Honored to have made a difference…

Check the testimony below, by local school teacher Genny O’Herron, Thanks Genny!

A statement of appreciation for the work of
Carlos Contreras and Hakim Bellamy
January, 2012

As teachers we experience professional development in many capacities: workshops, inservices, trainings of all types.  But I have always found that my greatest inspiration and learning comes from simply watching other masterful teachers.  I have made it a point to do so in schools throughout the country.  So when I first watched Carlos Contreras in the Voces Summer Program, I was deeply moved and impressed by what I witnessed, by what permeated that learning environment: trust, risk-taking, connection, compassion, expectations of excellence—from Carlos towards his students and amongst the youth.   Months later when trying to design and implement a new seventh grade curriculum that incorporated expressive arts as a platform for understanding systems of oppression, particularly racism, it was an honor to collaborate with Carlos and his partner Hakim Bellamy.  It has been an even greater privilege to watch them bring poetry alive for students in the service of social justice teaching. 

Carlos and Hakim are educators who make space for the real.  By this, I mean they draw from a complete and contextualized American and global history, they respect the complicated and affective experiences of their students, they model both vulnerability and the power of speaking one’s truth, and most brilliantly, they challenge students’ perceptions (of self and of the world).   They expand young people’s critical and creative thinking by what they share—their poetry—and by what they help students tap in themselves through the engaging activities and writing prompts they facilitate. 

It is no surprise that students respond so enthusiastically to Carlos and Hakim’s educational work.  What has surprised me is how instructive it has been for me as a teacher.  Particularly as a white teacher. 

Scholars spanning from W.E.B DuBois to Gloria Ladson-Billings have critiqued the large establishment of white middle class women in the field of education, and many of us being critiqued sincerely try to reach, support, defend, inspire, and thoroughly educate all of our students.  Less of us are willing to look at deeper issues of racial justice that need attention in our schoolhouses.  Still fewer of us have effective strategies to address the racism that our students experience and our institutions perpetuate.

The day Carlos and Hakim worked with a group of students in the Courageous Conversations class at our school, a white student told one of the students of color that he did not find Black women attractive.  Needless to say, this microaggression was painful and upsetting to the student of color.   I was asked to address the incident by his homeroom teacher, and feeling insecure about how to offer support, I immediately recalled the poetry writing that the students had just done with Carlos and Hakim.  The students had been paired and encouraged to write about a conflict.  This student had been working on a rough draft about racism, but he and his partner were having a hard time identifying a realistic conflict.  I suggested that he consider writing his poem about the real-life incident that had just happened and consider performing it in front of his class when they showcased their work.  The student who had been insulted by his peer’s racial insensitivity did not end up writing such a poem, but two things happened.  First, by framing it as a possible poem, in talking with me, he was able to share a wide range of feelings.  I’m guessing that if I had just asked him directly, “So, how are you feeling about this,” there would not have been the opening to process the experience with such depth and vulnerability.  The poetry prompt-as-strategy, in that case, became a spontaneous, safer way to vocalize what he was going through emotionally and cognitively.  Second, the student asked if he could work on this poem (when he originally felt passionate about writing it) with the partner he had been assigned to work with in class.  In approaching this white student the concept of being a white ally was explored.  The concept of microaggressions and unconscious racism were explored.   That student was invited into a new consciousness, which did appear in a persona poem he wrote and shared with his classmates about being an African-American student.  I don’t believe that either of these experiences would have transpired had I not just witnessed the poetry lesson that Carlos and Hakim had led and directly applied it to the situation at hand.  And while these two incidents may seem insignificant, they were important trust-building experiences that have enabled us to have harder, more honest conversations about the racial dynamics at our school.  One experience builds upon another.  The foundation was laid by Hakim and Carlos.

I am guessing that I am dong what many teachers do after Hakim and Carlos are guest presenters in their classrooms.  I find myself frequently saying, “Remember how Hakim invited us to think about it this way … Remember how Carlos talked about it that way.”  Both men have an incredible gift for inspiring transformative learning.  It is obvious with the students; my note of appreciation is to emphasize that it is for teachers as well. 

Courageous Conversations is the name of the class that Hakim and Carlos so generously participated in creating.  I am mindful of the Latin root for courage, cor, which means heart.  Essentially courage means to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.  I can think of no better way to describe what I have seen these two exceptional educators empower students to do. 

With gratitude,
Genny O’Herron