Standing in Solidarity
Dear Music House Families,
We are deeply saddened by the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery and so many more Black Americans. We are listening, educating ourselves, and standing with our families to help create a safer and more just society. We believe we have a responsibility to not be silent; the future is in our children and we must continue to fight for them, lead by example, and take a stand. Black Lives Matter.
We are concerned about our students who have been faced with unforeseen challenges in the recent months, which may have long-term effects on their spirit. We ask you as parents to let us know if there is anything we can do as an organization to help your child, your family and our community to provide support, love and understanding. As we do this work, we want to hear from you about what your concerns and ideas are.
We stand in solidarity with those working towards change, our Music House families, our CPS partners, our teaching staff, and our community. We are committed as a business to use our platform to continue this fight by creating a safe and open environment, teaching tolerance, race-consciousness, and social justice through our curriculum while continuing to advocate for accessible and equitable arts based education. As a business that works to bring arts-based education to Chicago Public Schools and our community, we have a responsibility to recognize the Black Lives Matter movement as we move forward in choosing our repertoire, books, and curriculum.
We wanted to share some resources we have found to be useful in our commitment to more race-consciousness in our curriculum.
https://nafme.org/music-education-needs-incorporate-diversity/
http://www.childrenscommunityschool.org/social-justice-resources/
Together we believe we can make a difference. We would like to hear your thoughts and ideas to help us as a community to effect change and to help your child.
With Respect and Love,
Richard, Jeanne, Allison, and Ashley Trumbo
