Escalante and Miller middle school students are exploring issues of race and the history of oppression through groups led by a Durango nonprofit.
The Youth of Color Groups run by La Plata Youth Services, offer minority students a safe space to discuss instances when they are treated differently based on race and learn about historical oppression, said Ptisawquah, a facilitator for the group and affiliated with three Native American tribes, Potawatomi, Kickapoo and Assiniboine. Ptisawquah prefers to use a single name.
The group started meeting for the first time at Escalante this year, and a similar group has been meeting at Miller Middle School for three years. About 15 students attend the Escalante group, and seven attend the Miller group, Ptisawquah said.
The groups were started at the request of students of color, who said they needed a space for people who looked liked them, said Jason St. Mary, program manager for the Communities in School Partnership with La Plata Youth Services.
This week, Escalante students helped make herbal medicine during their meeting for Diné tribal members, commonly known as Navajo, who have poor health conditions resulting from mining on the Navajo Nation. The Diné are an example of an indigenous people who are still living in their traditional homeland fighting for their sovereign rights, so the activity offered the opportunity to share that story, said Nyankont()n Asani, who identifies as mostly Ghanaian and is a descendant of slaves brought across the Atlantic. (Asani’s first name is spelled with a reverse “c,” but the symbol was not replicable in print.)
The activity was also expected to resonate well with some students in the class who are Diné, Asani said.
“Our people need medicine, our people need wellness that we’re not offered in the Western context,” Asani said.
At times, facilitators rely on formal curricula that provide historical context to inform current racial issues and define terms such as racism, bigotry and prejudice, Ptisawquah said.
When asked whether teachers cover topics of racism in class and how it affects them, the students answered with a resounding “no,” during a meeting this week.
In a session earlier this school year, when asked what racism was to them, the students didn’t respond, said Tyrell Nelson-Woodard, a facilitator and black American. But when asked how they were treated differently because of their skin tone, all the students had something to say, Nelson-Woodard said.
The students likely will experience racism for the rest of their lives, so it’s important they can call it what it is, Nelson-Woodard said.
The group will also discuss systems that can continue to oppress minorities, such as the school-to-prison pipeline, Ptisawquah said. Schools that employ zero-tolerance policies for misbehavior and mandate disciplinary actions, disproportionately punish students of color, through expulsion or other severe means, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Experiencing harsh punishment in school can increase the likelihood of students getting involved with the criminal justice system, according to the Chicago Policy Review.
It is important for students to understand systems like the school-to-prison pipeline because they can directly affect their lives, Ptisawquah said.
“If you don’t know you are part of that system, that’s problematic for you,” Ptisawquah said.
Durango School District 9-R has implemented restorative justice to help prevent the school-to-prison pipeline.
The groups also offer students a space to discuss instances when they have been treated differently because of their race, Ptisawquah said. Sometimes, those experiences are microaggressions, such as unconscious comments, that still make students feel uncomfortable.
For example, indigenous students may feel uncomfortable if they are called on to be spokespeople for all Native American people during an American history lesson, Ptisawquah said.
The group is intended to help students feel acknowledged in a way they wouldn’t be in other settings, such as a club, hobby or sport.
“There are all these spaces that are not dominated by people who look like us,” Ptisawquah said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to correct the name of the groups hosted at the Miller and Escalante middle schools. They are the Youth of Color Groups.
If you go
La Plata Youth Services will hold a Youth Groups of Color Block Party from 3 to 6 p.m. May 31 at the La Plata Youth Services building at 2490 Main Ave. Students interested in participating in Youth Groups of Color activities over the summer may contact tyrell@lpys.org.
