Letter to the Curley Community

June 2, 2020

Dear Curley Families,

I am saddened to be writing a letter to you regarding the senseless acts of violence which have occurred in our country. To our Black and African American families: Your lives and the lives of your family matter! We see you, we are committed to listening and learning to make the world a safer, more welcoming and inclusive place for you to exist and flourish. We are here to support our families of color but also to educate all students on how to be more caring individuals and stand up for injustice in this world.

At Curley K-8 we teach and celebrate caring. This week, teachers will have developmentally appropriate conversations with students about the racial incidents happening in our world. We are committed to collaborating with you to model what it means to be a caring human and how to care for oneself, others and our world. We ask that you partner with us on this journey to make the world a more inclusive place.

Families of color do not have an option of shielding their children from these incidents. They are teaching their child how to respond in various life situations at very young ages. White families have the privilege to choose not to address this issue until they feel ready but you may never feel ready because these conversations are difficult. We are asking our white community to talk to their children about racial injustice and raise the next generation as anti-racists. These conversations will be hard but we must ask ourselves, “if not now, when?”

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

As a white leader, I recognize that I benefit daily from white privilege. I have never been afraid to go for a run or to take a walk in a park and look at birds and I cannot understand how it feels to be Black in America. I can however be a better listener, I can read more and I can learn more and more about my privilege. I can take a stand on what I believe in and I can take steps to help dismantle systematic racism. I invite all our families, but particularly our white families, to walk with me on this journey.

Thank you for your partnership and below are some resources for your reference.

Sincerely,

Katie Grassa
Principal
Curley K-8 School

Articles to support families with talking to their children:

• Talking to Children After Racial Incidents

Activities to do with your children when talking about this inequities from Wee The People (https://www.weethepeopleboston.org/)

• SIDEWALK CHALK ART: Talk with kids and neighbors and create some bold, artful messaging for everyone who walks by. What do you want them to know and do right now? What kind of change do you want to see in the world?
• SIGN-MAKING: Invite children and neighbors to make signs and post them for the community to see.
• TOY PROTEST: Make mini-protest signs with tape and small pieces of paper. Grab your stuffies, action figures, and dolls and give them their own voice about what needs to change.
• CANDLES: Light a candle (or several) for the Black and Brown lives impacted and lost to the pandemic, to racism, and to White supremacist ideology.
• PLAYLIST PROTEST: Make/share a playlist of protest songs in honor of Black and Brown lives. 
• SAY THEIR NAMES: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd — each one of them belonged to their own loved ones, their own families, their own communities. Design their names in chalk, in a notebook, on a T-shirt, with a paintbrush. Let the world know that their lives mattered.