- What's up everybody?

Myles Bess, journalist and host, of this lovely show Above the Noise.

Where we talk about some hot topics, some controversial issues.

And sometimes I give dating advice.

- Dating advice.

- Dating advice - Maybe, eventually.

But before we get started today I wanted to talk to y'all a minute about our Earth Day episode.

Now, before published, we posted a pic of me being terrified of a turkey downtown.

Look at it.

I look really scared and we asked y'all to caption it.

And this one from, wowman542 really made me laugh out loud.

I'm not gonna lie to y'all.

They said, "Body Snatchers 2, they took the wrong bodies.

And now it's Thanksgiving."

I really appreciate the effort from everybody.

I needed that, especially today because we're gonna be talking about something that is surely gonna get the comment section fired up.

- Dating advice.

Nah not that, racism in America's schools.

And to give you all some context for this episode, I worked with some students from Oak Ridge High School in Conroe, Texas.

And this is something that they've been thinking about a lot.

And I was down to dig into this topic with them, because I don't know if y'all know but I spent the first semester of my freshman year of high school in Texas.

And I definitely remember a moment or two where I was really uncomfortable.

So, imma go out on a limb here and say that racism sucks.

I just, that's my personal opinion.

I think that it sucks.

I hope that you would think that it sucks too.

And America has a racism problem, and schools are no exception to that.

I mean, if you don't believe me I bet we can just Google racism in schools or racial slurs in schools and a bunch of stuff will pop up.

Actually, that's a good idea.

Let's do it.

Lemme get out my phone here.

And let's just see what pops up.

This is from one of the Carolinas, and it says, "School district investigating video of two Pickens Co. students using racial slurs."

A mother says, "Message from Youngstown School employee contains threats and racial slurs."

A JV football team walks off the field after alleged racial slurs and spitting incident.

This is from a school in Fort Worth, "Flyer promoting 'slave sale' with prices and racial slurs found near Aledo schools."

I could literally keep going like it doesn't stop.

"Asian student faces racial slur outside of Longfellow Middle School."

Like I can literally keep going and you'll just keep seeing incidents.

So, it's definitely an issue that's happening in schools.

Like, right there.

So, that's what we're gonna be exploring today.

How can we make schools less racist?

All right.

So the first step in making schools less racist is acknowledging racial bullying and racism in general, is a problem at schools.

You can't fix something, if you don't know it's broken.

You know what I mean?

So, let's get on the same page there.

Cause know some of y'all are probably thinkin', "Miles, this isn't a problem at my school.

We treat everyone with respect.

We've got a school culture that doesn't discriminate.

We're good people."

I mean, that's awesome.

Good for you.

But here's the thing, just because you aren't experiencing it or witnessing it directly doesn't mean racial bullying isn't happening.

It can be hard to recognize it if it's not happening to you.

I mean most bad stuff that happens is under the radar.

Just because you don't witness a crime doesn't mean crimes don't happen.

Am I right?

And racism takes many forms.

It's not just in your face aggression, like: calling someone names or beating someone up because of their race.

It can be more indirect like: microaggressions, you know mispronouncing people's names, or not thinking black and latin X students belong in AP classes, or students of color receiving harsher discipline, things like that.

You don't have to be a bad person to accidentally do something racist.

And this is all on top of institutional racism that schools face.

And for those that aren't familiar, the concept of institutional racism is it's basically racism.

That is an embedded in an institution, like schools.

Because of a discriminatory rule or policies that, you know, the school provides.

So, these policies don't have to be like explicitly racist to be racist.

For example, you can have a dress code that bans, you know durags, dreadlocks, cornrows, afros.

And while the policy itself isn't explicitly saying something like, black people aren't allowed to do X.

The end result is that the rule discriminates against and impacts black students more.

So boom, a racist policy.

And the U.S. has a long history of these types of rules in our education system.

I mean, legally mandated segregation wasn't all that long ago.

I mean, people are still alive today that experienced stuff like this.

This is the photo from 1959 from a rally in Little Rock, Arkansas protesting the integration of high schools there.

And when schools did start integrating, it wasn't smooth sailing.

There was a lot of violence.

I mean, U.S.

Marshals had to escort black students to school because of fear for their safety.

Take Ruby Bridges, one of the most famous pictures we've seen of this example.

She's in her sixties now.

Like, that's the same age as some of my aunts, you know.

Some of y'all's aunts, some of y'all's grandmas, some of y'all's parents even.

So, what can we do about all this racism?

I thought I'd start by chatting with Leslie and Ameyalli.

Who are helping to lead the fight against racism at their school.

They go to Lowell here in San Francisco, which has been in the news for a bunch of racial controversy.

And to give you all some context it's an elite public high school with a large Asian-American population.

And it can be tough for black and brown students, who make up a very small portion of the student body.

But Leslie and Ameyalli think students can play a big part in changing the status quo on campus.

- [Ameyalli] I know me and Leslie always, always use our social media platforms to speak out about anything we can.

To like, get the message there that like we are here, we do face these microaggressions.

And we can do something about it.

Like, we have a lot of power.

- [Miles] They basically got fed up, with what they saw as a lack of response from their school officials regarding all the racist stuff happening.

Ranging from everyday microaggressions like: teachers and students mispronouncing people's names on purpose.

Some more extreme incidents like: student dropping pornographic and racist images in a school Padlet discussion.

And it was after that incident, that the students organized a rally to speak out against racism.

- [Leslie] We had our friend Shavonne, she basically hosted a rally and organized it with the help of other people within the SAC council.

And there, we were able to really catch a lot of people's attentions because they're like, "Wow these are a bunch of students from all different types of backgrounds."

Asians, Latinos, Muslims.

Like, and literally just like, you just have to reach out to other people because it's just not work that you can do alone.

You need to do it together.

- [Miles] They'd like to see their school adopt some anti-racist policies.

And when I say anti-racist, what I mean is actively disrupting racism.

We did a whole video on the concept, so check it out.

But the idea is basically it's not enough to simply not be racist.

You gotta do stuff that fights against the system that, you know, enables racism to still exist.

- [Ameyalli] So I definitely think it starts with the teachers and them learning our culture and unlearning a lot of oppressive ideas that they already carry.

And I also think that students need to educate themselves as well.

- [Leslie] Not only just educating the teachers can only go so far.

For me, I think that ethnic studies must be mandatory.

- [Miles] And for y'all that don't know, ethnic studies is a class that covers racial and ethnic conflict in the United States.

And research from the National Education Association, shows that these classes quote, "Help foster cross-cultural understanding among both students of color and white students and aid students in valuing their own cultural identity while appreciating the differences around them."

I mean, that sounds positive to me.

And on top of all that, Ameyalli and Leslie also talked about wanting more accountability for students that do engage in racist behaviors.

And more support for students who are traumatized by them.

I mean, which makes sense to me.

I mean, schools have no problem creating zero-tolerance drug policies.

Why can't they do the same with racial bullying?

You know what I mean?

- [Leslie] And also, I think it's very important.

That in freshmen orientation, I would love to see our, our school body tell the students, tell the incoming freshmen, "If you do this.

If you are racist, then you're gonna have to get booted out of Lowell."

Because it's not cool to have those types of students at our school, making other students feel unsafe.

Like that's not cool.

- [Ameyalli] We need a lot of support, whether that's counseling, teachers, or just staff who we can talk to and get support when we need it.

And who are willing to step up, when we voice out a problem.

- [Miles] I want to acknowledge for a moment how hard it can be for students to fight against racism.

Not only are they dealing with the trauma that racism causes.

But there's also the power dynamic between a student and a teacher, or the student and admin, that can make it hard to call this stuff out.

- [Ameyalli] For me, I'll just like, I'll try to call a teacher out.

And although they feel they have like that kind of power over me because of their title, like they are a teacher.

I still try to call them out and like tell friends, tell staff.

- [Leslie] I think it's saddening to know that students have to do the work because the adults that we're supposed to confide in and look up to, aren't doing it for us.

- [Miles] And a lot of what Ameyalli, Leslie and I talked about is really consistent with all the research I've done on how to create anti-racist school cultures.

There's basically lots of different suggestions out there of what schools can do.

Like these: number one, create comprehensive anti-racist or equity policies.

Now these policies should have clear, actionable goals.

Like, setting a goal that students in AP classes fully represent the student population of the school.

And, you know, are not heavily skewed towards white students from highly resourced middle schools.

It can also mean getting rid of racist policies.

Like those dress codes that I was talking about earlier.

Or discipline policies that end up more negatively affecting students of color.

Number two, recruit more black and brown teachers who are dedicated to anti-racism equity missions.

I can think, I had maybe like three black teachers in my whole K through 12 school experience.

So, I definitely think that that would've helped my experiences in school.

Number three, you can teach culturally responsive content.

Now this can mean making sure that you hear about the experiences and contributions of people of color across the board.

Like, I wanna hear about the Chinese laborers who built the railroads, not just the rich guys who own the companies.

Let's hear about Gladys West, a black mathematician who created the model of the Earth that was used for a little thing called GPS.

Which literally billions of people rely on everyday.

Like I didn't know that, I had to Google that, I didn't learn that in school.

You know what I mean?

And in English class, let's read more books by people of color, not just the classics from white authors, please.

And number four, don't tolerate racist slurs and acts.

Now I know the students also mentioned this but I definitely think it's worth repeating.

Just like don't allow it.

And there should be clear consequences for when it does happen.

If the school, you know the institution, takes a stand on something, it will change.

There's precedent for this stuff.

I mean, just think of racist acts like smoking.

Back in the day, about half of California public schools allowed smoking on campus.

Now, can you imagine schools allowing students to smoke on campus today?

No, you can't.

Smoking is bad for your health.

Racism is also bad for your health and the health of a community.

So just don't allow it, it'll change.

All right.

So like the students and I said before creating more inclusive and less racist schools is an ongoing effort, but it's not hopeless.

And if you're a student and looking for how to help your school become anti-racist, start demanding the change.

Check out some resources in the description below, that you can share with your parents, teacher, principals, school board, whoever.

And I'll leave you with these wise words from Leslie.

- [Leslie] With, with pain comes beauty, and you know it's gonna be exhausting.

You're going to wish and wonder why you even have to be doing this in the first place, or is it really worth it?

And let me tell you, it is worth it.

Go do it, go be the change that you wanna see because you know, if it wasn't for us students here in San Francisco, speaking out we wouldn't be able to support other students.

And I think it's important to create a community because we are the next generation to be the leaders in the future.

And if we don't do it now, then who's going to do it?

And when is it going to ever get done?

- [Myles] So what do y'all think?

What changes would you like to see at schools to fight racism?

As always, thank you for watching, I'm your host Myles Bess, till next time.

Peace out.