Sensing and Sending Belonging — A Two-Way Street
By Mark J . Mitchell National Association of Independent Schools
On the heels of the George Floyd murder , the year 2020 saw the “ Black at ” movement spur countless current and former Black and Brown students at American universities , colleges , and independent schools to share their experiences of racism , exclusion , and injustice to shine a light on the need for educational institutions to do and be better . As I read and reflected on the stories , I considered my own daily experiences as a Black male high school student at a mostly white private school in the mid-1980s . Why wasn ’ t I adding to the “ Black at ” compendium of narratives and pleas ?
As a young Black male coming from an underperforming public school and a single-mother headed low-income household in Camden , NJ , who needed full-tuition financial aid and a long bus ride ( amongst other things ) to make attending Moorestown Friends School possible , I was perfectly positioned to be marginalized in ways that the “ Black at ” stories exemplified so clearly .
Like many other students then and now ( and before ), I traveled daily from one of the poorest cities in the state ( if not the country ) to one of the wealthiest communities so that I could leverage the promise of a better future than I might have accessed if I ’ d gone to my local public school . In my mind , not fitting in was a given , but I pressed forward in the face of that anxiety . Getting that school ’ s education was more important than finding a social club to which to belong . I was prepared for the likelihood of existing on the edges of acceptance . I girded my soul with my own belief that I belonged there , even as I faced obstacles that would tell me otherwise . But it didn ’ t happen .
Page 6 Summer 2023 CSEE Connections