Reality vs. Expectation: Imagining New Realities for Detroit Schools

“What we cannot imagine cannot come into being”

- bell hooks

In summer 2020, we began our second year of partnership with the 482Forward Youth Collective, drawing upon our 2019 project, which explored what makes schooling inhumane. This year, our focus was radical imagination -- dreaming of alternatives to those inhumane schooling conditions.

Two young people worked with PIE Teaching Artist Cyrah Dardas to develop and explore the question, How does police presence contribute to the school environment? To present their findings, they created “Reality vs. Expectation,” a zine that invites us to pause and reflect on police violence in schools, to imagine schools where police are not present and to demand conditions that make this imagination a reality. 

The 482Forward Youth Collective gathered to create, organize and learn this past summer. Cyrah worked with a smaller coalition of the group, who named themselves “Policy Demands through Art.” Their aim was to support political action through collaborative art projects. Policy Demands through Art members:  

Jesus Orozco

Western International High School, 482Youth Organizer

Ely Vazquez

Cass Technical High School, 482Youth Organizer

Cyrah Dardas

People in Education Teaching Artist

the PROCESS

In this time of social distancing, uncertainty of virtual schooling, violence against black lives and loss due to COVID-19, carrying out AIR programming has been challenging across the board. This challenge served as an invitation to think differently about how we implement the program as well. All of our work occurred virtually, and we are inspired by the dedication and resilience of Policy Demands through Art. They gathered, defined their research and creative process and carried it out with grace, starting with relationship-building. 

Cyrah has established a practice of opening every creative process with a portraits project. This summer, she asked youth to use varying tools and media to create portraits of themselves, and the result was a floral, emotive collage of identity exploration: 

Policy Demands through Art then began the process of defining their research question. Inspired by their findings from last summer’s work, Rock Paper Scissors, they focused on one of the primary aspects of schooling that feels inhumane: policing. This year, we have seen continued violence and murder at the hands of police rooted in racial bias, and students are no stranger to this brutality. So the coalition decided to ask, How does police presence contribute to the school environment? They put a call out on social media, asking that youth and adults share their experiences and feelings about school policing.

REALITY VS. EXPECTATION

Inspired by the deceptively minimalist and highly intentional artform of manga comic strip creation, “Reality vs. Expectation” depicts real incidents of violence youth and educators see police and security guards inflict in schools.

This zine embodies a brave and creative stance in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Instead of ignoring and tucking away the immensity of how police brutality impacts us all, it asks us to acknowledge, explore and express our views and feelings on the matter. And it models this reflection while driving us even further by daring to dream beyond our reality, depicting what school might look like without police.

Finally, “Reality vs. Expectation” makes policy demands through art; the coalition closes the zine with an illustrated request for policy changes in mental health support, restorative justice practices and equity and inclusion.

Imagine that. 

OTHER FEATURED PROJECTS