(Freedom) School is in Session: South Seattle Area School Unmasks Racism

by Marcus Harrison Green

The sight of students with rapt attention, hanging onto every syllable uttered by their instructors as their minds rush to digest the extraordinary knowledge being served – so it can promptly return for a second helping – would seem a dream scenario at any school across the country, let alone one located in the South Seattle area, but indeed that reality transpired last week as around forty students – from high school to college aged- willingly exchanged basking in the glorious summer sun for an elusive education on the systematic structures of racism at the Tyree Scott Freedom School held at Beacon Hill's UCC Bethany Church.

If that sounds like some heavy scholarship during the dog days of summer it is intended to, shared Ariel Hart a school facilitator. "I feel like this is a rare opportunity for youth to unlearn lessons that they've internalized throughout their lives, and other ones that are absent from the majority of school's curriculum. This is a place that teaches people how to organize to help change things, and to take a look at how racism oppresses everyone, whether you're a person of color of not."

The school- named in honor of Tyree Scott, the well known Seattle area civil rights activist and community organizer- models itself after the first Freedom Schools that emerged across the country during the civil rights era as a response to racial inequities within the public education system.

Seattle first joined the Freedom School movement in 1966 when around 4000 -mainly African American – elementary and high school students boycotted the Seattle Public School District to protest the racial segregation that was routinely being practice by the district at the time. A forgotten history of the city that is well worth remembering according to Dustin Washington of American Friends Service Committee, who also serves as one of the school's lead organizers.

"People see Seattle as a very progressive city, but the reality is that racism continues to persist in our classrooms and everyday life. There's a reason that youth of color are 4 to 5 times more likely than white youth to be suspended in our school system. There's a reason why they're twice as likely to drop out than white youth, and it goes far beyond the myth that they don't have enough individual will and self-determination. It has much more to do with the systems we're all prisoner to."

It was this focus on systems, rather than individuals, as the catalyst for the societal ills that plague communities of color that was at the forefront of much of the teaching the students received during the week. As a result, the subjects they tackled were ones you'd be hard pressed to find mentioned in any other classroom within the city limits – as they grappled with Economic Inequality, Long-Term Juvenile Incarceration, and Disparate Health Outcomes. All issues were intensely scrutinized through a racial lense.

It was a view that was truly eye opening according to many of the students. "What I learned was kind of a shock to me." Said Asia Davis, a first time attendee who was aghast after learning about the potential causes behind the considerable discrepancy in infant mortality rates between African- American women and their white counterparts. "I go to a school that has mostly white students, so I feel fortunate that I m going to be able to bring back what I've learned to my school and share it with the others that go there who would otherwise have no clue."

The school's purpose was not only to present provocative subjects in a way that many of the students had never before encountered, but to also develop the next generation of civil and human rights leaders, fostering in them a sense of empowerment that would eventually allow them to impact their communities in an enduring way much as the school's namesake did.

With that in mind the Tyree Scott Freedom School eschewed a top-down approach to its pedagogy, instead favoring a process that made its students largely responsible- via forged consensus and small group discussions- for everything from creating a decorum by which they agreed to treat each other by, to exploring creative solutions that acted to redress the social grievances presented to them at the school.

"I've really learned to be a leader here, and it's something that I can apply whether I'm organizing people to help house the homeless, or to stop people from being racist as it's a learned thing. No one is born with that trait." said Saara Jones a student who attended the school to become a better organizer.

The tactic of allowing them a liberal amount of control in the educational process seemed to go over quite well with the students, many of whom were more familiar with having a pedantic lesson plan dictated to them at their respective public schools. "This school is really magnificent in terms of, not only the knowledge that is installed in the young people here, but in terms of wisdom, and creativity being reciprocal. We get to learn from each other, and teach each other at the same time." Said Rashaud Johnson, a member of Youth Undoing Institutionalized Racism (YUIR) and Ending the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC) who was attending the Freedom School for a fourth time to gain knowledge of how to best organize against the building of the new $210 million King County Juvenile Detention Center that he felt was an extension of the school to prison pipeline.

"I've realized from being here, and just talking amongst my peers, the responsibility that comes with being white. It's hard to address that issue anywhere, especially in a normal school setting with teachers who don't really get the topic, or want anything to do with it. So it's great that we can have discussions with people our own age, so that everyone can get a deep understanding of how detrimental racism is, and that we really need to stop with the thinking that puts any race superior to another." asserted Celia Carina Von Berk, one of several non African – American students who attended Tyree Scott.

The school had a commencement of sorts this past Friday, as all of the students traveled to Seattle City Hall, using what they had learned

throughout the week,to present- in front of an audience of city officials that included Councilmember Nick Licata, City Attorney Pete Holmes, Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim and Office of Civil Rights Director Patricia Lally- their proposals on how to remedy the quagmires associated with the city's Education, Economic and Juvenile Justice systems- problems that had perplexed many local legislators for longer than the majority of the students had been alive.

After the presentations the students blended amongst the audience and broke into three separate groups to discuss how the submitted proposals could be implemented at the city level. A discussion that the Freedom School attendees found worthwhile. "You had all these different generations cooped up under one roof and actually talking and listening to each other. There was no complaining, just a lot of respect, whether you were a student or an older person. This was a beautiful experience." said Rashaud Johnson.

Added Simone Evans another student at the Freedom School who had attended to improve her community organizing skills "I'm going to take the information I've learned here and go out and do something with it. I can't wait to come back next year!"