LA Upstander: In Lak'Ech Committee

Group Members: Edemir C., Jackelyn A., Jael R., Roberto V., Sasha G., and Yasmin E.

In June 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, a group of students felt that SJHA did not speak up enough against it, nor do enough to responsively teach students to be upstanders at a time when they felt we needed to amplify the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. With social justice in our name, these students wanted the school to address recent social justice issues and movements systematically. 

In response, teachers created the In Lak'Ech (You Are My Other Me) Committee to create advisory lessons on topics such as allyship, BLM, ABAR (Anti-Bias Anti-Racism), activism, public safety, and more. The arc of lessons, which are responsive to events or news that may occur locally, nationally, or internationally, fulfills our vision of supporting more informed and critically conscious students, while also nurturing critical hope and providing them with tools to be agents of change.  

The lessons allowed students to discuss their thoughts on social justice topics and issues they've been thinking about and discussing elsewhere. During a lesson on shared values, students began to discuss in the chat why BLM and other social justice movements fit their values. This was not an embedded part of the lesson, but the prompts encouraged them to ask each other questions/discuss further.  This was the first time we've covered such a range of deep topics while keeping them all tied together through one seam: we are stronger united.