The way that you come to understand something is directly tied to your positionality in the world. Inequity has systemic roots. It does not happen by chance. It does not happen by accident. This country has been founded on a system that intentionally and aggressively marginalizes people of differing backgrounds based on race, sex, class, ability etc… This problem in the context of education shows up in really subtle ways. Racism and discrimination have been a part of the education system in America since its inception. What’s hard about inequity is exactly that; it is rooted in the foundation of this country, so it is invisible. Often times it is hard to identify the functions and levers that maintain this kind of savage inequity. But the thing about inequity is that once you see the whole system, it is impossible to not see it everywhere. Everything in this country functions under so many systemic injustices (racism and classism, just to name a few). Inequity and its wide range of impact has been normalized to explain and sometimes justify the conditions and boundaries/barriers different people in this country need to navigate. Marginalized bodies are held solely accountable for their life circumstance, without any context about the role their environment and this country’s history has played.
Linda Mindaye (CYES Class of 2019)
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