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Pain Beyond The Classroom | Camilla Bell | TEDxYouth@ClintonSquare


[Music]

[Applause]

well son I’ll tell you life for me ain’t

been no crystals there it’s had tax in

it and splinters and boards torn up and

places with no carpet on the floor bear

these verses take it from Lansing uses

poem mother the Sun captures a phrase

that many of us know all too well the

struggle is real but when I talk about

the struggle what am I talking about

exactly I’m talking about the struggle

just to make it to school each and every

single day I’m talking about the

struggle to survive inside and outside

of the classroom walls when I talk about

the struggle i’m talking about someone

seeking answers to important questions

no one seems to be taking seriously

questions like why do i go to school

questions like what is the point how was

school preparing me for life outside of

the classroom space is it life for me

ain’t been no crystal stair what is your

story and how is it connected to a

larger struggle take a moment and think

about it I remember when I graduated

high school I remember my dad literally

pressing his pride into my long black

graduation gown you see I was the last

of my sisters to graduate from high

school and my success was their success

I am because they are I remember when I

walked across the graduation the stage

no one screamed louder than my family in

the audience I mean there was so much

excitement it was another chapter that I

was completing but after all of that

die down and after all the confetti

cleared the next question came okay so

how are we going to pay for school at

that moment it felt like all of the

possibilities that once seemed endless

were being crushed one by one by one I

mean I had gotten and maintain good

grades I studied for and passed all of

my region’s some on the second try um I

remember poring over databases trying to

find ways to alleviate the cost of

attendance so much so that I lived in

the college office my advisor nicknamed

me midnight because if it took until

midnight to get that work done I would

be there I mean I had done everything

right right hard work pays off right so

then why did I feel like I was being

punished because of my socioeconomic

status why did I feel like I was being

penalized for not being able to afford

my dream school life for me ain’t been

no crystals there what happens when life

beyond the classroom impacts your life

within it Ben Kirchner and shun jian

right they co-wrote a piece and they

frame young people as agents of change

they talk about youth organizing and the

ways in which young people from working

class and poor communities Latinos and

African American students came together

when they talk about youth organizing

there’s three features that they discuss

the importance of identifying the social

origins of our pain mobilizing and

working

you see my story is connected to a

larger struggle of increasing access to

higher education for students whose

backgrounds are similar to mine but also

for students who look just like me what

are the tax and what are the splinters

in your own life when they talk about

identifying mobilizing and working what

does that mean what are they talking

about what does it mean to identify it

means to name and establish what or who

something or someone is have you

identified the roots of your pain the

roots of your oppression you see in the

poem I recited earlier a mother is

talking to her son about oppression

about injustice a mother is talking to

her son about a world that thrives off

of the pain of other people have you

identified the roots of your pain have

you taken the time to critically think

about what that might be when Jen Ryan

kirschner talk about youth organizing

they talk about mobilizing finding

people and allies and friends and

trusted adults in your communities and

your neighborhoods who are also invested

in healing who are also invested in

making a social change and lastly they

talk about work so once you’ve

identified the roots of your pain once

you understand once you understand it

more deeply and you’ve gotten together

with people to initiate some form of

action get to work because there’s work

to be done what does work work is

movement towards an intended outcome

purpose or goal you see life for me and

for many of us here ain’t been no

crystal stair it’s had tacks in it and

splinters and boards torn up and places

with no

carpet on the floor bear but today I ask

you to work with me as we engage in the

struggle so that all of us can have a

deeper understanding of the roots of our

pain and so that all of us here can

experience restoration from unhealed

wounds thank you [Applause]

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