Entering what is deemed as equitable didactic place
I the instructor begin to scan the array of student faces
Looking back at me are immigrants and refugees
Students who speak at least two languages or three
Student who have no place designated to lay their head
Students catching buses to work long hours that they dread
But complied to do so or go without the essentials as bread
Students from near and far coming here to satisfy a need
Ones that have thrived through the trauma that poverty inflicts
Yet who are strong, bright, funny, and silly despite their conflicts
But most importantly they are now members of our community
No matter where they were birthed from circumstances of opportunity
As I am reflecting on what I see in their faces I also scan the surroundings
And I am appalled that we have left them hanging on by a thread, drowning
We can’t allow their schools to be “lonely islands of poverty” due to faded ideals
We can’t allow any student to “languish in the corners” with inequitable wheels
Teetering the line of separate but equal education and fair chance at education
We cannot allow these children to be compromised or marginalized to a notion
Due to the fact, neighborhoods just down the road are unwilling to accept them,
For there is truly no such thing as a neighborhood owning an educational stem
We as the public are stakeholders of the education tree, we all own these schools
It is with common care that we must be united in the process to diversify our schools
As opposed to being further segmented gather under our separate agendas and platitudes
My voice represents all those who can’t be here to speak for themselves in these interludes
For as John F. Kennedy stated, “A rising tide lifts all boats” to equitable desirable ports
My hope is that we can all learn to navigate this changing tide jointly with support
As opposed to continuing to turn a blind eye and leaving each other to drown apart.
I the instructor begin to scan the array of student faces
Looking back at me are immigrants and refugees
Students who speak at least two languages or three
Student who have no place designated to lay their head
Students catching buses to work long hours that they dread
But complied to do so or go without the essentials as bread
Students from near and far coming here to satisfy a need
Ones that have thrived through the trauma that poverty inflicts
Yet who are strong, bright, funny, and silly despite their conflicts
But most importantly they are now members of our community
No matter where they were birthed from circumstances of opportunity
As I am reflecting on what I see in their faces I also scan the surroundings
And I am appalled that we have left them hanging on by a thread, drowning
We can’t allow their schools to be “lonely islands of poverty” due to faded ideals
We can’t allow any student to “languish in the corners” with inequitable wheels
Teetering the line of separate but equal education and fair chance at education
We cannot allow these children to be compromised or marginalized to a notion
Due to the fact, neighborhoods just down the road are unwilling to accept them,
For there is truly no such thing as a neighborhood owning an educational stem
We as the public are stakeholders of the education tree, we all own these schools
It is with common care that we must be united in the process to diversify our schools
As opposed to being further segmented gather under our separate agendas and platitudes
My voice represents all those who can’t be here to speak for themselves in these interludes
For as John F. Kennedy stated, “A rising tide lifts all boats” to equitable desirable ports
My hope is that we can all learn to navigate this changing tide jointly with support
As opposed to continuing to turn a blind eye and leaving each other to drown apart.
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