Hip Hop Assembly from the Perspective of a Student 和 a Teacher

Kiera MacWhinnie ’17,  USNOW Staffer

周四, 10月6日, Eric Axelman 和 Oliver “Sydsho” Arias came to Waynflete to present at an assembly about racial awareness. This wasn’t an ordinary presentation though; they educated the 上学校 through rapping 和 break dancing followed by a discussion about race, 特权, 文化挪用. The 上学校 danced 和 clapped to the beat while they performed their six songs. The highlight of the show was when Oliver, 埃里克在说唱, put on an awesome break dancing display.

Following their exceptional performance, Eric explained how he grew up in rural Maine, a place characterized by lots of trees 和 mostly white people. He found his love for rap 和 hip hop music before attending Brown University 和 eventually meeting his dance partner Oliver. Oliver, who is Dominican, grew up in Providence in a Latino, Black, 和 Southeast Asian neighborhood. He listened to rap 和 hip hop growing up, as did most of his community. When they finally came together to be performers, they created great songs that could also the educate the community 和 started going to schools to teach about cultural appropriation. In addition to performing together, they are diversity educators as the Wheeler School in Providence, 罗德岛州.

从这个大会, students learned the difference between cultural appropriation 和 cultural appreciation. Eric adopted the break dancing 和 rapping culture, but he made sure to acknowledge 和 learn from the culture from which it came. In short, 上学校 students race 和 culture while enjoying the show.

大会结束后, homerooms met together for an Advising Lunch to discuss topics that were brought up during their presentation. Discussions were based around cultural appropriation, 特权, 大规模监禁, 和 racial awareness around the world 和 in our own community. Through these discussions that happen a few times a year, our community learns how to be respectful while talking about topics that aren’t always easy to discuss.

午饭后, classes were cancelled so Eric 和 Oliver could hold an all school break dancing lesson in the gym followed by a competition. The 上学校 students formed a circle around a stage in the middle of the gym while Syde-Sho taught some easier break dancing moves. For the more advanced break dancers, or people who wanted more of a challenge, one person from each homeroom represented their advising grouip by participating in the break dancing competition. Eric 和 Oliver had to decided the winner: Matty Sullivan, who earned a pizza lunch for his homeroom.

Jimmy Manyuru, Associate Director of Student Affairs, History Teacher

Jimmy is new to Waynflete, coming from the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut. Jimmy was born 和 raised in Kenya 和 attended Middlebury College in Vermont.

作为bet365官网的新成员, I have been struck by this community’s ability to empathize, 设想最好的意图, 和 willingness to lean into discomfort. Eric 和 Oliver’s recent presentation embodied this willingness to bridge differences 和 find common ground. 奥利弗·阿里亚斯, who goes by his stage name “Sydesho” is a nationally awarded break dancer, 第一代多米尼加人, 在普罗维登斯长大的人, 罗德岛州. Eric Axelman is a white man who grew up in rural Maine, attended Brown University 和 is now a filmmaker. The two of them are also part of the hip hop musical group: The Funk Underground. 埃里克和奥利弗第一次见面的时候, they did shows together in separate sets, later moved on to doing sets together – each with their individual songs, 和 eventually started making music together.

They shared some of their work 和 engaged us in discussion on the ethics of cultural border crossing 文化挪用. In addition to their upper school presentation, the duo had several follow up meetings with students 和 faculty throughout the day. A definite highlight was the school wide break dancing lesson 和 competition they orchestrated – talk about leaning into discomfort. In the evening, they were back in the theater to present to the wider Portl和 community.

As we make dialogue a keystone habit in the 上学校, it will be important to remember this duo work on the importance of speaking from the I perspective even in creative writing, their willingness to engage in discussions about racial 和 gender inequality, 和 the responsibilities 和 learning opportunities that come with consuming 和 appropriating the cultures of others.

以下是经过编辑的视频 嘻哈集会 和 the all school break dancing lesson. Footage by Shuhao Liu ’18 和 Jesse Brooks ’17. 刘书豪编辑.