In The Wake of Black History Month: What I Learned as a Black Student in Owasso
By ShayLa Blake
Black History Month is the time of year to celebrate and recognize the unique history of Black people in America. Like other heritage months throughout the year, Black History Month goes largely unrecognized by non-POC. As a senior in high school, I have long since waited for my school to put more effort into honoring our POC students— a dream that is yet to be fulfilled. At a school where the administration is made up entirely of non-POC, it is easy for the voices of students of color to go unnoticed because they have no one who understands their personal experiences. At a school where the staff and student population lacks diversity, it can be hard to embrace your culture, even during a month where it is meant to be celebrated.
Over my four years at Owasso High School, I can recount many classroom settings where I was the only black student in the room. This might seem like a fact that is easy to overlook, but as a POC, that can often be the first thing you notice when walking into a classroom. In some classes, this never poses an issue, and I can coast until the end of the year, pushing it to the back of my mind: in other classes, that luxury cannot be found. I recall a time in my junior year when I was the only Black student in the class, and we were having a disscussion about racial discrimination specifically relating to the Black community. I remember watching almost thirty people who looked nothing like me talk about the experiences of black people. To say that I was uncomfortable would be an understatement. Not only was I uncomfortable, but I was also scared to speak, so I stayed quiet and listened to people who will never truly understand the experiences of Black people. I was scared of being shut down and pushed out of the conversation because I didn’t have anyone to back me up. It wasn’t until now, a year later, that I realized I shouldn’t have felt scared to talk because I should’ve been leading the conversation. I should’ve been the first person asked to answer the question, and sadly, I wasn’t. That wasn’t the first time that I realized students of color need a place to feel heard at this school.
When you don’t create a space to discuss and celebrate the cultures and experiences of students of color, you leave it up to the students to educate their peers. I have had to explain to my fellow students that racism still exists today, having to essentially “prove” that the experiences of POC in America are valid. Those conversations absolutely destroyed me, not just for having to explain something that should be taught in a classroom, but also for having to prove myself and my experiences: something I’ve had to do time and time again. This is not a Black-specific issue. I have had other students of color educate me on their culture and experiences throughout the years. Those conversations often leave me embarrassed for not knowing things about other cultures that seem so basic, but you can’t know what you have not been taught. Non-POC students who live with their non-POC families and go to school in predominantly non-POC classrooms are caught in an echo chamber. If they’re not taught about what it means to be a POC in the U.S., they will never know. Sometimes the only place they can learn these things is at school, but it is not the job of students of color to do the teaching. If the school as a whole did more to educate and celebrate their students of color, they would be taking a huge step in creating a safe place for POC at school.
After hearing very little at school about Black History Month for so many years, I started to believe that because the Black community remains a minority at Owasso, they would always be overlooked. I share this feeling with the Indigenous, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, and fellow Black students at our school. Because of the lack of a safe place, I have let my voice as a person of color go unnoticed and overlooked, and I know other students have as well. It can be easy to overlook the problems that don’t affect you personally. This can be dangerous to the people that they do affect, especially in a school setting. If I felt understood at Owasso, I probably wouldn’t have overlooked the many times in which non-POC students told me that “I don’t count as a Black person, ” among many other racially insensitive comments. If all students of color had a safe place at Owasso, they wouldn’t feel as though their voices didn’t matter, their experiences didn’t matter, or their culture didn’t matter. They wouldn’t feel as though they didn’t matter.