Hopkins School: Built On Slavery

Hopkins students and alumni have come together in support of our Black community. If YOU believe in our cause, please sign this petition to make YOUR voice heard at Hopkins and place your support behind our communal letter to the Board of Trustees.

Dear Hopkins School Board of Trustees, 

The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery are among the more recent and tragic manifestations of systemic racism in the United States of America. Hopkins School has benefited from systemic racism since its founding. Edward Hopkins’ estate—which included an enslaved man listed as Hopkins’ property—was used to establish Hopkins Grammar School in 1660. As a majority-white institution, Hopkins continues to benefit from and contribute to perpetuating this system of white supremacy.

Head of School Kai Bynum recently wrote a well-worded letter to the Hopkins community which addressed the justified anger that is currently coursing through our nation. We, the members of the Hopkins community, now call on you, the Board of Trustees, to match Dr. Bynum’s words with proportionate—if not greater—action to help dismantle systemic racism. We urge you to consider how Hopkins School, which prides itself on “the bringing up of hopeful youths,” might help achieve this goal and enact meaningful change. As an institution often looked to as the model for education, it behooves you to be an example to others in this cause. To begin, we ask the Board of Trustees to: 

i.                  Make a generous and public donation to organizations that support the Black Lives Matter movement and strive to end systemic racism. Pledge to match all donations from the entire Hopkins community: students, parents, alumni, and faculty alike. With a $150mm+ endowment, Hopkins is in the fortunate position to make a significant financial investment in improving Black lives on campus and beyond.

ii.                  Create large-scale initiatives to promote the recruitment of students and faculty of color. It is simply unacceptable for a school that prides itself on the diversity of its student body to have one Black student for every fourteen white ones. How can Hopkins purport to educate its students about systemic racism and actively begin to dismantle systems of white supremacy with an overwhelmingly white student body and faculty? We must do better.

iii.                  Decolonize your curriculum. By mostly focusing on the white voices and narratives highlighted in the overly-tilled fields of its traditional curricula, Hopkins is enforcing the idea that these voices and narratives should be elevated over other ones, especially over those of people of color, women, and gender nonconformists.

iv.                  Strengthen your commitment to New Haven’s communities of color. Hopkins has called the city of New Haven home for the better part of four centuries. We proudly overlook New Haven from our hill of privilege and yet we so rarely venture down into its Black communities. We must become a better neighbor and ally to those who share our home with us and seek to create a genuine relationship with the greater New Haven community, establishing Hopkins as a place that is welcome to people of all backgrounds, regardless of race, religion, creed, or ideology.

v.                  Respond to this letter by producing a detailed plan showing how the Board intends to address these four separate requests in a timely manner. Merely agreeing that these issues are of concern and promising to improve upon these items without an actionable plan is not enough. 

Hear our anger, our frustration, and our anguish. The above calls-to-action should be seen as the bare minimum Hopkins School can and should do to begin dismantling systemic racism in the United States, in New Haven, and, yes, at Hopkins School. As an institution, Hopkins has a moral obligation to uplift people of color both on the hill and beyond; every Black and Brown hopeful youth of the past, present, and future is entitled to the unbridled support of the Board and its constituents. Acknowledge the role Hopkins plays in this system of white supremacy, listen to the voices of your Black community, and change.

Sincerely, 

The Current Students and Alumni of Hopkins School