By Emily Swope ’22, Feature Editor

In the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, the momentum of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement erupted in the form of protests, rallies, vigils, teach-ins, and other events across the country. These efforts extended to the Newark Academy community. In addition to the administration’s responses to national and community distress, Newark Academy students and alumni led initiatives that called for racial justice reform within our community.

An important initiative launched by students is the “Black at Newark Academy” Instagram page.  This anonymous social media account is part of a collection of similar platforms that highlight the experiences of black students and black alumni from different schools across the country, including other local predominantly-white institutions such as Pingry, Morristown Beard, Montclair Kimberley Academy, and Kent Place. “Black at Newark Academy” provides a safe, anonymous way for students to shed light on racism and microaggressions within the Newark Academy community and “reclaim [black students’] voices.”  With over 50 posts from students and alumni whose graduation years span the course of twenty years, this account demonstrates the pain so many black students experience at NA; similarly, on a national level, these social media accounts act as agents for change across the country as they bring previously buried instances of racism to the surface of mainstream media.

An additional movement initiated by students and alumni was a petition through the popular social justice website change.org. This specific petition called all Newark Academy students, alumni, and parents to suspend monetary donations to the school until certain racial reforms were met. Attached to the petition was a detailed list of action items, created by NA students and alumni, required to improve racial justice and promote equality and respect within our community. The list included specific policy, curriculum, hiring/staff/personnel, and communication changes. This petition acquired close to 2,000 signatures from Newark Academy students, parents, alumni, and other community members who believed that Newark Academy needs to implement serious changes to dismantle racism within the NA community and ensure that all students are treated with the same level of respect.

A final notable student-led initiative that occurred this summer was the Newark Academy on-campus rally. Many members of the Newark Academy community attended this powerful event to listen to students and alumni speak and to march around the campus.  Five young black women (Oluwadamilola Oshewa ‘16, Samantha Powell ‘19, Ruqaiyyah Lucas-Caldwell ‘20, Lucy Alaeto ‘22, and Yasmeena Sharif ‘23) spoke about their experiences at Newark Academy and their calls to action for reform within the NA community.  After the speeches, students, alumni, families, and faculty members marched around campus chanting affirmations and calls for justice. While some of their chants such as, “No justice, no peace, no racist police” target systemic racism in the country, the intentions behind the chants, the rally, and the speeches also apply to racism within the NA community. The goal of the BLM movement, both nationally and locally, is to dismantle systemic racism and fight anti-Black ideologies, regardless of whether injustice resides in the legal system or on high school campuses.

These initiatives led by Newark Academy students demonstrate that we are ready for concrete change and reform within our community to promote social and racial justice.  The NA administration supported these student-led initiatives and joined the movement by implementing steps to yield concrete change within our community. For instance, in response to students and alumni’s calls to action, the Newark Academy administration fast-tracked their commitments to institutional change through the Equity and Inclusion Summit.  At this summit, students, alumni, parents, and faculty discussed and charted actionable next steps to make a more just and inclusive school and community. This school year, as a result of the Summit and other administrative steps, the administration is implementing a Bias Response and Education System (Bias-RES) to support an upstander culture, to interrupt bias-related incidents, and to provide a space for impacted members of our community to be heard and supported.

Even though the Newark Academy administration is responding to the BLM movement and its initiatives, it does not mean that our work as students is done. If you are yet to contribute or take action in any way in support of this movement, I encourage you to be an ally and work to create a better and more just school community. By scanning the QR code below, you will have access to the “Black at Newark Academy” Instagram page, the petition created by Newark Academy students and alumni, the list of action items for racial reform at Newark Academy, and the video of the speeches given at the rally.  It’s never too late, and now is the time to take action, do your part, and be a true ally!