Within the Bay Area, and across the country—attacks against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community have been on an alarming rise. Since the onset of COVID-19, more than 3,795 anti-Asian hate crimes have been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a school, we condemn racism and xenophobia in all forms. We are committed to supporting and uplifting the AAPI community (check out our Instagram post about it here). This past week at Flag, several students spoke out against anti-Asian hate and expressed solidarity with Asian and Asian-Americans – an intersectional breadth of cultures and experiences representing over 20% of both families and faculty at Hillbrook. It’s up on our Facebook here (the section begins at the 5:35 mark). We also worked quickly to make space in our curriculum in the following ways:
- We shifted our Middle School RBB lesson plan this week to help students learn about the AAPI community and process this latest news. The SCSE also shared a list of supportive actions that students could use to advocate for the AAPI community. In addition, we were able to include a lesson designed by Gale Shu, Clara Ngo, and Christina Tran-Kenyon that included personal identity stories – this was originally created for Fall 2021, but we felt it was important to share it now.
- In Lower School this week, our kindergarteners read “The Story of Young, Proud, Sung-Jee” as part of their continuing series around change-makers. This is a beautiful story that teaches about bias and subtle racism, and promotes upstanding kindness as a way to combat both.
As we continue to build on the conversations in the classroom and amongst ourselves, Hillbrook’s DEI team offers a set of resources for further reading and study: “How to Talk About Anti-Asian Racism With Kids and Family”, which provides a framework for hard conversations about racist violence, and “How To Help Combat Anti-Asian Violence” which provides a list of ways you can help. Questions and suggestions are always welcome – please reach out to our Director of DEI Gulliver LaValle ([email protected]). Together, we will continue to speak out against hate – any and all hate. We stand in firm solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community because we believe everyone has the right to live without fear, and any act of violence against one of us, is an act of violence against us all.
Warmly,
Mark Silver, Head of School