We perceive ourselves to be beyond race. It’s a relic of prior days, readily used and weaponized to the detriment of our ancestors. But we are above that now, aren’t we? Modern society sure thinks so. Society nowadays has drawn the conclusion that unbiased is everyone’s default setting. Race, color, creed, what’s that? We are the color of water and nobody questions what color water is, where it came from, what it can or should be. But how flawed is that? Is it really a bad thing to see color?

And this is where we seek to get a semblance of an answer, answers. As early as a classroom setting, we build the base ten blocks of understanding our identity and simultaneously build our understanding of others and their identities. From this small sample compared to the large portion we’re served called the rest of our lives, school days, pre k to post graduate studies, are profound in shaping who we are. I especially came to this realization after hearing a talk hosted by CUNY’s Graduate Center called: “Making Education More Equitable.” They brought to my attention several parts and functions of higher education for students of color, all the while being educators of color themselves. First, I latched onto the statements Ms. Carla Shedd gave on how we envision, idealize school as a promising institution that wields it’s power towards a progressive, ideal world. Basically, it was stressed that educational institutions would have a positive ripple affect, correcting today’s failures by providing the template for tomorrow’s success stories. Yet Ms. Shedd countered this flowery outcome. She said school only works in accordance, mimics how the world actually functions which is upon implicit and explicit bias of the people who live, run it. And I agree. What separates school, my place in it as an unambiguous looking Black woman, from society and my place in it as an unambiguous looking Black woman?

So then I had the privilege to hear Ms. Tressie McMillan Cottom speak on, partake of her piece of the pie in this discussion. She stayed in tune with what Ms. Shedd delved into and made additional points I never considered before. For one, she mentioned how educational programs like CUNY, which should have the students as their keystone, didn’t even consider them a fundamental brick in their overall structure. Students have been reduced to tuition, having no say. Can you imagine an ordinary student having no say in a facility that they rely upon for future success? Now imagine what that means for me and other students representing historically undermined groups? It reeks of our detriment, setting us up to fail before we even step foot our campus. So now what?

To that, I say if we want to perpetuate an accurate narrative that school equates to a better society, than let’s actually make school better. In agreement with both speakers, I believe student voices not only have to be centered but students of all backgrounds should have equal and ample opportunity to be at the center. If this means providing different opportunities to different students, than so be it. Because it’s never been news to me, to those like me I am brown, that we are brown. Let’s not act like it’s a secret. Because racism is eons old. It’s a smoking gun with interchangeable parts, backwards capability, easy access. So starting at school, let’s really do the work to know it, disarm, dismantle all of it’s parts. Will we do it? Only if we see color.

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