The Racist History of The Academy at Mcateer and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts

While I’m reflecting on the systemic racism that has led to my exploitation, I am also thinking about how the district keeps using “antiracist healing practices” as a center of the work during this pandemic, and how I keep seeing people from Central Office quote Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. In fact my administrators used a clip of Dr. Love, Dena Simmons, and Gholdy Muhammad from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJZ3RPJ2rNc" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">summer panel </a>they did to “frame and guide our work for the year.” This district really wants you to believe they are committed to antiracism. But let’s talk about the racist history of my school site, and by proxy, school district. Once upon a time, at 555 Portola Drive, there was a school called McAteer High School. McAteer was closed in 2002 because it was poorly performing and considered a ‘dumping ground’ where other schools would send their behaviorally difficult students and students with special education needs. <a href="https://msphanlearns.medium.com/the-racist-history-of-the-academy-at-mcateer-and-ruth-asawa-school-of-the-arts-79024f9ac426">Click Here</a>