At Gotham Professional Arts Academy in Brooklyn New York, students will spend the next two weeks learning about people killed in interactions with police.
What You Need To Know:
- Gotham Professional Arts Academy in Brooklyn New York has launched a new curriculum to address George Floyd's death.
- Students will spend the next two weeks discussing lives lost in interactions with police.
- The students will create art and engage with local elected officials to make their voices heard.
"We had just finished designing the way in which we were going to go about closing out the academic year for our students and then George Floyd’s life was taken," Robert Michelin said.
Michelin describes his job this way: "I am principal and activist at Gotham Professional Arts Academy in Brooklyn New York."
Like many educators, Michelin has rapidly adjusted his school's curriculum following Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police, and the resulting protests here in New York City and around the nation. That process started with the students.
"We really wanted to make sure that their voices were heard. They asked teachers, whatever we were doing, can we stop for a moment and just reflect on what’s happening, how can we do something?"
He and his staff convened over Zoom to outline a new curriculum.
"What that looks like is, we’re celebrating over the next two weeks the lives of those who have been taken from us, and also examining some of the literature and some of the work done by the experts in the field on race and privilege and black culture and black history so we can inspire students to take some of that work forward with them," he said.
For students, those conversations have meant a lot.
"When we started talking about George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and all the people who have been, their justice isn’t being served, it’s been almost, I don’t know, enlightening," said Nijiyah Wilson, a senior at the school.
The school is also working to meet students' emotional needs at such a difficult time, with frequent check-ins and town hall meetings.
"I think that our duty as folks who educate and work alongside -- and it’s important that I use that language work alongside -- young and developing black and brown minds is to make sure that we address that that life and that existence is perpetual trauma and it’s important that we educate ourselves on how to deal with trauma," Michelin said.
The curriculum will see many students creating art out of their discussions, something he plans to share with the world. Meanwhile, he hopes other educators are encouraging their students to speak up, too.
"This is a call to action for every educator in New York City and every educator in this country to say you have voices, young people," he said.