We Ain’t Buying It
A Response to Seth Andrew’s Reflections on Race & Democracy Prep
Edit: Seth Andrew removed his original essay from medium.com. We have linked it here for readers’ access as it is referenced in this piece.
Yesterday, Democracy Prep’s Founder, Seth Andrew, released a piece on Medium reflecting on systemic racism in America and how he played a role in perpetuating it, specifically through his time founding and overseeing the rapid expansion of Democracy Prep Public Schools. While we acknowledge that people’s viewpoints can change over time and that no one is perfect, we question the timing and intent of Seth’s essay.
The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, amongst others, led to mass mobilization against anti-Black racism, not only within police departments, but also across all oppressive power structures in our communities. In the same vein, we have also seen the rise of white guilt and false attempts at “white atonement”. Thus, when Seth released his reflection a week after Juneteenth, alongside the rise of Black N Brown at DP, we found it suspiciously coincidental.
Black N Brown at DP is a collective of African American, Afro-Latinx, and Latinx Democracy Prep Alumni (students, families, and staff) who navigated and survived the traumatic racism of Seth’s charter system. In a practice of activism and solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives, we began sharing truths about our experiences with policing and terrorism within DPCS’s “no excuses” model. Several stories surfaced, and as we learned of the breadth of harm that has occurred within this charter network, we resolved to tackle these injustices and ensure that no other students would suffer in the ways that we did.
We know the man behind the words, so we question the sincerity of his piece. As someone closely linked to Black and Brown communities, for a near decade while working at Democracy Prep, and for an entire childhood while attending New York City Public Schools (which are 70% students of color), Seth should already know that police brutality, systemic oppression and racial discrimination exist. These are not new challenges. In fact, these are issues that his students were experiencing during his last year at Democracy Prep, as they were faced with the death of Trayvon Martin and several other publicized Black deaths.
As Seth stated, it would be impossible to talk about the oppressive past at Democracy Prep without thinking back to a plethora of stories that tie back to him in particular. Seth Andrew has inflicted pain upon hundreds of young people, directly; and upon thousands of young people and their families indirectly through the proliferation of his school model. He has a record of ostracizing and firing faculty and staff of color who spoke out against the injustices that they witnessed and endured while employed at Democracy Prep. Seth collaborated with Democracy Prep’s Human Resources team and executive leadership to silence Black and Brown student and staff voices. Beyond this, he worked alongside his wife Lana, who amassed a large number of media contacts from her time at ABC and CBS, to spin the narrative of DPPS in a way that silences students, alums, staff and families — with the exception of the few positive stories that they cherry-picked to support their version of history.
The beginning of Seth’s piece offers, what seems to be, true and genuine self reflection and critique, but he later slips back into a white savior narrative, doubling down on his belief that he “did a great thing for Black and Brown people in Harlem”. He talks about all the horrors that he saw in other public schools in the neighborhood, but mentions none of the good. He says he created a school that was “safe” and uses an anecdote from a single alum to justify the hurt and pain he caused to scores of students, which continues through the system that he created. He also states that he remembers those days vividly, but insinuates that students and staff may have hazy and exaggerated memories of their time. How can it be that HE has an accurate memory, but everyone else is exaggerating? Or does his whiteness make his memories and anecdotal experiences of the time more valid than others?
Seth talks about ACE Academy, the school he was first co-located with, and how out of control it was. That school is closed now. Seth uses this, and a few other experiences, to form his opinion that the educational landscape in Harlem is dismal. At no point does he discuss what excited him. He does not mention the dance program at Wadleigh Secondary School, the strong project based learning at Central Park East, or the special programs at A. Phillip Randolph. He does not mention Harlem RBI, Harlem School of the Arts or other great programs that support neighborhood students. In fact, the only thing Seth discusses about Harlem, is what he saw as wrong with it. It is clear that, from just a few experiences, Seth formed a deficit-based opinion about Black students, families, and our communities. He did not care to notice any of the good happening.
He mentions attempts to implement Dr. Lorraine Monroe’s work, but does not mention seeing excellence at the school she started, Frederick Douglass Academy of Harlem, approximately 10 blocks from his own school. The worst part is that even as he was stealing and rebranding the intellectual property of a successful Black woman principal in Harlem, he never mentioned visiting the school she founded. If he thought that Dr. Lorraine Monroe’s work was good enough to implement, why was her voice not good enough for his Board of Trustees?
Also, it is interesting that he is crediting Dr. Monroe in his piece, because during a professional development workshop when a Black woman educator mentioned that some of the practices at DP came from Dr. Monroe, he and the current CPO, feigned ignorance. His behavior is part of a legacy of charter schools profiteering off the labor of Black women educators, while also casting Black women educators, who were most often in district schools, as the problem. Harriett Ball, Dr. Lorraine Monroe, and Dr. Samona Joe Tait deserved better, but that is a conversation for another day.
Seth does not actually take time to lean into that legacy in his reflection. He does not apologize to Dr. Lorraine Monroe for twisting what she meant for Black progress, into a system of Black oppression. He simply underscores the idea that he did something great for Harlem, because of course, there were no good schools in Harlem before he came along.
Seth also states “I also want to specifically thank those students, parents, and teachers who 14 years ago raised their concerns directly with me. They led to real change at the time, and it can’t have been easy to question my policies in 2006, given all the power dynamics in place.” This statement alone shows that he has not truly sat in critical self reflection, but has simply reimagined his leadership. Students, parents, and staff from 2006 have said time and again that we were NOT able to offer critique. We have said time and again that Seth silenced us. We have said time and again, that Seth blacklisted us. One former staff member revealed that Seth called them to an office and said “If you say good things about us, we will say good things about you.” Another recalled a time that Seth yelled to a room of parents “Stop talking now!” using the same domineering approach that he used on students. How, in this culture, were people giving real and substantive critique? There wasn’t a PTA/PTO. What formal feedback structures were in place during his time as the head of Democracy Prep for families to share their concerns? What formal feedback structures exist for parents and families to share their concerns today? Are there parents on any of the DPPS Regional Boards?
How can he accurately remember these moments from his time in leadership and still say that he listened to people in ways that led to real change? If this were true, we would not be here today, fighting this fight. Students in 2020 are reporting the same types of abuse that we were reporting as early as 2006, so how much listening has truly happened?
While reflecting on his conversation with an alumnus, Seth offers a quote from the student about being able to go to the bathroom safely. Are we then to believe that Democracy Prep’s culture is the only type of school culture where students are able to be physically safe in a building? Are there no other schools throughout the Bronx, Harlem, or other similar communities across the country, where Black students are thriving that do not feel like the prison industrial complex? His reflection ignores the fact that there will always be a few people who are able to thrive within systemic oppression. There will always be a few who are able to make it out of the pressure cooker, but what about those who don’t? Are their lives not equally valuable?
His critique also seems to dismiss the ability of the students that HE taught, to make informed and thorough critiques. The alum of Black N Brown at DP are all clear that we’ve had great experiences and great memories at Democracy Prep. We’ve also had great pain and great trauma. Are we not allowed to express our trauma? Are Black voices only valuable when they serve the narrative that whiteness, or in this case, Seth Andrew, is trying to present? A single reflection, or even a few, should not be enough to allow him to continue positioning himself as the white savior of Harlem.
Further along in his post, after listing his commitments, Seth says “To make systemic change requires a level of accountability and intentionality that Twitter and anonymous Instagram posts rarely allow.” This is yet another tone deaf understanding of this moment and movement. First, he dismisses the fear of white retaliation that people of color hold when speaking up against racism and racist incidents. Secondly, he disregards the very real threats of retaliation that he personally verbalized and used his institution to reinforce. To not acknowledge that former staff and students are STILL scared to come forward publicly because it could affect their livelihoods, is to again, be dismissive of the very real pain that he caused. Alum and former staff have all discussed showing physical symptoms of PTSD when they are within blocks of Democracy Prep. Many of us are so traumatized that we continue to feel surveilled years later. It is ignorant, and racist, to dismiss these feelings and concerns.
Seth goes on to say, “Memories often become hazy with time, but I hope we will not let either the patina of nostalgia, or the pain of trauma alone guide our future actions.” With this statement, is he insinuating that the people who have been brave enough to share their stories might be exaggerating? Or have false memories? Does this not fly in the face of everything he says earlier in his essay? Would Seth insinuate that an 80+ year old Holocaust victim was exaggerating as they told their story? Would Seth tell a white woman detailing an instance of sexual assault to not allow the “pain of trauma alone guide [her] future actions?” I am sure he would not. So why, while acknowledging his failures, would he dismiss the pain of Black and Brown people who he harmed?
Racism is traumatic for EVERYONE. It is most traumatic; however, for its victims. It has required great emotional strength for the former students, and former and current staff members involved with this effort to continue this fight each day. We have cried at some of the stories we have received, been enraged at some of the emails we have been sent, and been broken by accounts of how DP’s problematic decision making has shifted people’s entire futures.
Even as we are putting our present and future selves on the line, both Seth and the current DP CEO have attempted to co-opt our voices, another tactic of white supremacy. He says “But one of the things I’m most proud of Democracy Prep for is that our alumni and students have pursued their expanded life choices and shared their own authentic voices to help ‘change the world’.” He fails to realize that Black people have always had a voice. He fails to understand that our voices exist outside of white supremacy culture. He fails to recognize that these voices have flourished IN SPITE of Democracy Prep, not because of it. And his willingness to take credit for Black expression further illustrates how deeply racist this man truly is.
Where we can agree is that with our authentic voices, we will change the world. We will continue to shine light on the dark truths of injustice in Democracy Prep Public Schools, and end the psychological terrorism against Black and Brown children.
This is hard work. This is necessary work.
And so we keep going.
