Dear PS 107 Families,
Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, one of the most influential leaders in the American civil rights movement. Many of us will engage in community service to honor Dr. King’s legacy. As a school, we are giving back to Community Help in Park Slope, or CHiPS, providing fresh produce from our 4th grade hydroponic gardens, sandwiches made by our 5th grade students, and thank you cards in recognition of all that CHiPS has done for the most vulnerable in our community for the last 50 years.
This day also provides us with a moment to reflect on Dr. King’s work, and whether his dream of social, economic, and racial justice in America has been achieved, 45 years after his assassination. While we have passed laws forbidding discrimination and segregation by race, it is hard to ignore that, in practice, we still see our BIPOC neighbors, along with those of us with less economic power, facing ongoing, large-scale systemic obstacles.
I have spent 18 years in the New York City public schools, in schools in Park Slope, in Chinatown, and in Sunset Park, and my journey has afforded me an intimate view of the ways in which the systems and structures in our city remain stacked against those without economic means, many of whom are people of color. Our schools are not segregated by law, but they are segregated in practice, both racially and economically. Far too many of New York City’s children — our neighbors — are growing up without access to affordable and safe housing, quality healthcare (including mental healthcare), and healthy and affordable food. While community service is the first step in an effort to make our city a better place to live for everyone, we must go further by advocating at the systemic level for change. I don’t have easy answers for how to do this, having spent my career seeking out avenues to promote large-scale societal shifts. But I do know that voting matters. Holding our elected officials to account matters. All of our voices, united for change, matter.
So on this day when we honor the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King, let’s commit to seeing his dream someday realized by using the strength of our collective advocacy to bring about a more just city for all New Yorkers. In the iconic words of King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” The long-term health of our society is very much connected to how we advocate for and lift up the most vulnerable among us.
Warmly,
Ms Joanna