What happened?
Parsec Education hosted a forum highlighting young Black student voices in Fresno during Black History Month.
Hosted at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, part of the summit's scope was to empower the voices of Black students in Fresno. Speakers and panel participants were invited to talk about their own experiences and the intersectionality of race and education.
Jammy Harris struggled with loneliness and trust as she made her way through school and the foster system.
Her father died when she was 9. About seven years later, she lost her mother and was placed in foster care at the age of 16. Despite the pain and isolation, Harris, now a Fresno State sophomore, said she found some help along the way.
“I felt pretty isolated,” Harris said, “and the teachers were the ones that came to check on me and created that space for me.”
She also said the system needs to improve.
Parsec Education forum highlights experiences of Black students in Fresno
Harris explained that when students are minimized to stats on a piece of paper, it doesn’t account for their personal life, mental health, or home life. She emphasized the need for a classroom environment where teachers support students through tough times and better help them maximize their potential.
“Your student cannot tell you their story or tell you what they’re dealing with if they feel like they can’t trust you,” Harris said, “because you might be dealing with a student that deals with neglect, just like me.”
Harris’ remarks came earlier this month at a Parsec Education forum highlighting young Black students’ voices during Black History Month.
Hosted at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, part of the summit’s scope was to empower the voices of Black students in Fresno. Speakers and panel participants were invited to talk about their own experiences and the intersectionality of race and education.
The forum also included a panel of four young Black students from some of the region’s largest school districts – one student each from Fresno Unified, Clovis, Central, and Madera schools.
Fresnoland is not identifying the students due to the sensitive nature of some experiences they shared as Black scholars in Central Valley schools.
“In every single one of my classes, I am the only Black student,” said one of the student panelists. “I feel like that causes an issue because I don’t want to speak for everyone.”
She described feeling singled out in class, particularly during discussions of race. She noted at least one discussion around the historical use of the “N-word” and said students asked her whether she was OK with other students using the racist slur.
“I feel like I had to do a lot of teaching when I just wanted to be in that class to learn and try to get a good grade.”
Other Black students in Fresno shared similar experiences.
“I think that we need to have teachers having some type of program to know exactly what to do when students are using such words,” another student shared. “In fact, I had an experience where a teacher was more mad that I told a kid to shut up when he called me the N-word than the kid saying the N-word.”
All four students agreed that there needs to be better Black representation in Central Valley classrooms, a call that Fresno-area Black students and teachers have made for years.
“How are we going to get more Black teachers? We, as the students, become those Black teachers,” one of the students said. “We have to be in a space that we are comfortable in in order to learn to become those teachers that we want to see in those classrooms so that we can inspire other students as well.”
