Hackley Alumni for Black Lives
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*This effort is not affiliated with Hackley School administration and solely represents the voices of two Hackley alumni from the Class of 2016*
In the wake of the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless other Black individuals, we are calling on Hackley alumni and members of the greater Hackley community to take a stand. For too long, our distinctly educated, successful, and engaged Hackley community has been shamefully idle in the fight against the racism that is so pervasive in our society.
Let’s take the first step now, by donating, and actively standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement.
For all of our air-and-shares, Chapel Talks, class debates, and thorough emphases on empathy and diversity, our community is plagued by inaction. As Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice.”
We think it’s fair to say that the majority of our school community fall into the “moderate” mindset. Well-meaning intentions and vague goals for diversity ring hollow when you realize that Hackley only has one Black teacher in the Upper School, or that some of the only Black figures you can remember studying are MLK and Rosa Parks. Despite all of Hackley’s emphasis on moral integrity and strict zero-tolerance policies, we struggle to remember a time when the school or its students took an aggressive stand when instances of racial ignorance and prejudice occurred.
As two white students, we’ve reflected on the ways in which we were complicit in the face of many of these issues throughout our Hackley experience. We stand in solidarity with the just-graduated Class of 2020 students that bravely wrote about their impatience with Hackley’s ongoing weakness in addressing issues of race.
In her recent letter addressed to the Hackley community, Taylor Robin, the outgoing student council president, wrote “I would be remiss to not discuss the fact that my experience here had its faults as well. What you have not witnessed was that I have been scared everyday -- and it is exhausting.”
In another letter sent to the Head of School, Ella Jones (Class of 2020) wrote:
“I’ve been lucky to find amazing and supportive friends here and teachers who have become role models, but I’m still walking away from Hackley, after thirteen years, without feeling like I stood up for what I believe in within the confines of all those classrooms or shared looks of understanding with other black students across the room whenever race came up with much to show for it. I feel as if I may be leaving without a legacy that can help lighten the burden of being a student of color in a majority-white school for those who follow. I really hope that I can be proven wrong.”
While it may be uncomfortable, we must recognize that, in many ways, we have failed our Black and Brown peers with a tamed, and often ignorant tone on race and prejudice.
We as alumni recognize the great privilege that the Hackley experience has afforded all of us, long after we have left the Hilltop. It is precisely because we pride ourselves on the high caliber of our education and the strong bond of our community that we must demand more from the Hackley administration, and from ourselves.
We need to take responsibility for our previous hurtful and passive actions, and embrace our positions as allies, and not bystanders, in the long-term fight against institutional racism.
As a first step of a larger movement, we have created a “Hackley Alumni for Black Lives” fundraising page that is dedicated to bringing the Hackley community together in the fight against racial injustice. We can start today, to shape the local communities and institutions we seek to rectify. Join us in demanding change, and in demanding justice for George Floyd, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, and so so many more.
We have set the ambitious, yet attainable goal of raising $5,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative and the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM), both detailed below.
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. To learn more, go to EJI
BEAM is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Our mission is to remove the barriers that Black people experience getting access to or staying connected with emotional health care and healing. We do this through education, training, advocacy and the creative arts. To learn more, go to BEAM
Sydney Monroe and Jessica Paridis, Class of 2016
In the wake of the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless other Black individuals, we are calling on Hackley alumni and members of the greater Hackley community to take a stand. For too long, our distinctly educated, successful, and engaged Hackley community has been shamefully idle in the fight against the racism that is so pervasive in our society.
Let’s take the first step now, by donating, and actively standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement.
For all of our air-and-shares, Chapel Talks, class debates, and thorough emphases on empathy and diversity, our community is plagued by inaction. As Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice.”
We think it’s fair to say that the majority of our school community fall into the “moderate” mindset. Well-meaning intentions and vague goals for diversity ring hollow when you realize that Hackley only has one Black teacher in the Upper School, or that some of the only Black figures you can remember studying are MLK and Rosa Parks. Despite all of Hackley’s emphasis on moral integrity and strict zero-tolerance policies, we struggle to remember a time when the school or its students took an aggressive stand when instances of racial ignorance and prejudice occurred.
As two white students, we’ve reflected on the ways in which we were complicit in the face of many of these issues throughout our Hackley experience. We stand in solidarity with the just-graduated Class of 2020 students that bravely wrote about their impatience with Hackley’s ongoing weakness in addressing issues of race.
In her recent letter addressed to the Hackley community, Taylor Robin, the outgoing student council president, wrote “I would be remiss to not discuss the fact that my experience here had its faults as well. What you have not witnessed was that I have been scared everyday -- and it is exhausting.”
In another letter sent to the Head of School, Ella Jones (Class of 2020) wrote:
“I’ve been lucky to find amazing and supportive friends here and teachers who have become role models, but I’m still walking away from Hackley, after thirteen years, without feeling like I stood up for what I believe in within the confines of all those classrooms or shared looks of understanding with other black students across the room whenever race came up with much to show for it. I feel as if I may be leaving without a legacy that can help lighten the burden of being a student of color in a majority-white school for those who follow. I really hope that I can be proven wrong.”
While it may be uncomfortable, we must recognize that, in many ways, we have failed our Black and Brown peers with a tamed, and often ignorant tone on race and prejudice.
We as alumni recognize the great privilege that the Hackley experience has afforded all of us, long after we have left the Hilltop. It is precisely because we pride ourselves on the high caliber of our education and the strong bond of our community that we must demand more from the Hackley administration, and from ourselves.
We need to take responsibility for our previous hurtful and passive actions, and embrace our positions as allies, and not bystanders, in the long-term fight against institutional racism.
As a first step of a larger movement, we have created a “Hackley Alumni for Black Lives” fundraising page that is dedicated to bringing the Hackley community together in the fight against racial injustice. We can start today, to shape the local communities and institutions we seek to rectify. Join us in demanding change, and in demanding justice for George Floyd, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, and so so many more.
We have set the ambitious, yet attainable goal of raising $5,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative and the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM), both detailed below.
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. To learn more, go to EJI
BEAM is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Our mission is to remove the barriers that Black people experience getting access to or staying connected with emotional health care and healing. We do this through education, training, advocacy and the creative arts. To learn more, go to BEAM
Sydney Monroe and Jessica Paridis, Class of 2016
Organisator
Jessie Paridis
Organisator
Purchase, NY