TIME TO TALK
Dozens join Community Conversation on equity in schools
HARLEYSVILLE >> There were only three questions, but lots of answers from attendees at a Souderton Community Conversation hosted by the Movement for Black and Brown Lives of Montgomery County July 22 at Christ Lutheran Church in Harleysville.
“The goal is just to come up with some feedback from the community about what we can do to unite because no matter what community you live in, if your community has any form of separation on any level, it impacts the community in a negative way, so I think it’s important you guys have decided we’re going to come together and have a conversation,” said Pastor Saleem Wright, a Souderton resident and pastor of Souderton Worship Center, who facilitated the discussion about Souderton Area School District.
“Conversation is the operative word,” Wright said, “because we want to make sure we’re hearing one another and we’re listening to one another and we’re able to have our voices be heard.”
Empowerment
First question: What does an empowering school community look like to you?
“It needs to be a safe place to speak up,” one person said.
“You need people in a position of power in the school community that are willing to listen,” another said.
“I think the frustrating reason I’m here and I think a lot of people are here is that we’ve been excluded from the conversation,” another said. “Conversations are happening, but people who have a different perspective are not invited and are labelled divisive.”
“If the school board, if the teachers, do not reflect the diversity of the community — not what it looked like years ago, but what it looks like today — that presents an opportunity,” another attendee said. “I submit to this group that if we’re endeavoring to diversify the community, you’ve got to be intentional about it.”
He said he came to the meeting that night to be part of the discussion.
“I’m willing to listen to anybody if they’re in turn willing to listen to me, so to me, it’s not just that the individual be given an opportunity to be heard, but that actually someone’s listening to you, that someone is not marginalizing what you have to say, that somebody is not acting like what you’re saying is not happening just because they haven’t seen it,” he said.
“The situation with Souderton, I feel like the people in charge don’t think there’s a problem, so you can’t really debate with them what the solution to the problem should be if they don’t agree that there is a problem,” another said.
“They don’t think there are any biases,” she said. “I would like to see an implicit bias program for our teachers.”
“If you have people that don’t believe change needs to be made, then it’s going to be very hard to get them to understand,” Wright said.
More and larger conversations are needed, he said.
“At some point, you won’t be able to ignore it. You’ll have to address it on some level,” Wright said.
A current student said she’s been told to stop talking about politics in school, while others are not told the same thing.
“They try to silence my voice, but then decide that they’re completely allowed to speak about whatever they want,” she said.
Communication
Second question: How do you think we can build a stronger communication link with the Souderton school community?
A former student said students should be made more aware that they can come to school board meetings and share their stories directly when seeking changes.
When she was in school, her Girl Scout troop wanted to see changes made to the dress code, she said, but communicated about that only with administrators.
“Just looking back on that experience, we didn’t think once about going to a school board meeting,” she said.
The former student suggested that school announcements include when school board meetings are held, what topics will be discussed and an invitation for students to attend.
“If kids hear that there’s an opportunity to share something that they’re passionate about, they’ll come,” she said.
Another person said teachers and students in the Souderton Area district were told a couple years ago not to talk about politics.
“They just didn’t allow students or teachers to talk about politics at all, which sort of shuts down a conversation when they could use it as a learning opportunity to teach kids how to have a discourse without divisiveness,” she said.
“Instead of having like a civil debate, they just said we’re not going to do this,” she said. “That’s a problem that we’re seeing with our school is that they’re saying, OK, we’re just not going to have this conversation.”
The meeting that night was supposed to be a twosided conversation in order to find common ground to work on, but there didn’t seem to be anyone with opposing views in attendance, she said.
Dissenting views are important, Wright said.
“A lot of times, depending on what side of the aisle you fall on and what group you’re with, it’s very difficult to let your voice be heard. I encourage anyone who feels completely opposed to what’s being said tonight to share because you can’t find common ground if one side is silent,” Wright said.
The most effective way to reach the youth is through social media, a 2020 graduate who is part of a group meet said.
A member of the recently-formed Souderton Area United for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion said the group’s goals are to communicate concerns and needs to the school board, host a youth justice summit and to hold a communityled equity audit.
One of the attendees said parts of history that are viewed as too gruesome or irrelevant are brushed over.
“It can be really upsetting for certain communities who may have been affected by these events in history that are not being talked about in schools as much as they should be,” she said.
Suggestions were made that the group work to get someone who represents their views on the school board.
Carmina Taylor, cofounder of The Movement for Black and Brown Lives of Montgomery County, said some political candidates don’t engage with the whole
community.
“Anybody that runs for locally elected office, you have an obligation to engage with the community you’re supposed to represent and then when you become elected in the school board setting, you have to service everyone, whatever party, whatever neighborhood, and whatever economic status,” she said, “and that’s the role of us to make sure people know that once you’re elected in that general election, you serve everybody, whoever that is.”
“This isn’t about politics. It’s not about left or right or Democrat or Republican. This is about human and civil rights and inclusion and just, gosh darn it, wanting to be a place where I want to raise my family,” another woman said.
“I am here to change the community for the better,” she said, “nothing else.”
“Without struggle, there is no progress,” Wright said.
“You’re going to have to fight. It’s just how do you fight and are you willing after you get knocked down or after you knock somebody else down to pick them back up and work to a restoration,” he said, “but I make no bones about it. For anybody who thinks this is kumbaya, it’s not. It’s going to get ugly, it’s going to get dirty because you’re trying to change the fabric of the community.”
In answer to a question of how to draw in people with opposing views, Kevin Leven, co-founder of the Bucks County Anti-Racism Coalition, said he uses facts and data.
“Butting heads with somebody isn’t going to really do any good because they’re just going to see you as somebody who’s out for your interest against their interest,” he said. “I’ve been trying to spread the message that it doesn’t have to be a zero sum game, it doesn’t have to be an us versus them. We can all get what we want more or less.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion help people of all races, he said.
“Affirmative action has helped more white women than anyone who looks like
“Conversation is the operative word, because we want to make sure we’re hearing one another and we’re listening to one another and we’re able to have our voices be heard.” — Pastor Saleem Wright, pastor of Souderton Worship Center
“Without struggle, there is no progress . ... For anybody who thinks this is kumbaya, it’s not. It’s going to get ugly, it’s going to get dirty because you’re trying to change the fabric of the community.” — Pastor Saleem Wright, pastor of Souderton Worship Center
me,” Leven said.
Next steps
Third Question: What next steps are you willing to contribute in making this school community stronger?
“You personally,” Wright said, “what are you willing to do?”
One answer was to contact state and federal legislators.
“They work for us. They take enough of my money. They take enough of yours,” the person said.
“Personally, for me, I’m just going to continue to listen,” and to spread information, another said.
Taylor said 25 percent of the Souderton Area School District students are economically disadvantaged.
“At the end of the day, there’s 1,400 students at Souderton that don’t have equal access to the same resources that the other 5,000 have,” she said, “and it doesn’t matter what neighborhood they’re from and what color.”
Christ Lutheran Church Pastor Serena Sellers said the church was glad it could provide the space for the meeting.
“That’s something that as a church we feel strongly about is that all are welcome and that it’s important that everyone be respected and heard,” she said.
For her, Sellers said, the next steps are continuing to invite the community in, providing information on anti-racism training and “I will be praying for Souderton.”
Sellers said she had watched the video of the three-hour long June 17 Souderton Area School Board meeting.
“I saw fear on both sides in that conversation. I saw a lot of fear,” she said, “and scripture says perfect love casts out fear, so I’m going to keep praying for Souderton and for all of us that we can hold onto perfect love because perfect love will allow us to move forward as a community and to cast aside that fear and make real improvement.”
A Student Voices event will be held 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 1 at Souderton Community Park.
“It’s really focusing on getting young people registered to vote and talking about shaping policy around racial equity and equality and getting them to share their voices,” Taylor said.
Current Souderton Area students and alumni, as well as those from other school districts have been invited, she said.
A posting on the Movement 4 Black and Brown Lives in Montgomery County Facebook page says Souderton Area current students and alumni are coleading an Open Mic For Your Rights Souderton Student Voices Rally.
“It’s time for us to raise up our own voices and speak out against inequity in the Souderton Area School District,” event information says.
The Student Voices Solutions Tour will also be happening at the park at the same time, another posting says, “Because UNITING Young Voices make OUR communities STRONGER!”
“Join State Representative Napoleon Nelson and the Montgomery County Cultural Proficiency & Equity Student Ambassadors in a collective conversation with community student leaders about solutions for racial justice policy in Pennsylvania!” event information says.