Do You Know the Kids Down the Block?

“I want people to know that I’m not just a regular Muslim girl, I am a great pretty girl who wonders what people say and think about her and how she acts.”

“I want you to see how much I think during class and how clever I can be.”

“If you walk around my neighborhood you may think it’s a place where blacks are labeled as dangerous and there’s gang violence. I mean that is true but when you really know what happens there you would think of it as a place filled with creativity and culture. For example, there are beautiful works of graffiti like the mural on Pitkin avenue that says Brownsville and shows vibrant colors with different symbols and drawings.”

“I used different shades of purple to show the melting of the crayons that were placed on top. This shows how the feeling of royalty can all melt away when I get teased or bullied and do not know why. I still stay strong through all words and hatred.”

6th Grade Scholars at Achievement First Brownsville Middle school represent their identity, personality and narratives through photography and a variety of media.

 Ruby Singh, the Middle School 6th grade art teacher tells us about her program:

The art program at Achievement First Brownsville Middle School serves as an exploration of outlets for the community we serve. When experiences, especially those we share in our Brooklyn communities, go unprocessed, we risk under

developing the most critical side of who we are – understanding of self, both independent of and in the context of that which surrounds us. By stimulating student engagement in a variety of art forms, our program provides the access to and a cultivation of the skills and outlets art inherently provides in developing identities. When our program is at its best, it doesn’t only live within the developing identities of our scholars in our building, but colors the neighborhoods and communities from which they come from.

The art will go up wheatpasted by the students on the walls at Morgan Ave near Harrison Place, June 23rd at 5 pm. Please join us with this very special moment!