Sarad Davenport, a Charlottesville native, joined Communities in Schools as the Associate Director of Culture and Connections at the National Office in May, 2017. Three months later Sarad watched, alongside the rest of the nation as white nationalists, neo-nazis, and Klan members took to the streets of his hometown with torches, inciting horrific violence and proclaiming that they would not be replaced.
Sarad’s experience is all too familiar for many of the students CIS serves. Racial prejudice, inequality, and economic stagnation are just a few of the adult-sized challenges our students face as barriers to academic success. Systemic racial oppression has denied black and brown children the American Dream for too long, and the attitudes demonstrated on August 12th belie the notion of a post-racial America.
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