By Minelle Sarfo-Adu, Fair Housing Project Intern

In school I wasn’t taught about the real issues I would face outside of school. This realization forced me to explore outside organizations that could help me understand the realities of this world, such as the racial wealth gap, redlining, school to prison pipeline, and generational wealth. This eventually led to teaming up with a few other high school students to create a lesson plan to educate students on racial discrimination in housing. This lesson plan is now being taught in South Burlington Public Issues and World Affairs (PIWA) classes and we are working toward spreading it to high schools all over Vermont. 

Here’s how it all started:

Back in the fall of 2020 I started an internship with Michael Dumont Realty and was introduced to the world of housing data and the U.S. Census. Vermont’s census exposed me to the realities people of color face in housing and I wanted to dig deeper. First I wrote a research paper on the housing disparities that African Americans face in America. (Read it here.) This research paper gave me the data and facts that I needed to start my Senior Thesis Project at Big Picture South Burlington. I focused my project on racial discrimination in housing and investigated local housing organizations, especially those working to protect the Fair Housing Act. I connected with CVOEO’s Fair Housing Project and worked with the staff there to create a slideshow on Racial Discrimination in Housing that I presented to the South Burlington City Council, during Fair Housing Month, and to a local real estate investors board. 

Though the project seemed over after all the presentations, a branch of the project continued. I met students from a group named VSARN (Vermont Student Anti Racism Network). One student in particular was also interested in changing school curriculum and adding more relevant topics. We worked together to create a lesson plan called The Color Of Law. This lesson plan teaches about housing segregation based on the book Color of Law by Richard Rothstein.  The book makes you really think about the systems we have built now. The book makes you really ask yourself if segregation is de jure (De Jure Segregation: resulting from racially-motivated and explicit public policy whose effects endure to the present) or de facto (Defacto Segregation:  the accident of circumstance, demographic trends, personal preference and private discrimination).  

Addie (the student in VSARN, a senior at Arlington Memorial High School) helped me create lesson plans, talk to news sources, and present at a national conference named Big Bang. 

Meanwhile, I was a summer intern at the Fair Housing Project, where I helped with outreach. From my internships, research, and the curriculum development, I’ve learned that it’s very hard to change a rooted system. Especially when not many adults see how not teaching students about these issues hurts all of us.  We need to understand that without these conversations then nothing will ever change. Discrimination and race are difficult conversations. When these conversations start then we will be able to dismantle old, outdated systems and rebuild for equality. 

Addie and I are currently working on drafting a CRT (critical race theory) bill in partnership with teachers and a Westminster representative. We are also preparing for a conference presentation on building anti racist schools. We will be presenting on how everyone’s beliefs can be examined. There’s not a right or wrong side to a story; each side has a little bit of truth, we just have to form the perfect story. 

This year’s projects have taught me to use all my resources and to not give up on anything. Though this school system and housing system have a lot of flaws… that doesn’t mean I can’t help change them. Adults need to get up and not treat my generation as kids that can’t handle these issues. Understand this: these issues affect kids too and not educating us sets us up for failure. 

Here’s two ways to get involved: 

1. If you’re a student and are interested in joining VSARN, fill out this for  Student VSARN Application   
2. Adults interested in helping out or being advisors can email Antiracismvtschools@gmail.com.