The school has made a deeply held commitment to cultivate our students’ spirits to the best of our abilities and to shepherd them through each unique phase of personal growth with thoughtfulness and sensitivity. In order to nurture each child as an individual, according to their own particular needs and experiences, the school must first seek to understand the ways in which the far- reaching and deep imprints of racism have touched all our community members. The Brooklyn Waldorf School is developing our antiracist lens, recognizing that racism is steeped in our country’s foundation and permeates every institution. Bearing that in mind, our efforts to undo racism in our own community and to dismantle structures of oppression within educational institutions as a whole are ongoing, active, and fundamental to the Waldorf mission.

The Brooklyn Waldorf School commits to the heart-work process of establishing a coherent anti-racist lens through relationship building within ourselves, our community, the broader community, and with seasoned anti-racist organizers. Relationships are at the heart as they empower us to humanly connect, understand, and disrupt how racism and its effects show up in all of us. As part of this process, we are developing common language and analysis of race and racism to authentically be in relationship with one another across levels of power and racialized identities. Since 2017, the Brooklyn Waldorf School has partnered with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond in hosting and participating in regular and ongoing Undoing Racism Workshops. Over 70 family, faculty, and board members have participated, which has evolved into an active and growing Undoing Racism core group. Guided by principles of being in relationship and building an anti-racist community of resistance, we strive to develop inclusive leadership, accountable relationships, and authentic culture where everyone’s story is valued and welcome within our diverse faculty, family, and student bodies.

The school strives to achieve equity in all that it does – curriculum, admissions, hiring, and in developing an authentic relationship within our neighborhood, Bedford- Stuyvesant. As our community continues to grow and mature, we must imbue our own work in the fight against racism with the nurturing spirit of Waldorf education, and using our heads, hearts, and hands, we must apply the very best principles of our pedagogy to our own interpersonal relationships.

These principles guide us as we build enduring human bonds; cultivate human capacities for service, collaboration, and mentoring; establish shared self-governance, and show reverence for one another’s depth of feeling. They light the way as we continue to develop an antiracist community and to embrace a shared sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of all our fellow people that comes, not from any command above, but from our own spirit within.

This statement is living and dynamic, and we invite questions and conversations with ourselves and each other as we develop a community where we struggle and strive together. We invite you to the conversation and the Undoing Racism community. Be where you are and grow in relationship. All are welcome.