RARE Newsletter July 2022
RHS Tour & Film Event - Aug 20 - Everyone is Invited!
RARE will host a tour and showing of their documentary film at 10AM, Saturday, August 20. Come and walk through remodeled Roosevelt High School — take a school tour, meet the new RHS principal Tami Brewer, RHS staff, alumni, and friends of RARE, then watch and discuss RARE’s 30-minute documentary film Roosevelt High School: Beyond Black and White.
Happy Independence Day!
We celebrate our independence as a nation while remembering that not everyone in the new nation had full citizenship. Enslaved Africans were three-fifths of a person, women could not vote, and indigenous people were moved about or slaughtered at the convenience of the newcomers. Still, we started with the ideal that all people were created equal, and that all were endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our nation continues to be a work in progress. RARE is actively involved in working for that “more perfect union.”
KCTS 9 Showing of Film Reaches 12,000 Homes
KCTS 9 has shared with RARE that the combined two airings of the film documentary Roosevelt High School: Beyond Black & White in June was very successful. About 12,000 households were reached.
Many schools, civic organizations, and places of worship are viewing and discussing the film. Please consider doing so for your group!
KUOW FEATURES RARE IN SOUNDSIDE PODCAST
RARE’s two co-chairs, Tony Allison and Joe Hunter, joined KUOW’s Libby Denkmann to discuss how the murder of George Floyd launched a turning point in alumni’s reflections of how race was (or wasn’t) discussed at RHS. They were joined by 2021 Roosevelt High graduate Leah Scott.
Beyond Black & White Shown at State PTA Conference
About 25 delegates to the Washington State PTA conference saw Roosevelt High School: Beyond Black & White on Saturday, May 21 at the Lynnwood Conference Center. A panel discussion followed. Natalya Yudkovsky, advocacy chair for the RHS PTA, led the conversation with help from Roosevelt student Quincy Purcell and RARE board member Jane Nellams. The conversation centered around what PTA members could do now to improve racial equity at the schools that they represent.
Berea College Puts Diversity First
Berea College is a college unlike any other, says Dr. Chad Berry, vice president of alumni and college relations, and he’s right. Berea, located in Berea, Kentucky, was the first college in the nation to admit Black students to an integrated school. In fact, the college formed in 1855 was created purposely as an integrated school. It’s first class after the Civil War included 187 Black students and 91 White students.