Radio Raheem
Paul Robeson Freedom School | July 18, 2012
40s, African American. Radio Raheem has a shaved head and piercing eyes with intense
focus.
RR: So I ‘came involved in it before September 17.
It’s almost a year later, and we have the Freedom School started now to uh, create, parallel
institutions. Since the schools are not educating our children properly, giving them the
educating that’s liberating, so we have the Paul Robeson Freedom School created out of our
efforts working with students out of the Paul Robeson high school, which were phased out and
set to close by Mayor, uh, Bloomberg.
Things came to a head when students decided to walk out with us on May 1st. There was a call
to action walkout, everybody knows about the May 1st actions, that happens across the country
every year. And this was a huge, HUGE walkout that the students of Paul Robeson high school
planned, the video went viral, and we got a lot of other schools, high schools to walk out with
our students. And since then, the opportunities came where we could actually have our own
school building, and that’s where I’m talking to you from right now. A school building here in the
Williams section, 195 Maujer St. [he pronounces it MAR-GER].
It’s a three story school building, former school, now it’s in the hands of us, the founders of
Occupy Wall St. So we don’t give too much Occupy material here, but we doing culturally
relevant material, material that the students can understand. I would say this, we have a lot of
African American and Latino students who we service in this particular community here, and all
our teachers are whichever color Black, White, Asian; they all teach the curriculum of African
American culture and Latino culture. So it’s a really rich culturally based education, which these
students don’t get in the public school system. We’re really open for people to come in, we
want to teach them the importance of gardening, farming- Occupy Farms is coming here- we
have Occupy Wall St. library is up in here in this building. We also have some of the technical
geniuses of Occupy Wall St. up in the, uh, media lab upstairs there, in the uh, school here
where I’m talking to you from right now. You’ve been up there right?
That was a long answer.
Well the curriculum is... they do get math, science, reading, writing... but the curriculum is
geared towards, culturally REVELENT material. So an example of that would be learning about
AFRICA, learning about science, the inventions that African Americans- they learn about great
African American inventors, so things that relate to their culture and their people so they can
really understand who they are, what their greatness is. You know, we go on field trips, African
burial ground we plan to go to, so have the hands on. We have cooking classes and learn how
to cook ethnic food1
Student: (from a distance) Drama classes!
RR: Drama classes, thank you. Drama classes.
RR: We show them the positive elements of hip hop and we show them the difference between
the the the negative, degrading, less motivating hip hop and uplifting, motivating form of hip hop,
which is early hip hop, conscious hip hop, which young students here are not familiar with. I
infuse hip hop culture and I teach them how it relates to African culture, ‘cause hip hop comes
from the Cre-ops,(searching for the correct word) Creons, Creoles. Creoles are a group of uh
uh uh African American- Africans, who- the GREOLES are known to repeat our history, so it’s
an oral tradition- so anyway, to make it short, we take it to, back to Africa, we take everything
back to Africa. So they can understand where they come from, they race, they don’t get that in
school. So we have a great history book that’s been designed to teach African American
students but they’ve never been properly used in the public education system, they were just set
aside. So we have some great authors upstairs there, to talk about. We talk about Paul
Robeson, we talk about all the great Blacks. You know they never hear it in public schools.
That’s an example of the curriculum we have here, stuff that’s not gotten in the public school
system.
What their schools are like is more detention- a lot of detention is going on, uh, a lot of discipline
is going on, uh, teaching to the tests, that’s going on, uh, policing- preparing these students for
prison which we call the school to prison pipeline, with metal detectors and school safety
agents, you know, that’s controlled by the NYPD. So what’s going on in their schools is not
learning. It’s something else. So we’re asked by the schools and teachers, me and Justin, to
come in.
Matthew (student): Uh, yes, my name is Matthew, and what I like about Freedom School is that
like, we can do our own thing sometimes- we have drama class, cooking class, normal school....
I think we’re going to have art but I dunno. So far, it’s pretty good here. We’re gonna go on a
farm trip tomorrow and some other stuff, and we might go to the pool tomorrow tooAnother student, female: Ok, my turn.
Interviewer: Can I talk to you after I’m finished with Radio?
Other student: this is going to be on the radio?
I: No, I’m interviewing Radio. This isn’t going to be on the radio.
OS: (disappointed) Oh...
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I: So, what does the school mean to this community?
RR: A change, an opportunity, to uh, have students get information and curriculum that they’ve
never gotten before, so students who have been mis-educated can be educated.
Matthew: (Jumping in) It’s like summer school really. It’s like summer school but more fun.
RR: That was Matthew. He knows, we do get instruction here, we do get some academics
here, but we do have fun. So that’s the way he feels about it. The school system is miseducating many children. ANd not giving them proper history about their culture, about their
riches. So I’d say that if you’re unhappy with the curriculum at your public school, or your
private school, give your kids an opportunity to get some additional, cultural, upliftment.
RR TAKES A PHONE CALL. MATTHEW COMES BACK TO TALK INTO THE RECORDER.
Matthew: Yeah, so this school is fun- sometimes.
OS: My favorite subject is um...
M: No one asked you Leslie. I was speaking.
RR: One of the successes of Occupy Wall St. was that it re-educated people, and people
educated us. It’s about education. For us to be a long lasting movement it has to be about
education. So Occupy is really about education, waking people up to what’s going on around
them. So this is how I think this school can reflect the society in a serious way.
Keep building. Get more students, get more teachers, and set up schools around the country.
But we gotta start today, gotta start today. More people want to educate their children in this
way. So we expect to grow, we expect more people to open up these freedom schools across
the country. Right now, our goal is to make sure these children are prepared for middle school,
high school, and college. That’s it.
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