RARE Newsletter March 2021
Principal Kristina Rodgers Joins RARE for March Discussion
Roosevelt Principal Kristina Rodgers will join RARE committee members and donors for RARE’s monthly discussion session. The session is scheduled for Monday, March 15 at 5 p.m. via Zoom.
Rodgers will discuss the current racial climate and culture at Roosevelt during the 90-minute session.
RARE conducts monthly discussion sessions on a wide variety of issues concerning race, education, policing and related topics. Presenters have included law enforcement officers, educators and community activists. Future discussions will feature teachers, parents and students.
Discussion on President’s Day
The Seattle Public School district is not doing right by Black people, according to Clyde Merriwether and Gerald Donaldson.
Donaldson, a family resource worker in the Seattle School District and Merriwether, a community activist, led the monthly RARE discussion group on February 15. All discussion sessions are open to RARE volunteers and donors.
Becoming Part of the Solution
In June of 2020, following the egregious killing of George Floyd and the racial reckoning that followed, my long-time friend Tony Allison, who is White, contacted his former Roosevelt High School friend and basketball teammate Joe Hunter, who is Black. He wanted to start a conversation with Joe…
Les Young Shares Policing Insights
America wants to change the quality of policing, we must first, “Change the police culture,” says Les Young.
Young, a member of the Roosevelt class of 1971, shared his thoughts on the future of policing Monday, February 1, at the monthly RARE steering committee meeting. A military and Washington State Patrol veteran, Young discussed the controversy over defunding the police and offered several scenarios that could address policing issues around the country.
RARE Featured in The Medium
RARE has been featured in the February 24 edition of The Medium, Seattle’s black newspaper.
The story features a photo of RARE co-founder Joe Hunter and the story of RARE’s founding and membership – members of Roosevelt’s class of 1971 – and of its two projects, the James A. Davis Jr. Scholarship and a documentary film, Roosevelt High School in Black and White.
New Fundraising Total: $143,000!
Thanks to all our donors, we’ve reached this amount is just five months. We’ve raised more than half of our $250,000 goal for the James A. Davis Scholarship.
- We accept stock and employer matching gifts.
- Our website will soon feature class pages.
- Donors are encouraged to add messages which will be displayed along with the donor’s name on our Donor Wall.
We are almost halfway to our fundraising goal for the documentary film Roosevelt High School in Black and White with donations totaling $15,000.
Our deepest thanks to all our donors!