Dear Ms. Betters, Ms. Myhan, and Sr. Meghan,

Thank you for your most recent email to Mercy families promising steps our school plans to take to address systemic racism. As people in a school community that is predominately white, it is our personal responsibility to take tangible actions against both systemic racism and anti-blackness in our country. Every white student, teacher, and member of the Mercy community is a benefactor of white supremacy. The onus is on all of these people to learn about, address, and combat racism. It is necessary to meaningfully understand and acknowledge our place within structures of power. I would like to voice my support that OLMA makes a tangible and specific plan and timeline to implement the anti-racism policies that were highlighted in the most recent email. 

We, as alumnae, parents, and potential future donors to Our Lady of Mercy Academy would like to address each step that the administration proposed in the most recent email, and ask for specific and actionable guarantees. 

“Partnering with Mercy Education System of the Americas (MESA) re: educational resources, summer reading materials, and curriculum integration (i.e. social justice advocacy, critical concerns: nonviolence, racism, women)”
In the upcoming weeks, we would like to see a concrete plan for curriculum integration that includes (and is by no means limited to) the concepts of intersectionality (as coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw), prison justice and the historical roots of the modern prison in slavery and Jim Crow laws, environmental racism, redlining (especially in the context of Long Island), the genocide of indigenous people in this country, and the lasting and on-going effects of American imperialism that is depleting Asian, African, and Latin American countries of resources. We would like to know the tools and resources that you are providing to educators in order to have constructive conversations about race, especially with white students who have had no personal experiences in which racism affected them negatively. We would like a guarantee that reading materials provided to students will be written by black and POC authors, and specifically, as this is an institution meant to elevate the voices of women, we would like to see a concerted effort to amplify the voices of black women authors in these reading lists.  

“Exploring additions to the Wellness Program  -- human dignity, social justice breakout/workshops”
We would like the Wellness Program to have components that address the mental health needs specifically of black and POC students, especially in a time when there is an overflow of traumatic imagery online depicting violence against black and brown bodies.

“Offering diversity/anti-racism training as part of orientation/spiritual retreat experiences”
We would like race and inclusion training for students to not only be offered but be a required aspect of orientation and retreat experiences. We would like this training to be implemented in this upcoming school year. We would specifically like this training to include discussions about white privilege.

“Establishing a task force: students, alumnae, faculty, and staff working together to address breaking down racism”
We would like the administration to make guarantees that this taskforce will both center the voices of students of color and give the taskforce significant and real power to influence and implement school-level policies. We would also like the administration to address how much funding the task force will have to carry out its goals. We would like a guarantee that the task force will meet, at the latest, in the first 2 weeks of the upcoming school year.

“Expanding alumnae mentor program - focus on mentors/students of color working with the Empowerment Club to invite guest speakers and provide an open forum for inclusive conversation: racial equity, social justice, etc.”
We would like to have a black guidance counselor at Mercy to be a long term and consistent source of support for black and BIPOC students of color at Mercy.

“Engaging a speaker to address diversity, support services, racial equity, as part of Professional Development for faculty/staff.”
We would like a guarantee that this will not be a one-time training for faculty/staff but rather that the administration engages faculty and staff in a continual discussion about racism and inclusion.
 

Other steps that we would like to see include:

• A removal of OLMA’s insensitive social media posts in response to the death of George Floyd and statement of support from OLMA on all school-sanctioned social media that explicitly condones racism and anti-blackness and specifically supports the Black Lives Matter movement
• The elimination of the fundraiser “Senior Servant Day” (formerly called Senior Slave Day) and the replacement of this fundraiser with something that is more meaningful and less insensitive.
• The development and introduction of electives that highlight the silenced histories of minorities and non-European countries outside of a perspective that centers the colonizer.  
• The hiring of black and POC teachers and staff.
• That OLMA replaces the “mission trips” which reinforce white savior narratives. We need to think critically about what it means to come into a community for a short time, bringing harmful and dangerous assumptions. “Mission trips” such as these are often destructive to communities in which they take place. These trips can be substituted with public service activities in our own communities that focus on meaningful partnerships with people already doing this work. Additionally, if the idea is to contribute globally, perhaps fundraising efforts could be directed to doctors, health professionals, and community leaders from within the community who are doing work for those communities. In all service, the purpose should not be to center ourselves or to center whiteness, especially in communities that have already been hurt by the legacy of historical colonialism.  

Most importantly, we want to acknowledge and uplift the personal experiences of black students and students of color at OLMA. Some of these students will be sharing their experiences with the administration in the upcoming days and weeks. We ask that above all, the administration listen deeply to these students and make constructive change.