Post updated to add video at 6:50 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10:
Students, faculty and staff of Cordley Elementary School celebrated Black Lives Matter at School Week, wrapping up the events with a big rally and march on Friday.
“Each day we will share themes of support and celebration to honor Black students everywhere and to shine some light on how we can support greater equity in our schools,” Principal Becky Reaver wrote in an email to school families ahead of the events. “Some themes and ideas we plan to share are: Restorative Justice, Empathy, Loving Engagement, Diversity and Global Community, Inclusive and Affirming Values, Intergenerational Families and Villages, Resistance, Advocacy and Action.”
A kickoff assembly on Monday featured Soledad Edison, a Free State High School senior who last year was awarded the Princeton Prize in Race Relations for the Greater Kansas City area.
The school also had a special Hawk Family time featuring the book “I Am Every Good Thing,” written by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James.
For the march Friday, students could carry signs of hope of their own design, or fill in the blank of a sign with the message “I March for __.”
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Chansi Long (she/her) reported for The Lawrence Times from July 2022 through August 2023. Read more of her work for the Times here.
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Pancho Metz/Contributed photo
