Los Angeles
and people of my race.

People that are like me.

And I think this is the message
we need to send our kids. Right?

It's not only about you.

It's about how you make
a difference in this world.

♪ This little
light of mine ♪

[Darion]
King Drew has changed my life.

♪ I'm going
to let it shine ♪

The whole atmosphere,
everything.

The whole environment.

Our relationships
with my friends.

All the students,
the whole student body.

Ny teachers,
my faculty, my principal.

♪ This little
light of mine ♪

The teachers
at King Drew really care.

And they're
really there to make sure

that you're
getting your education.

But you're also
experiencing a family-like

environment where you're safe.

♪ I'm gonna let it...

It's really
about the relationships

that we cultivate
in our schools.

So we believe the school
is the center of our community,

and those affirming
interactions that occur between

adults and students affirm
students hopes,

affirm student's capabilities,
affirm students dreams.

♪ We can all get together

Take Darion, for example.

He will tell
you that he had people

around him who were affirming.

He felt opportunity.

He didn't just see opportunity
or hear the word opportunity.

He was given tools.

He was given ideas.
He was given the language.

He was given the empowerment
to act on his opportunity,

which is what we want
for all of our students.

♪ Let it shine

♪ So we can all get
together ♪

The first moment
when I realized I had power,

when I got my scholarship
last year for $20,000,

um, with Warren Christopher.
Um, I realized I have power

just because I-- I used
something that I already

had my whole life
to, you know, event my life.

I used my mind,
I used-- I used my words.

I had to write an essay
for that scholarship and all

that was was
was me using my words

and using
my experiences to boost

myself towards
a bigger goal in my life,

which was college-- was
getting my college education.

That was a-- a major key in,
like, my life where I was like,

"Wow, I can really do
something just by myself."

It was something that
no one can take away from me.

♪ Glory, glory, glory

[Alison] People think
that in my role as a chief

academic officer,
it's about instruction.

It's about content.

And I would say
it's about the students.

We have to seize this moment
to think about cultivating

those relationships,
cultivating a sense

of belonging, and not
just talking about equity,

but taking actual
action to change things

in our organizations
on behalf of all students.

♪ Won't you sing with me?

[gentle music]

[Paul]
I do have hope.

I have hope
that I saw those young people

during the pandemic

who were out in the streets,

who were demanding
social justice.

And the opportunity for all,
including themselves.

And so that helped me
to come back and say,

"I'm going to continue."

[Darion] What I love
about music is it can be

whatever you want it to be.

♪

It's something that
everybody can be a part of,

it's something that
everybody can know.

♪

Everybody can learn,
everybody can grow to love,

you know?

Love is the answer.

I know it sounds quite
simple and it is as hard

as it is simple.

[hopeful music]

That is the one human emotion

that can get
people through anything.

♪

When-- when you see
protesters or you think about

civil rights activists,
it is the love of freedom.

[woman] The world is watching.

What you do right now
determines your baby's future.

It determines
the rest of your lives.

And if you're like me and this
generation, enough is enough.

I want the same access

to the American dream
that everybody else has.

I'm not asking to be better.
I'm asking for a chance.

[Yolanda] It is the love
for the future generation.

They are operating
out of love for liberation.

We should see education
as a vehicle for liberation.

Liberation
is not an individual thing.

It's a collective thing.

We have the potential
to be fully human.

[Yolanda]
I think if we can learn

to critically love,
if we can release our fear.

If we can let
go of the bias

and really understand why we're
holding on to it-- let it go,

break free and see the human

in front of you,
and see where it goes.

♪

♪ Glory, glory, glory

♪ Glory, glory

♪ Shine a light on me

♪ Oh

♪ Glory, glory, glory

♪ Oh, glory, oh, glory

♪ Shine your light on me

♪ This little light of mine

♪ Oh, I'm going
to let it shine ♪

♪ [Let it shine]
♪ This little light of mine

♪ Oh, I'm gonna let it shine,
let it shine ♪

♪ This little light of mine

♪ Oh, I'm going
to let it shine ♪

♪ Let it shine

♪ This little light of mine
♪ [Little light of mine]

♪ I'm gonna let it shine,
let it shine ♪

♪ Let it shine

♪ We're going
to sing from the heavens ♪

♪ Strength
will carry you and me ♪

♪ Gonna shine on forever
♪ [Shine, shine, shine]

♪ Oh, through
the trials and tears ♪

♪ We could all get together

♪ Oh, this I believe
♪ [I believe]

♪ Gonna sing
from the heavens ♪

♪ oh, I'm gonna
live faithfully ♪

♪ Glory, glory, glory

♪ Oh, glory, oh, glory

♪ Shine your light on me

♪ Oh, no, no, no, oh

♪ Glory,
can I hear you sing glory? ♪

♪ Oh, glory, glory

♪ Glory

♪ Oh, no, won't you sing?

♪ Won't you sing?

♪ Won't you sing with me