Sip N Paint at Freedom HS
By Vanessa Williams and Kimberly Ellis
De’Ana Forbes, a member of the DCAESJ secondary working group, invited us to one of a series of Black Lives Matter at School events happening throughout the month at Freedom HS (PWCPS). During the sip n’ paint, students across 9th - 12th grades enjoyed lemonade, sweet tea, and chips and salsa as they sketched and painted the Sankofa bird or Black power fist. Using the Pan-African colors as their palette, students transformed blank canvases into stunning recreations of the suggested images or totally original creations. You could feel the warmth and encouraging energy throughout the room. Forbes circulated the tables showering students with affirmations and reiterating Black joy and artistry being part of their artistic process as they worked. Some students painted independently, while others worked together and jointly showed off their final products.
While students worked, we had the opportunity to speak with French teacher Jahanzeb Akbar, who hosted the sip n’ paint in his classroom. Having grown up just ten minutes away from the school in Woodbridge, Virginia, Akbar shared that he was in high school when Freedom was being built. At the time, Akbar said that within a year of its opening, students at other high schools referred to Freedom as “the ghetto” because of the sizable Black student population. He shared that the region of Prince William county where Freedom HS is located is diverse with many ethnicities represented and languages spoken, and that participation in the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose activities and organizing helps affirm Black community members at Freedom.
Read more about Week of Action activities in Forbes’ classroom at In These Times “Black Educators are Reimagining A Better Education System.”
