When I was in my junior year at NRHS I was one of three black females and one of 4 black people in my AP Biology course, which is a problem within itself. The majority of classmates were white. I was put into a lab group with two white kids who had attended Albert Leonard and had known each other for years, whereas I had attended Isaac E. Young. It took a little while, but I eventually became friendly with them. Every now and then I would see one of my lab partners, a white female, in the hallway that my locker was in when I would first get to school in the morning. On more than one occasion I smiled and waved at her and said “Hi [student name has been redacted]!”. She looked at me and responded, saying “Hi Paris!”. That is the name of one of the three other black females in our class. The feeling of being called the wrong name and knowing that it is because you are identified by your classmates according to the color of your skin is hard to describe. That feeling was like getting the wind knocked out of me. It felt wrong to want to correct her and it felt wrong to just brush it off, but that seemed like the only option. Wouldn’t want to make the next time we worked in the lab together awkward or make HER feel uncomfortable right?

 

There is a power dynamic and intimidation that comes with being one of the only black students in an honors or AP class. The feeling that if you don’t sound smart when answering a question or if you don’t speak up enough, you’re only fitting into the preconceived stereotypes of your majority white classmates and teachers. You feel as though you can’t disagree with your classmates in open discussion, because they have such a large support system behind them in class and you clearly don’t, especially in discussions of race related topics.

 

I don’t want future black students within the New Rochelle School District to feel the way that I felt during my four years at New Rochelle High School. Change is not wanted, it’s needed.

 

Sincerely,

Nadia Smith

New Rochelle Resident