By Annika Inampudi ‘21, Commentary Editor

I’ve been at Newark Academy for seven years, just a little shy of a decade. Throughout my time here, NA and I have had some sort of symbiotic relationship — we’ve seen each other through our ups and downs, mishaps and accomplishments, our best and worst. And throughout it all, the Equity and Inclusion Team (EIT) at NA has been a constant. Before I leave The Minuteman forever, I’d like to take my last article to reflect on equity and inclusion at Newark Academy. 

When I came to NA as a sixth grader, I barely registered the concept of race. I had grown up in a majority white town in the mid 2000s, immersed in a color-blind culture. My elementary school racial education consisted of Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches and lectures about how to “not see color.” Watching Selma during my sixth grade’s Community and Self class and researching Alice Paul and the Suffragettes for a project, I remember reckoning with my gender and racial identity for the first time. I will forever credit Newark Academy for that initial spark, which came from an education I wouldn’t necessarily have gotten at my local public school. 

Yet middle school will always be middle school, and there was always a steady stream of hatred in the halls. I was in 7th grade during Donald Trump’s election, a time where our politicians were abusing free speech to espouse ignorant comments about race and gender. Back then, the Equity and Inclusion Team was nothing more than a series of vague workshops about inclusion and microaggressions. Yet, every day, my friends were victims of blatant Islamophobia and homophobia, and faculty and administration were ill-equipped to handle it. 

Newark Academy has changed a lot since 2014. Once afraid to publicly show support for Black Lives Matter, the school underwent a public reckoning on social media this past summer, causing an overhaul of equity and inclusion policies and greater transparency between the administration and its students. Middle school equity and inclusion workshops include insightful conversations about redlining and systemic racism. This shift towards more equity and inclusion is due to a larger cultural movement. After the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement in June of 2020, Americans were generally more open to talking about racial inequity. One poll conducted by Monmouth University showed that 76% of Americans said that “racial and ethnic discrimination is a big problem in the United States,” up from 51% in 2015. And Newark Academy seems to be open to following that trend. We have a formal bias response program, we regularly survey students about their opinions regarding equity and inclusion, and we have multiple faculty members and resources dedicated to supporting diversity. 

Yet, our school is far from perfect. Newark Academy, above all, is a private institution. We have an acceptance rate of 23%. Our very institution is exclusionary: I often think about the four students who were rejected for my single acceptance. Even our applicant pool is self-selecting;  a significant portion of students in New Jersey simply do not apply to NA. This makes diversity work difficult at the school. When you have few underrepresented minority students applying, it’s difficult to accept them, making their voices essentially unheard in the classroom. 

And there is a culture of covert bias that runs through Newark Academy halls. Although few are saying racist, sexist, or otherwise hateful things in public spaces anymore, I often wonder how much is said behind closed doors or how much is conveyed through actions. Oftentimes, this comes from a lack of understanding about the systemic aspects of racism and sexism. Even though classes are evenly split between girls and boys, there is a lack of balance between the voices heard in discussions. Our English and History curriculums now contain brown and black voices, but the loudest voices in class discussions can still be white and male. 

Now, this isn’t anything NA can directly change through policy, but it is something interesting teachers and students must consider. 

Inequity is more than incidents that can be reported on a single form and feelings that can be easily explained to administrators. And I hope that as public consciousness increases, Newark Academy will follow suit. 

If there’s anything I want you to take away from this article, it’s three simple facts:

1. Equity and inclusion at NA have gotten better in the past seven years.
2. There is still work to be done.
3. These two beliefs can be held simultaneously. 

I am eternally grateful for my time at Newark Academy and I firmly believe that when I return in seven years, things will be different. They won’t ever be perfect, but they will be different. And I will take every lesson I’ve learnt from dealing with bias at NA with me to college. As Haniya Cheema ‘21, leader of Hubun and member of EIT, put it, “Newark Academy has primed me for my college work in equity and inclusion. I’m determined to make all of the amazing opportunities and platforms I’ve been given at this school the bare minimum at my college. NA has introduced me to my work, but now it’s time for me to make it my own.”