When Your Neighbors Don't Want You There

Baltimore is a racially segregated city. There are clear lines between white, black, Hispanic, Jewish and other ethnic groups. It floored me that I could ride down Coldspring and see some of the biggest houses ever and then some of the poorest neighborhoods within minutes of each other. As times change and new real estate areas become hot spots (hello gentrification) we have school issues arise like the one in Canton.
With the closing of Canton Middle School in 2009, the neighborhood does not want another school in the building, though it seems likely that a new charter will be placed there. Speaking from experience, being a school in a place that doesn’t want you has harmful affects. Two years ago, my school moved locations into the Robert Poole building in Hampden, as their existing middle school was being shut down. Over the past two years, I have seen extreme acts of racism done to my children by members of the Hampden community. I am not saying it is the whole neighborhood, of course there are certainly great people who help our school a lot. But overwhelmingly, my students can not walk to the light rail with out being called the n-word at least once. I have talked to my students about this issue a lot and I am appalled that they are to the point where it doesn’t faze them as much as it used to.
Being unwanted, in a twisted way, brings us together as a school community – as our kids always walk with each other, I drive kids home, etc. I constantly tell my kids to be the bigger people and not acknowledge the hurtful comments and generally they heed this advice. As the decision is made of what to do with Canton, I hope they chose wisely. With the emergence of so many “choice” schools, students are traveling up to 2 hours to get to school each day. In order for students to learn, they need to be in a safe and welcoming environment. I wish that every neighborhood would welcome students freely, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.