Equal justice
Ravenna mom’s advocacy inspires action from new anti-racism group: ‘I will stay in this fight’
Local school districts are under pressure from students, parents and activists to do more to promote equality in school.
By Madison MacArthur
News Lab
Jamya Caples, a rising eighth grader at Brown Middle School in Ravenna, recently wrote an essay about her experiences as a Black, 12-year-old girl.
“America is mad at us for saying black lives matter but we are mad about having to say it at all,” Jamya wrote. “Y’all all love to say that all lives matter … but yet black folks wake up every day and are worried about being a target.”
Jamya knows to stay out of trouble and to put her hands up when cops tell her to, she wrote. “As soon as I was born I was a threat to Society in everyone’s eyes.”
Her mother, LaTesha Dukes, said she could not believe her daughter wrote the essay.
“I couldn’t even believe some of the things that she’s dealt with in her short life,” Dukes said. “I don’t think I realized some of the things she went through as a 12-year-old Black child.”
In the midst of a societal reckoning with racism in America, educators and parents in Portage County are re-evaluating whether school districts are doing enough to combat unequal student outcomes and whether teachers are equipped to effectively deal with race.
Several area schools, including Kent Roosevelt High School and Hudson City Schools, have put out statements affirming that “Black lives matter” and pledging to “confront racism” with “action plans.” Akron schools declared racism a public health crisis.
But many districts, particularly in rural, mostly white communities, seem not to have addressed race at all in the weeks since the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. A newly formed activist group, of which Dukes is a member, wants to spur more local districts to make anti-racism commitments, arguing that education is the first step toward equality.
“I just hope that they take advantage of diversity training and that school districts start realizing that kids are going through things — Black kids, especially,” Dukes said.”You have to know your population and know what your kids need and not put them all in a box, a white box, but then say, if you’re not like this, then something’s wrong with you.”
A parent speaks up
Dukes herself wrote to Ravenna School District Superintendent Dennis Honkala. She asked if Honkala saw the statement from Portage County’s Mental Health & Recovery Board that declared racism a public health crisis, and she sent him her daughter’s essay.
“Please take a look at our district and review curriculum on black history, teachers and staff in the district of black and brown skin tone, what are the numbers?” she wrote. “Have we provided diversity training to ensure that our staff knows how to handle students of different races, colors and creeds?”
Honkala’s emailed response listed the actions taken by the school district, which has now released its own statement. He said Dukes attacked him in her emails.
“I am REALLY offended by your tone, accusations and personal attack. I have been nothing less than an advocate for ALL of our Ravenna students (your children included),” he wrote.
Dukes said she read the email twice and couldn’t look at it again because of how badly it made her feel.
“I never had anyone talk to me like that in my life and make me feel so small and so unimportant, like, I didn’t matter, my kids didn’t matter,” Dukes said.
In response to a request for an interview, Honkala said in an email that Dukes “was not aware of the student programming, professional development and other opportunities that we provide for our children. She was also not aware of the conversations that I have been having with local officials, political leaders and NAACP leaders. I provided the information to her.”
Local activists follow Dukes’ lead
In the aftermath of Floyd’s killing, a group of local faith leaders, activists, professors and students began looking for ways to be better allies to Black-led organizations in Portage and Summit counties. They created Allies for Racial Justice, whose goal is to identify and remove inequities and racial injustice in local institutions. Already, the group has over 1,000 members who meet regularly on Zoom and plan actions.
Debra-Lynn Hook, a member of the group and a local journalist, said they’ve decided to make schools a priority because they believe sustained change starts with education, starting with the school leadership educating themselves.
“Citizens need the primary institutions in their communities to lead the way, especially schools which directly influence the way people think and re-think,” Hook said. (She is also a contributor to The Portager.) “Black people are hurting, from years of not being heard, from years of silence from the community and from years of incomplete and inaccurate histories being taught. … Leadership comes with a responsibility to self-reflection and self-education, which a lot of Americans are realizing.”
She noted that books like White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi have topped the bestseller lists recently.
One of their first actions, inspired by Dukes’ email and the Roosevelt High School statement, is to send letters to every school district in both counties.
“We are starting off in an information-gathering phase where we’re just asking each district in the two county area to let us know what they’re doing in response to the current climate,” Hook said. “Are they putting out a statement? Are they supporting Black Lives Matter? Are they taking it further and looking more deeply at curriculum and staffing?”
In the letters they sent to the districts, they ask that if the districts have released a statement to share their information for the group to pass it along. They urge those who have yet to make a statement to take it up as a pressing issue and to work alongside the organization in discussing short- and long-term plans.
The schools’ responses
Some school districts have already released statements denouncing racism, acknowledging it as a public health crisis and articulating their own plans to address racism. Kent’s high school principal was among the first.
“We felt really strongly that we want our students to know that we’re supporting them, particularly our Black students, our students of color,” said Roosevelt High School Principal Dennis Love. “We wanted to be clear in our statement and want them to know that they’re important to us and that we’re going to continue to make strides to create an equitable and inclusive environment at the high school.”
Roosevelt’s statement announced the creation of an Equity and Inclusion Task Force made up of community members, students, staff and administrators whose first action will be to gather data.
Information is already being gathered at the high school, Love said, along with data concerning advanced classes and the elimination of the low-track courses. They hope to put every student on a college-prep level. They are also examining whether there are disparities related to which students receive detentions and suspensions.
Alongside Roosevelt High School, Akron’s Board of Education released a resolution on June 8 declaring that “racism is a public health crisis that adversely impacts our students, our families and our communities.”
The resolution also created an annual report for the superintendent to collect and present to the board concerning: the number of complaints received from students, parents and community members regarding racial bias; the status of the investigation of those complaints; and their outcome.
Allies for Racial Justice will take its next steps based on responses it receives from other school districts. Hook said the letters were sent out to every superintendent and board president, and so far the organization received responses from Stow-Munroe Falls, Ravenna, Kent and Woodridge.
Ravenna to vote on resolution today
On June 18, Honkala sent a letter to the Ravenna school community stating, “As a school district and school community, we believe that every student is entitled to every opportunity that our school district can offer.”
On June 22, Ravenna’s Board of Education sent a resolution to the community in which it acknowledged racism as a crisis affecting society, condemning and rejecting it alongside other hateful behavior and language.
The resolution also states that the board will continue to, “identify actions to further enhance diversity; ensure anti-racism in education; and that school leadership shall identify objectives to further advance racial equity and report outcomes to the Board.”
The resolution is scheduled to go before the board at 5 p.m. today, where the meeting will be streamed to the general public through the board’s Facebook page.
Frank Hairston, publicity chair of the Portage County NAACP, said he’s worked alongside Honkala since he took over the district in 2011, and the two have worked together to promote diversity, bringing several new non-white employees into the school system. Some of them have since left for better-paying jobs.
“I went out and looked for people,” Hairston said. “If you want to make a change you’ve got to be willing to help make a change.”
Honkala said in the email to Dukes that he reached out to Kent City Schools about joining their Equity and Inclusion task force, and throughout the summer and fall they will be working on NAACP initiatives to make sure “minority and all voices are heard.”
“We’ve come a long way, and we’ve still got a long way to go, but people need to sit down and communicate with each other,” Hairston said.
‘I will not leave this community’
Dukes said she recently received an open enrollment link — even though open enrollment is closed — to send her children to Kent schools.
Dukes said her children have gone through Ravenna for almost their entire lives and that she has nieces, nephews and children of her friends in the community.
“I assume that my children will be welcome [at Kent] if I chose to do that, but I won’t leave the community. We’ve been in the community for a long time,” she said. “I will fight for those children. I will not leave this community and leave this fight for someone else to do, I will stay in this fight.”
Dukes was hoping to speak at the Board of Education’s meeting today, but because of Covid-19, the board is not allowing public attendance. People can submit comments and questions to RSDBOE.questions@ravennaschools.us.
So instead, Dukes will be co-hosting “Stand Up,” a demonstration lining the streets outside where the school board will be meeting.
On the event’s Facebook page it says, “We want to be HEARD. … I want them to know that we are serious about the direction that schools are going and we want to know, ‘What’s the plan moving forward?’”
This article was produced through a reporting partnership with the Collaborative News Lab @ Kent State University.
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