“White privilege.” This is a term that I didn’t even know existed until this year, yet it’s something I’ve known my whole life.
I grew up in a prosperous suburb of Chicago and attended a public school where almost everybody looked like me, other than a few children of Indian doctors. My parents belonged to a country club and tried to sponsor our Jewish neighbors, but they were never accepted. There were no families of color at all at “the club.”
This is the world that I come from, and this is the world that I reject.
When I first moved to St. Louis, a real estate broker kept steering us toward Webster Groves, and I kept insisting on looking in University City. Yes, she said, but this neighborhood isn’t as “good.”
“Why not?” I thought. The houses in U City were beautiful, people seemed nice. What makes it not as “good”? Was her definition of “good” more white people? I bought in U City.
Eventually, I sold my home to move to South City. I loved my new neighborhood in Tower Grove East, and we had a baby. When she got older, we sent her to New City pre-school, but again, I did not feel comfortable.
Sure, all the parents were really nice and, yes, there were some families of color, but those families, again, were the families of doctors and lawyers. The same world I had left way back in suburban Chicago where everyone is the same. I wanted something different for my daughter: true diversity.
So I went to a meeting about a new school, St. Louis Language Immersion Schools (SLLIS), which was being proposed by founder Rhonda Broussard. Rhonda is an African-American woman who had come to St. Louis as a student at Washington University, and she had a dream.
It was a brilliant idea: bring students of all backgrounds together in a public charter school and educate them in an immersion language, using the innovative inquiry-based teaching curriculum of the International Baccalaureate program. It was an unbelievable opportunity, unrivalled in a free public school in the country, with the goal being “from Head Start to Harvard.”
We signed right up. Now, four years later, my daughter can speak, read and write fluently in Spanish. She has scored in the 99th percentile in both English reading and Math, and she has friends from many different backgrounds. So, for us, the school has been a great success.
Now, the school’s Board of Trustees has announced that it is time for new leadership at SLLIS and Rhonda will no longer be president. We have not recovered from the shock. This has been a new lesson for my daughter as we raise our voices in protest.
At the board meeting, the consulting firm hired to handle the transition was introduced: two old white guys. And now my prejudice is showing. I have had it with old white guys and the assumption that they are somehow inherently more suited to run things.
I want something different. I want our transformative, inspirational leader back – and I am not going to shut up about it. I am going to show up, speak up and not let the board forget what we want, because Rhonda’s dream is a fantastic part of the success that St. Louis has the opportunity to be.
If you see her, tell her she is an amazing person for bringing this school to life. Send your children and get involved. You will not regret it – and you know I’ll be there, front and center, speaking my mind.
Susan Herzberg is a SLLIS parent and volunteer.
