Teach Us All (2017) - full transcript

You know when my
brother died in 2008,

it was like Bradley, you
gotta get it together.

He came from the exact
same place that I came,

and he didn't get the proper
education that he needed.

♪ Carry me home when the
light in my eyes does fade ♪

He ended up dying

with a part time
job at Taco Bell,

and I don't want to
end up like that.

♪ Take me away ♪

Most kids are not gonna
be killed by police.

Most kids will never
be beaten by police.



Most kids will not go to jail.

Millions, and millions
of black and Latino kids

will go through a
public education system

that does not educate them.

The future of this
country will be determined

by what happens in the schools.

That's how serious it is.

♪ Home ♪

In 1957, a
group of black students

in Little Rock, Arkansas
took a courageous stand

for educational equality.

The things that people
said were shocking.

The things that they did,
the threats that they made

were all terrifying.



Nobody really seemed to
be in favor of this move

to shift from segregation
to desegregation.

I had not seen the
kind of virulent hatred

that occurred here both
outside and inside the school.

Today, their
promise remains unfulfilled.

♪ Lay down my bones knowing
I'll be in a better place ♪

This is
not a Little Rock story

or even a Southern one.

This is our American story.

I don't know
how we're gonna be

that United States of America

if we continue to put
our kids in situations

where we're constantly divided.

When we come to
school, it's kinda like

hard for us to survive
in the school system

because we know that
the school system

is kinda like against us.

We have to fight to get
a quality education.

Children
in segregated schools

are less likely to
graduate high school,

more likely to go to jail,

and earn on average of 25%
less over their lifetimes.

I know kids in my
class that got arrested

that summer before they
even got to high school,

and they never had that
teacher that really cared.

So you have
underqualified teachers

plus underserved schools,

and you expect the
kids to do well?

We're one of the few
countries in the world

that systematically and
deliberately spends less money

to educate poor children
than affluent children.

With every
year a student falls behind,

it gets harder and
harder to catch up.

♪ Carry me home when the
light in my eyes does fade ♪

Once we're pushed
out of schools,

it's like no coming
back from that

because they feel like they
don't have a second chance.

Without
a quality education,

these students will not
acquire the skills they need

for 21st century jobs.

This will leave them
poor, and marginalized

for their entire lives, and
this will affect all of us.

Like the cycle is
going to keep going

until someone
really puts a stop.

It's up to us to
empower each other.

If adults will make the central
change that needs to happen,

then it is up to us
as students to create

that essential change.

Our schools are
still the key battleground

of the civil rights movement,

and our students have always
been on the frontline.

This is Little Rock then.

On September
4th, 1957, a 15-year-old girl,

an Elizabeth Eckford
approached Central High

in Little Rock, Arkansas
for her first day of school.

She was among a small group
of African American students

known as the Little Rock Nine,

chosen to desegregate the
all-white Southern high school.

Three years earlier in 1954,
landmark Supreme Court case

Brown versus the
Board of Education

had declared segregation in
schools unconstitutional.

Prior to 1954, I mean
going all the way back

to the year 1619, when the
first shipload of Africans

were brought over here to
become enslaved people.

It was considered legal, and
constitutional to discriminate.

So that law change
was monumental.

I knew that as a 13-year-old
kid, I understood that.

So I had also sure knowledge
that hundreds of people

before I had lived had died
in the fight for freedom.

I could not as a person, who
benefited from that sacrifice

say no to this opportunity.

But on that morning,
in September 1957,

a mob of white segregationists
gathered to stop

the Little Rock Nine
from attending school.

The crowd shouted racial slurs,

and chanted, "Two,
four, six, eight,

we ain't gonna integrate."

I was surprised at the crowd.

I went up to my home room,
and on the third floor,

I was looking out the
window at the crowd.

At that point, it
didn't register with me

what a dangerous
situation it was.

Even with all the
people out there,

it didn't register with me.

One of the boys in my class

whose father was very prominent

was standing next
to me at the window,

and he said, "I am
just sick at my stomach

that they're gonna let
those people in here."

Why, I saw pure
hatred, absolute spittle

coming out of the
mouth, eyes blazing,

mouths opened, words
you can't imagine.

I looked around,
and I saw a woman,

who looked like she
had a kind face,

and I was gonna ask her for
help, and she spat on me.

They used weapons, and
they used physical force.

They pushed, shoved, kicked,
spit, you know, sliced.

Acid in the face,
all kinds of stuff.

I was glad I had
on those sunglasses.

At least some people
would not see me crying.

Arkansas
Governor, Orval Faubus,

activated the state's
National Guard

to support the
segregationists mob.

Governor Faubus called out

the National Guard
to maintain order.

"They will not act
as segregationists

or integrationists," he said.

But in effect, they were
there to bar Negro students

from the school.

Governor had said they
were there to keep the peace

but they were not there
to keep the peace.

They were there to
block our entry.

In the weeks
following, the Little Rock Nine

repeatedly attempted
to enter Central High,

while violent crowds
camped out in protest,

supported by the Guard,
and Little Rock Police.

Still the nine kept kept trying.

I didn't want to go back.

I wanted to leave every
second of everyday.

I wanted to run
out there screaming

but one half of my
brain, I would say,

what amount of counter argument?

That was a strong argument.

The job's not over,
you can't quit now.

There's too much at stake.

Images
of the students being

were featured on
nightly national news,

serving to further
polarize a country

running high on racial tension.

When these photographs
were shown around the world,

President Eisenhower
said he had to react.

He said, "Mob rule
could not prevail."

He sent 1,000 paratroopers from
Port Campbell, Kentucky here

and here took federal control of

the Arkansas National Guard.

The armed
soldiers escorted

the Little Rock Nine
into the high school

on September 25th.

It was a precedent-setting
moment in US history.

A standoff between the
federal government,

and a state governor that
resulted in a triumph

for the Civil Rights Movement.

It felt like the
government cared.

But the
victory did not last.

That was simply
the beginning of all hostility,

and from that point
on, we were marked.

The word was, you have to leave

or if you don't leave
voluntarily, we will kill you.

Each of us was assigned,
what was assigned

a soldier guard.

They were effective witnesses
should they choose to be

but most of the time, people
were able to attack us at will.

It was hellish throughout
the school year.

They knew that they
needed to do well in school.

That was the whole purpose
of them going through that.

That was the reason
for this sacrifice

because education is
the key to success.

It still is.

I still have a variety
of different emotions.

You could say I just have
a rainbow of emotions

because then there
are times when I see

the manifestations of the
trauma that she experienced

come out, and that's
really, it disturbs me

because I feel like
they sacrificed so much,

and there's no way to give
them back their innocence.

When you are being attacked,

and people turned their backs,

and don't react to what
they had to have heard,

and or seen, it makes
one feel as though

they feel that you're
getting what you deserve.

So now, when people say
that they welcome us,

, as I heard
50 years later,

I said, well I'm glad
to know that now.

Why you should keep
it to yourself?

Let's move on.

On May
25th, 1958, Earnest Green

became the first black
student to graduate

from Little Rock Central High.

For the rest of the
Little Rock Nine,

major challenges lay ahead.

By the end of the school year,

I was determined to go back.

I had learned how to survive,

and I also knew that one year
wasn't gonna prove anything.

That this needed to be
a continuous process.

So I was ready to go back.

It was at that point that
the governor stepped in,

and stymied all of our plans

because he decided because
he was so adamantly opposed

to continued desegregation,
he closed all the high schools

in Little Rock.

During what
became known as The Lost Year,

private schools using
public taxpayer funds

opened to accommodate the
city's white students,

more than 90% of whom found

some form of
schooling that year.

No such options emerged for
the city's black students,

50% of whom received
no education at all.

Many of them joined the
military or found work,

never returning to school.

Little Rock's public schools
reopened a year later.

Only two of the Little Rock
Nine returned to Central High.

They were joined by a few other
African American students,

including Sybil Hampton.

I was the first of the
African American students,

who spent their entire high
school experience there

at Central High.

The way it began was
the way it ended.

That was that no one in
any class ever spoke to me

during those three years.

What happened is that I was
shunned, we were shunned.

Of my experience is I never
described it as integration.

It was never intended that
we will be treated as equals.

This
is Little Rock now.

Growing up at the
neighborhood that I grew up in,

there weren't really a
lot of opportunities.

It was if you'll
be a sports player

or a dope dealer, or you
end up dead or incarcerated.

So you got like four options

'cause my parents worked a lot

that all the neighborhood
kids would come to my house.

It weren't really
a safe environment

when you got drug dealers,

and everybody else
around your house.

So I mean in order to stay
safe, they came to my house,

and nobody had guns.

It's been 60
years since US soldiers

were deployed to Little
Rock to escort black kids

into an all-white school.

Such a show of federal force
seems unimaginable today,

and yet the city's schools
remain a battleground

in the fight for equity,
and social justice.

The State Board of
Education has taken over

the Little Rock school district.

A tie-breaking vote
cast by

the State Board of
Education's chair

and the entire Little Rock
school board sent packing.

The motion by member Vicki
Saviers came after a proposition

for partnership
failed at a tie vote.

No bold action of
improvement has occurred

to change the direction
of this school.

I was really, I
guess, a driver in this

or maybe the initiator
because of my background,

and because I just
felt like there

had to be a complete restart.

This district was at
a point of dysfunction,

and so there was this
super battle over

who's in charge of the district,

Who's running this place?

We start looking
at this Little Rock

school district budget.

I mean it's almost
$400 million a year.

I'm thinking, "I'm in and out
of all these schools,

the facilities are so bad.

Where's all this money going?"

Despite all these years,
with a lot of money,

put into the public school
fund, and sent to schools,

we still have an achievement gap

between primarily our poor kids,

and our middle-end
upper income children.

While
most agreed something

needed to be done to
fix Little Rock schools,

much of the public reacted
with alarm to the takeover.

Especially in the African
American and Latino communities,

they had no sense that this
conversation was coming up.

This was all rolled out
in such a quick manner,

two weeks between when we said

we would decide this, and
then the ultimate decision.

A group of
plaintiffs led by long time

civil rights
lawyer, John Walker,

quickly organized
to sue the state.

I say it was a racially
motivated decision

because they got rid of them.

Of a majority black board.

How can a parent have a voice

if there's no school board?

You're talking three
individuals controlling

the entire district,
the largest district

in the state of Arkansas.

Three individuals.

Which one of them is
going to down to the most

poverty stricken neighborhood
in Little Rock, Arkansas

and have a conversation
with a parent there?

It's not gonna happen.

I have to worry more
about children succeeding

than giving someone
an opportunity

to be on the school board.

The Arkansas
Supreme Court ruled

that the Department of
Education was immune

from any lawsuit regarding
the state takeover.

Meanwhile--

There was a house
bill introduced shortly

after the takeover,
which would make it legal

for any school district
taken over by the state

to basically be turned over
to a charter school company.

House Bill
1733 failed to pass

after much public outcry

but Arkansas school reform
movement is taking proactive

steps to expand Little Rock's
charter school offerings.

When I see the charter
schools in Little Rock

just filling another
niche for choice

that people are just hungry
for as many options as possible

'cause they're trying to find
the right fit for their kid.

Although the
waiting list for charter schools

are long and diverse,
they represent another

point of contention in an
already fractured community.

For those people who made
some really poor choices

and poor decisions
over the past 30 years

in Little Rock school district,

the fighting, the
constant arguing,

deciding who's
gonna be in charge,

the black board,
the white board,

which lawsuit are we
gonna end up with now,

it was only a
distraction for the kids.

It hurt the children
most of all.

This is what I have to say.

Following
the 2015 state takeover,

we visited Little Rock to find
out where things stand today.

My mother used to tell
me when I was coming up

she was like, "Bradley,
you have two strikes.

One you're male,
and one you're black.

Anybody going to have to
give you nothing for that."

She said, "Bradley,
you just gotta keep

on pushing through it."

I've lost more people
than there are kids

in my graduating class.

Instantly got to
a point right now

to where I'm deciding,
man, I don't know

how I made it, and
they didn't, you know.

We have, I think very
real racial issues.

We don't know each other.

Black and white people
do not know each other

in Little Rock.

Beginning in the 1950s,

when public housing
projects were initiated,

white families were literally

moved to the west
part of Little Rock,

and black families were moved

to the east part of Little Rock.

How can we have a school
that's 93, 97% white?

How is that possible?

Unless we're doing some things
intentionally to make it so.

People moved their children.

People voted with their feet.

They have all these
wonderful new facilities,

and black kids are now left,

where in the schools that
white people discarded.

The school that I went to
is in Southwest Little Rock.

It's on the 5000 block
of Southwest Little Rock.

It's called Geyer
Springs Elementary.

All the kids from all the
bad neighborhoods went there.

So like I already lived
in the bad neighborhood.

So I mean I had to fight
everyday I walked to school,

fight everyday I walked home.

Then my stepdad and my
mom kind of were going through

a tough time in
their relationship.

So I mean it was
just like yelling.

They'd keep me up all night.

Then I got like real
hooked on alcohol,

like really, really,
really, really bad.

So I mean it was
just like chaotic.

So when I got to
school, I was just like,

I don't care about learning.

These teachers don't understand
what I'm going through.

They don't even try to
understand what I'm
going through.

It was cruel that they didn't.

The school's where the
most disadvantaged kids

function have all the new
teachers, all the turnovers.

You go to the poorer
areas of our state.

They can't find teachers.

On individual said,
"We just have to depend

on warm bodies sometimes here."

That one statement
stuck with me more than anything

than I heard the whole time.

We just have to
depend on warm bodies.

Teacher quality,
teacher effectiveness

is the single most
important in-school factor

that will determine how a
young person does in school.

You've got to figure
out a way to make sure

that the most in need students,

whether it's academically
in need, or disadvantaged

or whether it's
economically disadvantaged

have access to the highest
quality of teachers.

So we went
looking for just that.

I want to have
children one day.

I want my children
to go to a school

that's racially diverse, that's
socio-economically diverse,

that's categorically
high achieving.

I'm looking around Arkansas,

and I'm not seeing
a good example.

So guess what that means?

I better provide one.

We found one
school that represents

both the endemic failure
of the school district,

and quite possibly it's
very hope for salvation.

During the summer of
2015, Baseline Academy,

Little Rock's lowest
performing elementary school

was entirely reconstituted.

27-year-old Jonathan Crossley
was appointed principal.

He'd never been
a principal before.

I didn't see that as a drawback,

I saw that as an
actually an opportunity.

We went after him, and
we weren't shy about it.

We told him we wanted
to work with him.

We wanted to help him
be all he could be.

He has a heart for service.

I think it is
immoral for the system,

for our structure of
education to not send

the best that we have
into every single school

in the state of Arkansas,
and the country at large.

So that's why I'm here.

If I am one of the best
educators in the state,

then I should be in a
school that needs me.

The
youngest ever Arkansas

Teacher Of The Year,
Jonathan had just two months

to hire and train
40 new teachers.

Five, four...

I wanted to teach children,

who otherwise would
not have had maybe

the greatest of
education from because

where their zip code is.

Because it's hard,
and it's a sad fact

that it's hard to find
really qualified teachers

to come to areas
to teach children

that are difficult to teach.

I read the proposal
for Baseline,

the redesign of
the school further,

and it talked about the
intensive professional
development

that they will provide
for the new staff.

It talk about that
children will be able

to learn things in a
different more meaningful way.

I was thinking, hey, I
like to be a part of it.

I like to be a part
of that turnaround,

that transition, that change.

That's what I'm building
this model at Baseline around.

It's supporting teachers,
giving them voice,

and making sure they are
professionally developed

every single day to be the
best versions of themselves

because these students
can't wait another day.

A mere eight
miles from Central High,

Baseline Academy is home
to roughly 60% Latino,

and 40% African American
students, all of them
low-income.

Many of them recent immigrants.

I'm wasn't born here.

It was hard.

In El Salvador, it was hard.

because there were
a lot of bad people.

So, it's
better here?

Are you glad you're here?

Come here.

I'm happy you're here.

We had issues, we have
homelessness issues.

We have violence issues.

It's not the environment
that a kid should be raised in.

This is not like a pretty
good safe environment.

You have children
saying, you know,

"Ms. Harnish, I have a quarter,

is that enough to buy a
book at the book fair?"

And you just want to cry.

So you dig in your wallet,

and you give them $10

because you want
them to have a book.

They want to learn,
and to have,

you know, these families
who want to provide

for their children so badly,

and they just do not
have the extra money

for those sort of things.

It's very difficult to learn

when your needs
are not being met.

It's feeding children,
brushing their teeth.

I have hygiene bags I send home,

and we have to think about,
think about things like that.

We have a lot of students

that needs someone
that loves them.

They need to know that
there's someone there

that supports them, and
kind of rooting for them.

So many people give
up on our students,

and they give up on children.

They just say, "Oh well,
this is just the way it is,

and they're gonna be this way."

Without taking into account that

if you will just push
them a little more,

love them a little more,
and encourage them,

motivate them, inspire them,
they can, and they will.

So I think about my identity

as an elementary
school principal.

I think about the fact that
I'm the first in my family

to go to college, and
the fact that I grew up

in a low income community.

So then I think about
the system that we're in

in Arkansas, and in
the nation at large.

Are the leaders
in those systems?

Leaders that are, their
identities are wrapped
up in equity.

If that were the case, it'll
be a little more urgent.

I want to see some urgency,

and that's why I'm
at Baseline Academy.

Baseline is
one school in one city.

But it represents far too
many of our communities.

See I was born in 1941,

and I saw the craziness
around me then.

It's the same craziness
I see around me now.

In my world, not too
much has changed.

For me, as a person who
made an incredible sacrifice

as a teenager to
endure what I endured,

it's been very startling.

I thought that
in a broader world,

people would develop a
consciousness of being a part

of something bigger
than themselves.

With the black since,
we're back to where we were

a year or so before Martin
Luther King was assassinated.

But it's not a
story of progress,

it's a story of total
inequality of schooling.

Separate but equal
never became the truth.

So the idea that we can
create equitable schools

in a segregated
society is a myth.

Show me where it's happening,
it's not happening anywhere.

And
divided, we failed.

At the height of school
desegregation in 1988,

the black/white achievement
gap was at its narrowest.

Since then the gap
began to widen again.

So one has to believe
one of two things.

You either have to believe
that there are hardly

any intelligent
black and Latino kids

or in a country with a long
history of racial caste,

that we are simply
remaking that racial caste

in our schools.

Segregation is
really, really corrosive

in terms of giving
lies to everybody.

It lies to the outside
world by saying these kids

because they haven't
achieve enough,

must not be competent.

Those who say
it's not an issue,

it's because they lack the will.

They lack the will
of Dwight Eisenhower,

a Republican
President, a general,

who's willing to send troops
to Little Rock, Arkansas,

to require it.

We haven't seen a leader
with that kind of resolve

in a long time.

Everybody will say,
"Well, we don't mean for

people to be apart.

We're not doing it on purpose."

Well, you might not be
doing it on purpose,

and you might be doing
whatever you think is the best

for your child to not get that,

but don't make that
decision thinking that

you're not having an
impact on the whole.

Take some responsibility for
what happens to the whole.

This is a
tale of too many cities.

I leave my house around
6:20 in the morning,

only because it's around an
hour and 20 minute commute.

Now I come home super late,

and I arrive at
my desk at seven.

I have friends that got
into like pretty average

high schools in the
Bronx, and they hate it.

So I definitely think I would
have gotten the education

that I have now,
where I go to school

has shaped my life
completely for the better.

But it would have been nice if

there has been
options around me.

At the time, I didn't
feel like there was.

New York City.

This iconic melting pot is
home to 1.1 million students

of countless races,
ethnicities and cultures.

Yet, it has the most
segregated schools in America.

Of the tale of two
cities, tale of two schools,

you have some schools
that perform quite well,

you have other schools
that perform quite poorly.

New York is among the most
ethnically diverse cities

in the entire world.

So why are so many of the
public schools so segregated?

This is the
case all across the Northeast

because of acute
residential segregation,

which is far worse in the
North, than in the South

due to decades of
discriminatory housing policies.

In New York City, we
don't talk like here,

you never, it's so
'90s to talk about race

when it comes to color.

We don't do that here.

We talk about it in money.

It's about how much you make,

and how much you don't make.

The excuses that you
often hear in New York City,

and other place in the
North is about housing.

It's about where
people can live.

It's about class,
black and Latino kids

are more likely to be poor,

and that it's not an
issue of race at all.

But we know, the data shows one

that's simply not true.

That there are a lot
of poor white students,

and they're not living
in neighborhoods

of concentrated
poverty in cities,

and they're not
attending schools with
concentrated poverty

in the city.

In our campus,
the John Jay Campus,

we have four schools
in the building.

One school that came
in three years ago,

Millennium Brooklyn,
their parents are mostly

middle class and upper
middle class parents.

Some of us called
it Apartheid High.

They got millions of
dollars of startup money

that we did not get
when we started.

The schools at the
state has been starving

out of funding.

Those are the same schools
that continue to fail,

and the same schools
they want to close.

With roughly
18,000 public schools,

New York City practices
school choice,

meaning that after sixth grade,

students can apply to any
school across the city.

It sounds good, it sounds good

for black parents trapped
in segregated neighborhoods

with underperforming schools.

The problem is choice has
never really been shown

to benefit black and Latinos,

and poor parents in mass.

I don't know, my school around
like 5,000 apply each year,

only around 272 get in,

making it more
competitive than Harvard.

You have guidance counselors
that are telling you,

I know mine did, just like,
"Guys, you don't have a chance

to go to this school.

Only affluent kids or
like rich kids can go.

You know white kids go."

People tell these kids this.

Choice relies on
the fact that parents

will be more actively engaged.

In New York City, you may
have to apply to the school.

You may have to
submit a portfolio.

Some of them have
interview times,

where you actually
have to leave work,

and show up at the
school at a certain time

in order to be able to apply.

Clearly, these are things
that are gonna benefit

parents who are
more middle class,

parents who are not
working hourly wages,

parents who are most engaged.

Like a lot of just
minority parents

don't understand the
admissions process.

I had to do mine by myself.

I had to look through
this like 200-page book,

and I have no idea
where to start.

So like one thing they
told us to look at

was the graduation rates.

That's how I decided I
wanted to go to this school.

I am in now.

My parents realized
that it will be

like an hour and a half away.

They really got upset.

They were like,
"We would have like

for you to go to
school around here."

My response at the time was,

the schools around here
are considered bad.

While parents
struggle to navigate

this complex system, schools
are making their own choices.

We had one parent that went in

asking for admission process,

and was told one thing, and
then they had another parent

that was only Spanish-speaking,

went in for the
same information,

and was given a totally
different answer, and they

were just a minute apart.

Why do you think they're trying

to keep certain kids out
of the school?

Once again, a lot,
like people said

money sometimes does talk
more in this community.

What control
choice means to me

is that even though the school
across the street from me

has the best program for my kid,

he can't go there.

Good evening, everybody.
Hi. Can anyone hear me?

Loud and proud, I got you.

I have to give you
all a shout out,

because your schools
here are the bomb.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

It's one thing if
you're able to afford

in a capitalist society
to put your child

into a private school
with other wealthy kids

but when you are talking
about a public system,

you should not be able
to buy into a school

where every kid is wealthy,
and almost every kid

is white and Asian,

in a district that is
the opposite of that.

While much of
the residential segregation

over the last several decades
occurred as a result of

white flight out of cities,

today we are witnessing
the opposite phenomenon.

What we know about
gentrification is

as whites and affluent
people start to move into

communities of color, what
they will do is cluster

in schools, and
those schools will

become little
islands of privilege.

You know, we can't do
much about gentrification

but we can use it
as an opportunity

to create more
integrated schools.

Meet
Jill Bloomberg,

the principal of Park
Slope Collegiate,

historically, a black
and Latino high school.

I was approached by a
parent from the neighboring

elementary school, PS 321,

and her request to me
was, "would you be willing

to accept a group of
students from 321?"

The idea being that that
people are interested

in your school but
they would feel better

if nobody's child was the
only white kid in the school.

We all actively
wanted to be there,

and make a statement
in a way around

why integration matters,
and why inclusive education

is really 21st
century education.

That was the best
way to get the students

that we currently
have what they need

because unfortunately, having
white people in the school

is your best way of getting
the finances that you need.

In the fall of
2013, 10 white sixth graders

integrated Park
Slope Collegiate.

That was pretty much a first.

We went from essentially
having 0% white students

to having 25% white students
to no major fanfare.

Unlike
the Little Rock Nine,

the Park Slope 10 were
welcomed by their black

and Latino peers.

Our reputation
or applicant pool

started to change dramatically,

which is an
interesting comment on

how people evaluate a school.

I think the biggest issues
come from the external

structural issues around a good
school versus a bad school,

and what a good
school looks like,

and what a bad
school looks like.

By having white families
come there that first year,

it was confusing
to the community.

So you're like what
are you thinking

like you're gonna send
your kid to that building

with metal detectors?

Like aren't you
petrified and scared?

I'm like no, it's a
great learning community,

and you should
come check it out.

By the
2015-16 school year,

the incoming sixth grade
class was over 50% white

putting it in just two years

at a dangerous tipping
point that threatens

to push out the most
vulnerable kids.

We are extremely
interested in being

and remaining an
integrated school

but if it's just left up
to the choice process,

we're not gonna be an
integrated school for very long.

So I just think it's so
important for schools

to be integrated 'cause
you learn about people

and not about what
you think they like,

or what you think they are,

what you see them do on TV.

But if I didn't go to
an integrated school,

I wouldn't be able to break
down those stereotypes.

I learned about
other people's races

or other people's cultures
from going to this school.

It's just really cool.

My kids are in a school
that they're getting

not only like a rigorous
academic experience

but they're learning
about racism directly.

They're learning about
different culture and people,

and not in a
Kumbaya kind of way.

I mean like they're learning
how to be anti-racist children.

The purpose of creating
a multi-racial school

is to create the kind
of multi-racial unity

that we need to combat racism.

♪ Just a little bit ♪

Jill's students
are working together

to combat racism by
opposing the metal detectors

in their school.

If you compare the
schools, the demographics

of the schools that
have metal detectors

to the demographics
of the schools

that don't have metal detectors,

you will see the same
race and class divide.

That's a horrible, horrible
message to give to students.

That comes directly
from the State.

I would like not to have
scanners in our public schools.

There's really no
evidence at least

that they've been
able to provide that

the scanners keep
the school safer?

I always thought
to myself, well,

if you're trying
to keep us safe,

then why don't you have
scanners in all the schools,

and try to keep everybody safe?

The first person I see
everyday is the security guard.

I want an education and
if I don't need a gun

to get an education, don't
scan me everyday for a gun.

It sort of feels
like you're in prison

when you're not in
prison, you're in school.

You have a whole
school crying out

that we do not need
these metal detectors

by telling you that we
feel like criminals.

We're telling you that we're
here to get an education,

and still yet nobody's
doing anything about it.

So it makes me sad like
you guys really don't care.

In some way, we're forgetting

that there are one
million students

that were talking about
when we talk about a policy

or we talk about initiative.

We're talking about one
million human beings

with incredible potential,
agency and intelligence,

and we're not speaking to them.

The Bronx
Academy of Letters

is located in the poorest
congressional district

in the country,
and a neighborhood

where few white
students ever set foot.

Here a community organizer
turned principal,

and committed teachers aimed
to give their students

leadership in New York's
first school equity debate.

They want to know why every
public school in New York City

does not have the same
resources.

I want to know too.

It seems like a naive question

but it really is why
there's a public good.

Why is it not fairly
allocated across a city

for all of the youth?

We should approach the
struggle for integration

not as an academic
or abstract question

but how does it actually
unfold in the lives

of the students?

The students were clear
that it affects every aspect

of school life.

From the most
basic stuff right,

like what kind of school
lunch menu do you have?

What after school
activities do you offer?

How many sports teams
does the school have?

That to me is the, is
really kind of cultivating

a school where the
resources of the city

are fairly distributed.

We have a vision that
one day all high schools

in New York City will be equal.

In integrated schools,
37.4% of students

are more likely to pass
college course, course exams,

whereas in segregated schools,

only 16.8% passed
these college courses.

Minority schools
have 2/3 of the teacher

that have old certification
and licensing requirement

predominantly minority schools
have 15% larger classes

than predominantly
white schools.

You know more about this
topic than most of your leaders

in public office, which
is part of the problem.

What I like about your
presentation is that

it reminds us that
diversity is not about

changing the way a school looks,

it's not an aesthetic problem.

It's about changing how
our school operates.

It's about the distribution of
resources, and opportunities.

Whenever we go
to school everyday,

the things that people
and officers are passing

affect us directly, and
we should have a say

in what happens.

So I wanted to organize kind
of a citywide student council.

I want our policies, the
things that we come up with

to shape this city.

I was really thinking about
why I went into education

to really inspire that
power, and potential,

and intelligence that
young people have,

and that we so often
shadow in the ways

that we talk to them, the
systems that we build.

There have been too
many people who have been

left out of the question,
how can we improve this?

Right, and it's been like, oh
we can improve this for you.

Integrate NYC is really
all about bringing

the young people
to the forefront

so that they can show us
what needs to be changed.

It needs to be student-led.

That's what I want to try
to do in New York City.

Because
that's the thing

real change happens when the
people who need it, lead it.

This is for the students
lost in the system.

Los Angeles, where
before there was

Brown versus Board of Education,

there was Mendez
versus Westminster.

In 1944, Sylvia Mendez
was an eight-year-old

Mexican American girl,
living in Orange County,

who just wanted to
go to a nice school.

Here we were, going to that
horrible Latino Mexican school

with dirt all around us,
next to the cow pasture.

They were teaching
us, not the academics,

they were teaching
us home economics.

We were learning how to
crochet, how to knit.

They wanted us to
grow up and be maids.

That's what they were
teaching us to be.

When
Sylvia and her brothers

were denied entry to their
neighborhood's far superior

white school, her parents
led a community battle,

and class action
lawsuit that went to

the California Supreme Court.

At the trial, Orange
County superintendents

used derogatory terms, and
argued that language barriers

warranted segregation.

But after a fierce
fight, the Mendez family

won the case in 1946.

This was huge.

We were talking a case
that set the precedent

for the Brown decision.

Farming family who pretty
much led a movement

to completely change the futures

for all children in California.

That's massive.

So, seven years before
the rest of the nation,

California was the first
state to be integrated.

Today,
70 years later,

there are two Southern
California schools

named after the Mendez family.

One of them located in
L.A.'s working class

Latino neighborhood
of Boyle Heights.

We have completely
gone around in a circle.

We're more segregated
now than we were in 1947.

The school right
now, wonderful school

that's doing such great things

but it's 100% Latino.

Did that case live up
to its potential ideals?

My students will
they have the chance

to interact with somebody who's
Asian, or white, or black?

Will they have the chance to
share about their cultures,

and customs, and what they do.

I do see Latinos
face stereotypes.

They're expected to not really
amount to anything as much.

So many people
think that Latinos

don't care about education,

and by bringing this
forth, you know,

the Mendez versus Westminster

how five families,
five Latino families

were fighting for
their children.

It just shows how much
their parents cared,

and how Latinos
have always cared.

I wonder what schools
would have looked like today

had I think, had our history,
the history of our city

been more compassionate, more
tolerant, more understanding,

and I think really lived up
to the ideals of the country.

♪ All the time,
you say was wasted ♪

♪ But it was wasted all
by you ♪

♪ All the love, that
walked away ♪

♪ Was really left
behind by you ♪

I've lived in South
L.A. all my life for like,

it's like a system being created

to push students out of schools.

So they end up being
a part the school

prison pipeline,
drawing it against,

and then they end up in prisons.

L.A. is in trouble.

They're losing kids,
they're losing money.

They've lost public confidence.

If they don't do
something quick,

they're gonna see
the public education

will be lost in Los Angeles.

This country's reflected
inside of this enormous,

enormous school system.

So more than 100
different neighborhoods,

and more than 20
individual cities,

including the city of
Los Angeles composed

Los Angeles unified
school district.

Over 80% of our kids live
in conditions of poverty.

We have some of the highest
exposure and concentration

to trauma of anywhere
in the country.

My mom she makes
about $9,000 a year.

It's five of us so
you could kind of like

imagine what we have to
go through to survive.

♪ Down, down so low ♪

♪ I'm dipping to the ground,
and one man did it all ♪

♪ Down, down so low ♪

♪ Leaving you crying out,
have mercy on my soul ♪

♪ Oh Lord, down so low ♪

♪ You've got to find
a way to be free ♪

So you can still walk into
a high school in Los Angeles

regardless of the
color of your skin.

But I will tell you cannot
walk into AP courses,

and you cannot have the
best-equipped school.

So while the front door is open,

the classroom door
still remains a real,

real impactful problem.

More than half
of K12 students in California

are Latino, and one third
of LAUSD students

are classified as English
language learners.

They faced what is known
as triple segregation.

Latino students are
particularly at a challenge

because the majority
of their parents

are probably immigrants or
have such faith in the system,

and trust in their
American dreams,

promise of education
that they don't know

how to question it
or challenge it,

and see if there's
something wrong with it.

Because we didn't
have family to support us.

Who to ask how to do things.

I like to communicate with
people and ask for help,

but I always had to find
someone that spoke Spanish.

And I didn't like that
because sometimes the people
that spoke Spanish

didn't have the
information I needed.

These kids actually have a
rather amazing set of assets.

Well, they're bilingual,
they're very knowledgable

about the different cultures.

They're very knowledgable
about different contexts

and traditions.

I mean they are potentially
these incredible brokers

out there in a
globalizing world.

Yet, we're treating them
as though they're just,

they've got deficits
and problems,

and they're of no use.

That's just a tremendous waste.

English language
learners are often isolated

in language classes that
prevent them from keeping pace

with core content subjects
like math and science,

making it harder for them to
be college ready by graduation.

One potential solution to
this detrimental separation

is dual emergent
language programs,

which have been gaining
traction in recent years.

The model is half native
English-speaking kids

who are hopefully part of
the mainstream society,

and half kids who come
with a language from,

home language that is
other than English.

We're thinking
long-term benefits.

We're thinking about the future.

We're thinking about
the 21st century,

what is necessary for my
kids to be successful.

As we live in this
global economy,

I don't see how we
can't offer our kids

a bilingual education.

In the future, when I'm
older and I get a job,

there might be some grown-ups
that don't speak English,

and I can help them translate.

When I'm older,
I could communicate

with other people in
different countries.

It makes me feel
happy to be bilingual.

It brings people together
in a win-win situation.

It is really one of the
only ways that is left to us

by the courts to actually
very systematically,

and consciously
desegregate our kids.

In America, it's not
just about integrating

across skin color,
and social class.

It's about integrating
different languages,

and cultures, and experiences.

Latino English learners
tend to drop out of school

at about twice the rate of
all other groups combined.

A huge factor is just
this sense of belonging

or not belonging.

But the reality
is, in our opinion,

that these kids didn't drop out,

that the school system
didn't do its job

to ensure that they got
the resources, the classes,

the support they needed
to succeed in it.

In fact, what was happening
is they're getting pushed out

of the school system.

'Cause we lived South L.A.

They say we are bad
apple and we're not.

You make us a bad apple
by kicking us out,

leading us, pushing
us out from school.

You know, following the
school to prison pipeline.

That's not where we want to end.

We want to be in school but
how can we focus in schools

when we don't have our
supports in schools?

There are many
ways that the schools

actually push kids out.

Suspension rates, kids who've
been suspended frequently

get discouraged, and schools
often see that as an incentive

to get rid of kids
that posed a problem.

Since 1972, the
probability of being suspended

during the school year has
more than doubled

for African American and
Latino students.

I saw a lot of my friends
get pushed out of school

for minor things such as
going into classrooms,

which are hitting on
you, and your teacher

does not want to deal with you.

Not understanding that
we come from communities

where we might
have got banged on

right before we came to school.

Families are not healthy.

People get shot at everyday.

So like we have to deal
with these conditions,

and teachers that don't
necessarily understand it.

One in three black male
babies born in this country

is expected to go
to jail or prison.

The statistic for Latino
boys is one in six.

These data tell
a very weak story

that children begin
to internalize

when they are marginalized,
when they are excluded,

when they are treated unfairly
in our school systems.

We have too many
schools in this country,

where the principals
sound like wardens,

and the teachers sound
like correctional officers.

Do we choose to invest
in the children's education

and their well-being
or do we choose

to invest in a new prison?

They rather put the
investment in a prison

than put the investment
in these communities.

♪ They've been lying to
you boy ♪

I know a person
like he's my friend,

can't afford clothes or anything

like he wear a wild T-shirt,
and his baggy, and jeans.

He can't afford any of this

so the police harassed him
just because he wearing

some type of clothing that
relates as a gang member,

they treat him as a gang member,

and they always harass him.

He felt like he's just being
violated by the system,

the schools, and he want
to do is get an education.

♪ You got the world on
your shoulders, monkey on
your backs ♪

♪ Haters on your case tryin'
to throw you off track ♪

♪ They preying in your real
TV, hit the noise dance ♪

♪ Simply stay strong,
call and tell 'em all ♪

♪ Feel ♪

In L.A., community
based youth-led organizing

help reverse the policy
of willful defiance,

which was leading to
disproportionate suspensions

of black and Latino students.

Where we go.

Everywhere we go.

People want to know.

People want to know.

Party for justice.

What young people have done
is sort of flipped the script.

We're not dropouts,
we're being pushed out.

What we need you to do
is to pull us back in

instead of pushing us back out.

For like, if they show
us the actual change

every time we fight for it,

that will give
people to see that

what they fight for is worth it.

Because of all the work that
you all put in here today,

that will ensure that

student will have
mercy in the classroom.

They will increase
graduation rates.

It will put ministers on
check...

We had like 49,000
suspensions a year,

and when we left, we had less
than 6,000 suspensions a year.

That should be no shock
that achievement went up.

If you stay with us, you learn.

Just like
in Sylvia Mendez's day,

L.A.'s underserved students
are taking their fight

to the courts.

Matter
before the court,

Vergara versus State of
California and others,

council states.

Return this for
the record please.

Good morning Your Honor,
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.

for the plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs are asking this
court to protect their

constitutional right
to education equality

because all children deserve
an equal chance to succeed.

In this case, what
we're talking about

is grossly ineffective teachers.

Teachers who berate
their students or

rather than inspire them.

The court has described
education as the lifeline

of both the
individual and society

because it serves
the distinctive and

as a bright hope for the entry
of the poor and oppressed

into the mainstream
of American society.

It's truly a
fundamental interest

in our state, and in
our society education.

Vergara versus
California is a case

that we brought
here in Los Angeles,

challenging a series
of laws that really

we felt were damaging
and injuring students.

The tenure laws, the
dismissal statutes,

the layoffs statutes
really conspired together

to make it so superintendents
and principals

couldn't manage teachers,

and make sure the best
teachers were being rewarded,

and promoted, and that
grossly ineffective teachers,

which everybody admitted
were in the system

could be taken out of the system

so they weren't in
front of students.

You kind of tell
that the staff members

like they either don't
want to deal with you.

I mean there's
certain staff members

that wants to see you succeed

but others, it's just like
you're here for the day,

I get paid whether you
want to be here or not.

I think at some point
where the teachers

don't even know their
name, and that's really--

Sad.

That's sad.

Very sad.

So that's one thing that
we do need in our schools

is better teachers.

Teachers that are more
caring about the student.

I've had my experience
with both effective

and ineffective teachers,

and it makes all the difference.

My daughter Julia,
like all the children

in the State of
California deserves a good
quality education

so that she can have
an equal opportunity

to learn and succeed in life.

Julia was great, she was
excited to go to school.

She's a kid who's
always love learning.

She was great in
kindergarten first grade.

We get to second grade,
and things start to change.

I didn't really understand
what was wrong with Julia,

and the only difference was
she had a different teacher.

I went to the principal,
I expressed my concerns,

and after two weeks,
she came back,

and she said, "The
problem isn't Julia,

the problem is the teacher.

But she's been here
for a long time,

and there's nothing
we can do about it."

The buildup of
ineffective teacher

after ineffective teacher,

which you have no control over

eventually just builds up,
and you become a lost student

in the system.

The data was overwhelming

that when kids would have a
grossly ineffective teacher,

it will affect them for
the rest of their lives.

Their income, their,
whether they go to college

where they go to college.

It was really remarkable.

The trial judge found that
it shocked the conscience

the effects of these
statutes were having.

Generally speaking,
we love our teachers,

we love our principals.

But at times, it
doesn't always work out.

It's hard for parents to get
that through to the system

and have their voices heard
on behalf of their children.

It's very frustrating.

There's a sense of helplessness.

For us as a family,
it wasn't enough

justified for our children.

We felt like it was
our responsibility

to speak out for all children.

It was to show
to other students

who had been in my situation
that there is somebody

advocating for them.

The
students won the case

but it was later overturned.

They took it all the way to
California Supreme Court,

which in August 2016
declined to hear the case.

The ultimate ruling here
was a severe injustice

to the nine school
children I represent,

and every kid in California,

the legislature is
not gonna do anything.

It's political gridlock.

The students who were
affected by these laws

can't vote, so they can't
affect political change.

You have this situation
where adults, politicians,

government officials are
letting these kids down.

It's an extreme injustice.

This
is for all of us.

So here we are, 60 years later,

and yeah by many measures,

and by most accounts, we
got it very, very wrong,

whether through our
prejudices, our ignorance,

our silence, our apathy,

or our fear that things
won't or can't change.

When school desegregation
happened in the '60s

or in the '50s, '60s and '70s,

it was difficult and contentious

but there was a little
bit more commitment

to the idea that
an injustice to one

is an injustice to all.

We would do well
to remember that.

The lessons of
history and education

can provide a
national narrative,

the pathway as to how all
of us fit in together,

and how all of us need to ensure

that every young person
has the opportunity

for a bright future,
not just the few.

I just say outright,
we have to have a whole

lot of white folks advocating
for doing something about this

because that's where
the power structure is.

We have to do
everything in our power

to make sure that the
educational crisis

does not entrap them, and
cause them to be stuck,

and their dreams to be deferred.

But we
still have a chance

to get it right.

Education is just really
giving me a driving force.

It's really turning
my life around.

Made me look at things
more positively.

I'm still a poor kid
but I'm making it.

If you tell me a
poor kid can't learn,

I say it, we're gonna
always be able to learn

as long as there
are books out there,

we'd be able to learn.

There was one teacher that
stuck out to me the most.

Her name was Mrs. Norman.

She just pulled me out one day.

She was like, "None of these
teachers have asked you

where you're from.

You sure don't act like
the rest of these kids here.

You look like a couple
of 'em but I can tell

that you're not from
the exact same place."

She asked, she said,
"What is your household

situation looking like?"

I said well, you
know, my first house,

it didn't have no
windows, and no plumbing.

So like I had to learn
how to provide from less.

She was like, "Are you serious?"

And all this stuff.

So she kind of became a
one-on-one mentor and
my counselor.

She kinda the reason why I
started caring more about
school.

In community
after community,

we learned this...

America's schools are no
longer four free standing walls

that open at eight,
and close at three.

They are the very barometers
of our nation's health.

Our teachers, the vital link
to our children's futures.

It can't be
understated how important

the role of a teacher is
in shaping a kid's future.

My life is literally changing

everyday I come
into this classroom.

This teacher doesn't realize

that he's really
changing my life,

and how I think, and
how I see the world.

Teachers do more and
are expected to do more

than ever before.

Learners are coming in
with different needs

It's hard, it's
a really hard job.

I don't, I think
everyone is really good

at paying lip service
to how hard it is

like "Teachers are so
great, they work so hard."

I don't think people
fully understand

how challenging
it is to take care

of someone else's
child, and to love them

as they move through what
is a really difficult time

in their lives in adolescence.

It's hard.

I mean I'm doing those things.

I'm putting in the work.

I'm providing
supports for teachers.

I'm giving them time to
plan with one another.

I'm allowing them to have
people in their lives,

and their school is helping
them with the curriculum.

It's helping them teach content.

It's still hard.

I'm providing
interventions for behavior

for students who are on the
extreme end of the spectrum

but it's still hard.

It's still hard.

That's something that I
want to honor going forward.

I think the system should
do a better job of honoring.

It's still hard.

Over time, that will
wear even the most

mission-driven,
passionate person down.

I think we're seeing that at
a broader, and broader scale.

I personally, hear
what teacher say

is like, "I really need
support to do a job I love,

and care about."

I hear teachers all the time

express unbelievable concern
in regard for students,

and really want to
do the best job.

I currently am working
in a segregated school.

The opportunity
gaps are so great

that even the best
intentioned teachers

really burned out, and the
administration is exhausted.

It's never good enough.

It feels like it's
never good enough.

Imagine a classroom
where 50, 60, 70%

of your students are facing
some degree of crisis.

How much teaching are you
really able to get through

when you're having to
address basic needs?

So just sharing the
responsibility of caring

for the underserved, I
think is going to do a lot

to facilitate teaching and
learning in the classroom.

You can't build an entire
profession of more than

three million individuals based
on the good graces of a few.

We need to change the structure
of the teaching profession

to attract, develop, retain
and motivate the best talent.

We need that talent
to be teaching in our

Sometimes in the classrooms,
we're really, not really

aware about what's
going on in the text

but we're really going
on about the problems

that our house had,

and that really
affects us a lot.

Teachers like that really,
that are really experienced

helped us, and I believe
that we really need

those teachers here in our
classrooms helping us out.

I've come to believe that

it can't be kind of a few
crusaders trying to do this.

There has to be a literally
an entire community effort.

How did it go?

It went great.

We've seen some
amazing turnarounds.

So how have
you been doing the school year?

Do you like coming to school?

Eh-hmm.

Have
you seen it improve

over the last six months
or how has it changed?

Well it's changed because,

from the beginning of the year,
kids used to get in trouble

more than they do now.

It's like when we were
in the last six months,

we were always
arguing and fighting.

Now, we are all getting along,

and treating each
other like family.

Why is that?

Because we have our core
values, family leadership,

empowerment, and progress,
and students are in it.

She's changed tremendously.

I mean she enjoys coming
to school everyday.

She enjoys the
principal, the staff,

students she interacts
with them well.

I've seen a lot of changes

since the new leadership
has come in here.

The school year's going well.

It's had lots of challenges

that we've had overcome

but we've weathered the
storm to a large degree.

The climate of the
building has changed.

The culture of the
building has changed.

The investment
from the community

is starting to be
more, and more present.

I look out to Baseline,

and Jonathan Crossley
has some of the worst,

toughest people in
that neighborhood,

and they're playing
basketball with him.

I thought that's why
he fought so hard

to get the basketball
court, making it to show

not just other leaders
but the community,

hey, I'm in here with you guys,

I'm in here for the long haul.

Our families that
live in the area

have been very pleased to see

the greater parental
engagements,

and just sort of the change
in culture of that school.

Well as the saying goes,

it takes a village
to raise a child.

So I think everyone
should be involved.

Very poor neighborhood,
very dense neighborhood.

A lot of challenges
with violence and crime.

I come from communities
where dropout rates

are extremely high but
because of the exceptional

help that I get
from communal level,

I will be attending Brown
University in the fall.

We make sure that we
provide opportunities

at whatever level
the parents are at,

and that we also
support them in feeling

like they are a partner
with us in the education

of their children.

With our graduation rates
being close to 100%,

over 80% of our kids are
getting into four-year colleges.

So we can't do that alone.

Okay, this is so important

that our Latino
parents get involved.

Some of the Latino
parents don't even know

how to speak English,
have never gone to school

but all they have to
do is inspire them.

Get informed.

Get informed, get
engaged, and advocate.

It's not enough just to
volunteer in the school.

You need to learn the system.

You need to
understand the system,

and understand what
your choices are.

Most importantly, policy
change in order to solve

the educational crisis
is not charters,

it is parental choice,
parental power.

I would put my trust in parents

but for anything else.

I truly believe
education starts at home

but when we send out
kids into the schools,

it's not enough
to just want more,

we have to demand more.

We are making choices
for our children.

We all want the best
for our children.

So we need to be very smart
about what the next move is,

and how we're gonna
do as a community.

We can't just wait for the
politicians to do it for us,

we've got the pressure on them.

We've got the create
the sentiment that

lets the politicians
know public education

is essential for our future,

and we want it,
we'll insist upon it.

We need parents'
voice more involved.

We need teachers'
voice more involved.

Most importantly we need
students' voice more involved.

So let's
get back to the students...

where this all began.

Hi everyone, and
welcome to the third

New York City Diversity Council.

Last year, this
was just an idea.

This was just something we
always just talked about

but then we actually
made it happen.

Right now, currently
in this meeting,

we have people from
across the city.

At least 10 districts, from
District 2, 3, 7, 10, 8,

and even keeps going on.

I just want to say that
this is a collective effort.

This is a community.

This is the essence
of diversity.

We want the city
to look like this.

We want our schools
to look like this.

Hopefully, by this
movement, it could happen.

Without students
taking leadership

then we wouldn't
have a change at all.

Despite our flaws
and differences,

we get together, and with
the same things we value,

and we work on
building a community.

As teenagers, we can
make our voice be heard,

and influence how
adults shape our future.

When we as students stand
up and take leadership,

we are the ones ultimately
benefiting in the long run.

When we allocate resources,

and when we diversify schools,

the results are ultimately
seen in the world

that we live in.

I think that's what
we really want to see.

We wanna see change.

There needs to be
more models like this,

and more students
need to come together

because this
directly affects you,

and will affect your children,
and your grandchildren.

I feel this work has
been hugely impactful

on my students.

I think that they're
starting to realize

that they can't wait
for some savior to come,

and create diversity,
and equity.

Human kind kind of
poses these questions,

and I think they're
starting to realize

that they were born
to answer them.

Unity is the only
plausible pathway to justice.

Youth for integrate.

The Little Rock
Nine means a lot to me

because it shows how much
our ancestors cared enough

to sacrifice their
lives for us, for me

to have the opportunity to
be able to go to school,

be able to have better
jobs, and better living.

When these are in
fact our ancestors,

and people whose
shoulders we stand on,

and they made a way for us to
be in the educational system.

So I thank them.

Education, it gets you there

you know, when they
took that big step.

We need to know
what our ancestors did

to get us where we are now,

and we need to keep pushing,

and raising the bar higher.

Don't matter what
nobody ever tells you.

Education is always the key.

The sacrifices that I've made

when I was 15, 16, 17 years old,

were so that you would
have more possibilities,

more hopes and dreams,
and that you would

fully engage as a student.

So you have to go for it

because I've paid
it forward for you.

Just like in 1957, you're
going to have to work

twice as hard.

Maybe three times as hard

but you can still do it.

Don't let your conditions
dictate, who you're going to be.

So it's up to you guys,

up to you students to
carry on the legacy

to show everybody
that it can be done.

What I'm doing today
in the community college

is fighting for a change
in the school system,

and making sure that
there is a huge gap

between the education
system compared to schools

at other communities.

I want to make sure that
my kids could go to school

in the community
that they live in.

So wherever I decide to live,

I feel like they
can go to school,

and receive a quality education,

and not feel like they're
being deprived of anything.

You absolutely
deserve to demand

what's rightfully yours.

All young people should
join me in this fight

because we all live
in the same circle.

Anybody can stand
up against injustice,

and they can succeed

because when you are
working towards justice,

people will join you.

Just don't give up,
your voice is powerful.

It's not too late.

There's one concept,
it's called tikkun olam .

It's a Jewish tradition.

It talks about each one
of us in the universe

is charged with the
responsibility of
repairing the world.

That's a given responsibility.

What if, what if
everybody believe that?

You see, and work hard
toward repairing the world.

That's what I'm gonna do.

I just won't get nobody
a reason to doubt me.

Nobody a reason to say,
Bradley you can't make it

or Bradley you can't
change the world

because I'm just going
to change the world.

I'm just going to do it.

That's it.