We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Revida Rahman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Revida, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
As a Co-Founder of One WillCo, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, we have experienced inequity in education for students of color and wanted to create a collaborative relationship with our school district to help to make our awesome district even better for ALL students. What started for 5 families at an elementary school about field trips to the plantation for social purposes in 2018 ended up creating a movement for equity for students of color.
We quickly recognized through the Civil Rights data for our district that our reported “10 racial incidents” was inaccurately reported, as I knew plenty of black and brown kids experiencing racism at school on a regular basis. This lead us to petition our school district for better reporting system for bullying and issues dealing with racism that many students were experiencing. Our efforts lead to our district and our school board voting unanimously to invest in an Equity Audit by surveying students, families and staff to determine if there were racial issues and how our district could handle these problems.
As a mom of two black boys in our district where their peer population is under 5% in some cases, I was appalled to learn how our education system was playing a systemic discrimination role black boys in our district who were disciplined at a higher percentage than their white counterparts who are over 80—90 percent of the district. Our education system should not be a ‘prison pipeline’ of SRO referrals for students of color.
When it comes to changes for students to have a more fulfilling life and career, we are seeing efforts nationally to change the truth in an effort for those who are “uncomfortable” and were never taught some lessons they are struggling to understand. Truth that is already being taught disparagingly in schools. According to Ed Trust, Black history is currently only taught 8% of the total class time dedicated to Black history… already at a reduced rate but not being encouraged to be erased fully. With examples like Florida changing their standards to say “slaves benefited from” what they “learned” during slavery is a slap in the face and down right lie to their legacy. Our educational system is under attack to portray narratives that are not truthful and leaves all students at a disservice while lacking the truth through a form of control.
Students of color often experience the “uncomfortableness” that is ignored in the classroom. Our educational systems should educate all kids to some uncomfortable truths while we can have discussion about it with them in our homes. But some adults have not dealt with that reality and have no desire to start explaining those truths to their children in a way to not inflict blame. Societies in Germany had done this very well while not uplifting those who participated in the Holocaust, but to uplift those who were on the right side of history. We still have a lot to learn, a lot to discuss, and a lot to heal and reckon with.
In our elementary school, we had a bi-racial student who was wrongly assigned the “slave” role by her teacher on a fieldtrip to The Hermitage. Now, imagine her uncomfortableness of being stared at by all her white peers in class as the only Black student in class to be remembered for playing the enslaved role. In a time of racial awareness, our staff and teachers need to understand what ‘not to do’ to bring additional harm to students who may be the only Black person in class.
So when asked what I would do, I would make sure every teacher has been trained on Unintended Biases. I would make sure teachers understand how to connect with ALL students in their classes. If I had a magic wand, I would want all students to feel valued and respected no matter who they are, where they come from and mostly their race not being a factor. We face many problems in our education system that are systemic. But the only way to address them is to have open discussions which promote healing in a way Germany has not shied away from their original sin. America needs to do the same.
Revida, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am Revida Rahman, a wife of 18 years and mother of two sweet boys who I’ve advocated for since they’ve been here on this earth. My mom and I moved to Batesville, MS in 1978 to take care of both of her elderly parents who were sick at the same time. This community of land owners was loving and bustling with cousins I could play with for days because both sides of my family lived on the same road. This was ‘The Village” for me. One that encouraged reading which created my love of books at an early age.
I truly believe my passion for my advocacy work began from the examples of “The Village”. My paternal grandmother was the first Black woman to register to vote in her county and she paid dearly for that right. She was blackballed for the rest of her life from teaching in that county. Once, she was 1 of 744 arrested in Jackson, MS for protesting at the state’s capitol advocating for others. She traveled to New York and Russia in the 60’s to share about her advocacy work. This has lead to the advocacy I strive to instill in my community. Advocacy I have worked to share with my boys and their friends. Almost all 11 of them have been the target to racial harassment in our area.
The advocacy we have provided through One WillCo has moved to plant seeds of change in our district. After that initial act in 2018 with our school principal, he agreed there would no longer be field trips that were not directly related to curriculum they were studying at the time. Those plantation discussions were the catalyst to form our 501(c)3 nonprofit grassroots organization, One WillCo in October 2020. Our Co-Founder, Jennifer Cortez, reached out to me after being invited by a School Board Member who asked her to attend the meetings, as families of color needed support. She later reached out to me as a connector in the Black community to partner for a multi-cultural, multi-political, multi-religious organization with one purpose…. racial equity and advocacy for students and families of color.
So what do we do at One WillCo? We advocate for black and brown students and families for racial equity. With our district having a small percentage of students of color, we make sure their voices are heard. We make sure when they experience racism and bullying, it is handled appropriately by the district. We educate parents on what the process of reporting should look like. In my own experience, I learned that once I reported an incident to my district, it kinda didn’t feel like anything else was done. We later learned that the reporting system in our district was flawed and needed improvements.
Our advocacy has created the following changes: a better reporting system of incidents; an Equity Audit by a consultant hired by the district, changes to the discipline policy, naming a new school after an over 40 year Black educator from the district, held our first 7th -12th grade student event for fellowship and allyship, and attend school board meetings monthly while speaking out about recent occurrences against students of color, to name a few.
I am really proud of the community we are growing on understanding, learning, while advocating for students and families of color. While there are many challenges in our climate due to the national school board wars we have seen across the country, our own school board was discussed by President Joe Biden after harassment began in the parking lot. Thankfully, our atmosphere at the school board meetings has changed. We are still utilizing our advocacy against the calls for book bans that target books such as those about Ruby Bridges and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our district.
Though we have faced some challenges, I’ve shared with our volunteer community in times of dark moments in our equity struggle. “Be mad, get angry, cry if you need too. We took a hit. Take care of yourself, but dust yourself off and come back. We need you to keep up this Good Trouble!” We still have families who need us. Students have been racially targeted and the inconsistencies in the disciplinary policy seem pointless. Policies were changed due to their advocacy. These students are a force to be reckoned with and I could not be prouder of them standing up for themselves and littles in this community following in their footsteps.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I met my Partner In Crime, also known as Jennifer Cortez on 11/24/2019 through a group chat of parents trying to create change in our schools. Being a beautiful writer, she has such a compassionate loving heart that I have enjoyed from the beginning. We started this journey after her friend who was on our school board at the time asked her to come to the meetings to help families of color elevate their voices on issues occurring in the school. That open dialogue we started with has transformed into an invaluable friendship built on understanding, listening and trust. Jennifer is a visionary reflective of the path she has lived and the world she wants to see for her kids.. She called me October 2020 about joining forces and creating One WillCo. I could not have envisioned what we started and where we are today. We are a great team and I couldn’t imagine another person to be on this journey with!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Our reputation has been built through relationships, patience and understanding. We have created partnerships with other organizations working towards the same cause in Williamson County.
The noise that we have experienced in our early days is quieter now. But that did not come easy. We had the opportunity to create conversations that support student safety, student understanding, and lifting up voices often drowned out by the noise clothing itself in a lack of progress. The noise that seemed to ignore the voices of students of color. The noise that was blamed on a little girl in our community who ‘felt bad for being white’. The noise that did not allow her support system to lift her up; to let her know things happened in the past but it doesn’t mean it’s your fault or that you should be ashamed of who you are. The noise that helped our state government create laws to make it a crime to learn historical facts.
One WillCo has been the voice of reason, the voice of civility and the voice of old-fashioned respect. We have been seen for the way we advocate and built relationships of openness in our community as we seek to find things we have in common. News organizations have reached out to us to share our story locally, but national interviews with CNN, New Yorker magazine, NPR, National Geographic, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitory have bolstered our credibility. We are grateful for being able to share our story and bring in sisters and brothers from all religions, races, backgrounds and political affiliation.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.OneWillCo.org
- Instagram: OneWillCo
- Facebook: facebook.com/onewillco
- Twitter: @OneWillco
Image Credits
Crystal Freeman Photography