For the last 17 years, the high school has had a long tradition of creating space for students to celebrate and talk about racial identity through “Days of” like “Can We Talk?,” “Asking for Courage” and eventually Day of Racial Reform and Solidarity (DoRRs).

According to an interview I had with 1999 alumna Esinam Quarcoo, the high school started a full day of discussions and workshops called “Can we Talk?” in response to a racial incident and protest that occurred that year. Since then, these days of programming have existed to center student voices and create conversations about our identities.

This year, however, administrators changed the longstanding “Days of” model into community learning experiences (CLEs), which require groups to apply for approval, and these are now opt-in days. As a result, proposals had to be submitted early in the school year. Many students were unaware of this new application process until after the deadlines had passed.

Because of these changes, this was the first year, in 17 years, that the high school did not have a full day or half of a school day devoted to exploring and celebrating racial differences. We failed as a community in not ensuring transparency, communication and access to a process that directly impacts students’ ability to share and celebrate their identities. We failed to protect a tradition that has been built to center the student voice.

In response, a group of student advocates in the high schools’ Student Identity Protection Alliance (SIPA), including myself, worked throughout the year to ensure student voices were still part of these conversations surrounding CLEs. In December, we organized a student-led effort to respond to the removal of DoRRs. We created an Instagram message calling for student support and asking peers to allow their names to be included on a collective email to the administration. In less than 24 hours, we received over 100 student signatures, reflecting a clear and urgent desire from the students to be heard.

We later met with administrators several times to advocate for a student-led assembly focused on racial identity. Although ultimately our assembly was not an official CLE, we were still able to make it happen. We titled the assembly “Are you Listening?” and invited a mostly freshman audience since we were offered the 22 Tappan Theater space. In the assembly, we began by watching a video of an interview I did with Esinam Quarcoo, who, in 1999, led a protest at the high school that resulted in the day called “Can We Talk.” After the video, three students of color from the high school shared stories about how they grew to embrace their racial identities. In between each speaker, we posted turn and talk questions on the screen and invited the audience to think about the themes raised in each of the speeches. At the end, we asked for feedback from the audience through a QR code.

The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, which made our hard work feel worth it. But what our audiences did not know is that it was actually very difficult for us to find students of color who felt safe enough to speak this year. Last year, a student speaker faced backlash from members of the Brookline community who publicly targeted him and objected to his activism outside of school, making assumptions about his intentions. According to many students, friends and teachers I’ve talked to, that response created a chilling effect; many students feared their stories would be misinterpreted, politicized or met with assumptions about their intentions before they even spoke.

Hearing that DoRRs is known as a controversial day sends a message to students like me that our experiences are too “uncomfortable/political” to be named directly.

I found it exhausting having to push so hard to make this assembly happen, and yet, I did not feel like it was an option not to fight for it. I remember when I was in 9th grade and intently watched and listened to the DoRRs presenters who validated some of my own experiences. I couldn’t believe that my high school had a day that gave students like me the chance to celebrate their race, and I left the assembly inspired and empowered.

We are taught the mantra “We create the culture we want,” and yet, we are not consistently creating a space where students feel safe sharing their identities and experiences. We have failed to live up to that belief. In her interview with me, Quarcoo said, “Assemblies like ‘Can we Talk?’ or DoRRs or any other iteration of that, are really important times to honor the diversity that this school community says that they value.”

And that is exactly why spaces like this matter. I firmly believe that these experiences cannot be treated as “opt-in” types of assemblies in the future, because when they’re optional, access becomes unequal, and, without the whole community present, they aren’t true “community learning experiences.” When CLEs depend too much on administration, what gets lost is students’ ability to safely and consistently share their lived experiences. These decisions can’t be made only through the administration, because then, CLEs risk becoming disconnected from the students they are meant to serve.

I know that some people may walk away from reading this and make assumptions, maybe that this is too “political,” “uncomfortable” or “unnecessary.” But that reaction is exactly why spaces like this are needed. Discomfort is not the problem; silence is. And for many students, like myself, “Are you listening,” “DoRRs” and “Can we Talk?” assemblies were one of the few times they felt seen or heard in a school setting.

So instead of immediately dismissing and calling this day “harmful and offensive,” I ask you to step back and reflect on it. What did you hear? What did you learn? And more importantly, did you actually listen?

Because this community often says, “We are not done yet.” And if that’s true, then we cannot ignore the voices that are right in front of us.

We did create something powerful here. The question is whether you’re willing to recognize it. So I will leave you with one final question: “Are you listening?”