Dear Hillbrook Families, I was in the middle of a CAIS Board of Directors meeting when everything stopped. Word had come that the jury had returned to provide a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin. While the eyes of the nation have been turned to Minnesota for the past few weeks and the timing of the verdict was not exactly a surprise, the intensity of the moment was significant. As a Board, we were in the midst of a presentation from Dr. Valaida Wise, a nationally recognized consultant who has been guiding CAIS in its efforts to strengthen our collective efforts in the area of DEI. The conversation mirrored those we have been having as individual schools about anti-racism and DEI.
We stopped and turned on the verdict to see what would happen. And, collectively, we expressed a profound sigh of relief when the verdict was rendered and Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts. For a moment, it felt like justice had been delivered.
At the very same time, a few of our middle school teachers took time out in the middle of Reach Beyond Block to deliver the news about the verdict. Several students made immediate connections to Director of Enrollment Management Rakiya Brown’s incredibly timely Reach Beyond experience “Race and Police,” which they attended only a week ago; other students remembered and named things they learned or discovered during previous RBB cycles focused on anti-racism and social justice from this past school year. One sixth-grader shared their excitement to head home and talk about things more with their family.
A few hours removed from the verdict, I am reminded of the connectedness between this trial with other acts of racialized violence across all communities of color, and the many families who did not receive justice for their loved ones lost to police brutality. Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Keung, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, and many other names are now a part of our collective consciousness—each one a reminder of why Hillbrook’s commitment to DEI plays a critical role in our approach to education.
Few among us will ever forget the events of last year—nor how critical it was to create time to process what we saw, what we felt, and what it meant for us. As we continue to advance our goals of anti-racism and anti-bias at Hillbrook, we must consider: what kind of impact will these events have, especially as we center equity and justice in all that we say and do? This is not an easy question to answer, but a powerful one we are committed to in principle and in practice.
In the wake of this verdict, many in our community will continue to deeply contemplate these issues. There will be a sense of justice and perhaps of hope, and yet also complicated feelings around the continued violence our community of color must process and feel. As a school, we will continue to support and uplift our community, and reconnect with the commitments we made last spring: listening to those who are most affected, empathizing with their experiences, and sharing thoughts and feelings authentically.
We will also work to ensure that our listening and learning result in becoming an even better anti-racist institution, one that truly meets each child and family by name and by need. In this spirit, we are offering the following resources on our DEI Resource page in Bear’s Lair. Please review the new section that specifically shows how to process difficult news with children, and how to discuss and process significant wide-spread events as a family. For personal reading, I highly recommend this article by Roxane Gay—though today’s verdict fell on the right side of history, her words provide insight into a deep well of ongoing pain, a reminder that the fight for justice is far from over.
Because one thing is certain: justice never arrives easily. It arrives, frustratingly, by inches instead of miles; it arrives couched in agony and exhaustion. In the words of the Floyd family lead attorney Benjamin Crump, it is painfully earned. In our ongoing DEI work here at Hillbrook, the journey towards justice is our ongoing charge; every day is a new challenge, a new opportunity—every inch is another opportunity to work towards the mile.
Mr. Crump goes on to say: today’s verdict goes far beyond this city and has significant implications for the country and even the world. Justice for Black America is justice for all of America. This case is a turning point in American history for accountability of law enforcement and sends a clear message we hope is heard clearly in every city and every state.
We hear it. We hope you do, too.
Warmly,
Mark Silver, Head of School
