Students from Classical Charter Schools hosted a virtual Black Lives Matter protest for Juneteenth, which featured a sing along to Andra Day’s hit song, “Rise Up.”
The event, which was broadcast live on YouTube, was hosted by middle schoolers Adelaide and Amarachi, who answered questions on race and protests from other students. The full protest video can be viewed here. The sing along portion by students and faculty can be viewed here.
Lester Long, executive director of Classical Charter Schools, praised the students for the initiative.
“At Classical Charter Schools, we are proud of our students for being exemplary young leaders pushing for action,” Long said. “We hope that this virtual protest not only encourages our students to continue speaking out against racism, inequity and police brutality, but also inspires them to be active in their communities. We stand with them and proudly join them as we continue to provide high-quality education for children from every community in the Bronx.”
In addition to expressing their views on the protests, Adelaide and Amarachi were also asked about the state of the nation, what they hope history will say about this moment and what they wish adults could know about being a kid.
Classical Charter Schools, which was founded 15 years ago and is the winner of two national Blue Ribbon Awards, serves over 1,000 kids in kindergarten to eighth grade and is the highest performing non-CMO charter school network in all of New York City.
