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[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