July 18, 2021

I am thrilled to return to the Democrat + Chronicle this week, but not to share a new column of mine.  Instead, I’m honored to share the impactful words of three recent graduates from Irondequoit High School who used one of my past columns as a writing prompt to express their feelings about the state of our city and social justice issues.

That column, published in September 2020 “Why nobody in Rochester is OK”  was all about the overwhelming response here in Rochester and around the world to the circumstances surrounding the death of Daniel Prude.

While I was personally proud of that column, I had no idea of its impact until I received an email in April 2021 from Jacqueline Mooney who teaches a class, Social Studies and Participation in Government (aka “civics”), at Irondequoit High School.

As part of her curriculum, Jacqueline had her students research and explore social justice and policing in Rochester. She then asked them to write their own column titled, “Are We Okay?” Her goal was to have the students provide what she called, “informed reflections on the role of government and the importance of a citizens’ duty to form a more perfect union.”

At the time of the Daniel Prude protests, Jacqueline was working with Ranita Williams, 22, a student teacher, who was intent on helping students process their feeling about what was happening in our city.

Ranita shared that she and Jacqueline were looking for creative ways for students to understand the civic and political role of citizens in responding to issues of social and racial justice. Most important, she wanted her students to talk about their feelings. To do that she shared with them the language of legendary protest music and commentary.

Ranita told me that she teared up when she read my column – because she saw that someone who was very different from her understood, as she said, “that it’s OK to say we’re not OK.”

Ranita also shared that as a black student-teacher it took courage to share her unique perspective with her students. “Black and brown people know we’re not OK.  And we are not OK with not being OK.  We want everyone else to know it and we need your true allyship.” Ranita is now a graduate of St. John Fisher with a degree in education and will be joining the faculty of Irondequoit full-time in the fall.

Kyondre Anderson, Aidan Quintero, and Safara Vache's powerful columns illuminate their inner feelings about living through challenging times in Rochester. Their work shows the depth of thoughtfulness and resilience of our young people today. With young voices like these and stewards of their education like Jacqueline and Ranita, I believe our future will be more than just OK.

As first published in the Democrat and Chronicle and USA Today Network.