In February, OPRF Principal Nate Rouse took a bold step as Black History Month closed out and the Black Lives Matter movement caught fire. He invited African American students to gather in the Little Theater for a special assembly to talk about their personal and shared experiences as young black people at our high school.
Some 350 students, teachers, staff and administrators of color took part. And a small handful of white students who wanted to take part were turned away.
It was, from all reports, an intense and honest exchange. Rouse, who is African American, told me back then that students talked not just about the school but raised tough questions about how black students treat each other and how they engage, or don’t, with the broader school community. Mainly, though, it was a rare moment when young African Americans could validate their complex feelings without feeling judged by others.
Except that now the entire “black affinity group” concept has been judged by others. In this case by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. Because after the inevitable pushback by a small number of white Oak Parkers who took only cursory lessons from the Civil Rights Movement, a complaint was filed with that agency objecting to any public gathering at the school where attendance was determined by race.
An investigation has been conducted, a resolution agreement has been adopted by the OPRF school board, and clarity has been achieved with this conclusion: “Voluntary affinity groups are permissible but cannot be exclusive,” says the press release put out Monday by the school.
Rouse had described two white girls who wanted to join last February’s assembly as having “views on race that are so advanced they could lead a white affinity” discussion. Good for them, I’d say, but also suggest their views are not quite so advanced as to recognize the value of a black-only opportunity to talk. But under the new rules they would absolutely be welcome to the assembly.
On Monday, I called Supt. Steven Isoye to ask if this was effectively the end of affinity groups at Oak Park and River Forest High School. Having taken guff from a small subset of the community, having board members suggest from the start that this hadn’t been handled well, and spending the time and resources to cooperate with an investigation, I worried that sponsoring such focused discussions would be seen as too problematic.
With the resolution agreement still brand new, there are no immediate plans for affinity groups, he confirmed. “We have received clarity,” he said, “but we haven’t yet regrouped.” He then went out of his way to promise that every detail of the pact with the feds would be honored going forward.
I expected, then, to get to the door closer.
Here’s what the superintendent said.
“I would hate to say we’ll never do it again. There’s value in any discussion we have about race. The fact that we continue to talk about race is important.”
We’ll follow the rules, Isoye said. Events, he said, will not be exclusionary. Looking back on the February assembly, he said, “I thought it was an opportunity for [black] students to speak their truth. That’s important.”
For a half-decade, the most interesting, the most conscious conversations on race in Oak Park and River Forest have happened at the high school. A critical institution that was slow to adapt to Oak Park’s racial diversity and its impact on the school, OPRF has deliberately moved forward with a range of opportunities to openly talk about race.
Facilitated discussions among board members, among faculty and staff, with students. The affinity group for black kids was one essential and additional effort. Good news that the superintendent understands the need to keep talking even if the rules are somewhat different.
