Moonstone’s Message in Support of Black Lives Matter
Moonstone has been an early education institution in Philadelphia for over three decades, creating a safe space to develop a culture of learning through humanistic teaching while promoting self expression. In this time of turmoil, we have witnessed the pain and injustice throughout the nation, realizing not everyone has the privilege of having the same safe space and freedom of self expression. We recognize the urgency of the current events and we stand up against the violence of racism and systemic racism. We are with you and we hear you because Black Lives Matter.
In moments of reflection, we have noted our own blind spots, realizing they can play a role in systematic oppression. As a school, a community, and a nation, we are called to do better and to take action. As educators, it is our basic responsibility to instill empathy in our students.
As an organization, here are some ways we plan to take action:
- The Moonstone Board will assess the reasons why we have not achieved more diversity among our families & children, In collaboration with our staff and stakeholders strategies will be recommended to achieve more diversity.
- Moonstone will prioritize racial context and work to create a diverse student and staff population. Our role as educators is to create a landscape of inclusiveness, empathy, and diverse culture. Therefore, it is our priority to reflect upon the racial makeup of Moonstone and strategize how to diversify our staff and student body. Without diverse learning experiences and participants, reflecting a varied true-to-the world environment, children roam in a compartmentalized and sadly, segregated bubble.
- Moonstone is committed to creating a curriculum to reflect an empathic and diverse world. The content we choose to use will help the children develop an empathic character. The Black Lives Matter movement is more than a week and far more than civil rights suffering. We will teach and incorporate the contributions of black authors, artists, musicians, and above all build relationships with our neighboring black communities. We will expose our youngest children to stories from multiple perspectives, which are centered around different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
- Moonstone will continue anti-racist training and education to better understand systems of oppression, recognize biases, and ways we can make change. Our goal is to help raise children as lifelong learners, who are curious, who listen, who are non-judgemental, and understand what it means to be an upstander.
“Unless our children begin to learn together, then there is little hope that our people will ever learn to live together.” —Thurgood Marshall, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
“People are going back and forth across the doorsill,
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”
— Rumi
We will continue to communicate on the execution of these and other actions. We have a lot of work to do, but we will make time to listen, learn, and grow together.
