Supporting Black Children Learning STEM

[Music]

in the summer of 2016

i had recently finished studying abroad

in cape town south africa for six months

and i flew to new york city to begin

my first internship

at google

i was 20

nervous

and shy

and upon entering into orientation i

remember looking

for one of my

morehouse

brothers

fast forwarding into

that internship i was

engaging in

an exciting

and remarkable project

i had the opportunity to explore the

perks and amenities of being

a google employee

however the most

memorable opportunity i had was bringing

friends and family into the office

and the first question i would ask them

is what are you in the taste for

because what they did not know that

inside of that building there were over

eight restaurants with top of the line

chefs

who were equipped to prepare healthy

and tasty meals of various cuisines

and that same summer my cousin

mackenzie ridley had just turned 13

and she came to new york city to visit

and so we went to google after dark

we

sat on

one of the balconies that overlooked the

new york city skyline we rode around the

hallways on scooters

we even had a nerf gun fight

and we stopped to recharge that many of

the micro kitchens

we even had church

where she hopped on that drum set

and i grabbed that microphone and i sung

a common phrase and worship song that is

sung in the black church

but i’ll spare my vocal cords for the

time being

however later in life i began to wonder

if mckinsey realized that she was

completely surrounded by still

the chemistry that went into the food

that she ate

the mechanics of the scooter she rode on

the anatomy of dodging

those nerf gun pellets

and even the acoustics of playing

that drum

and so that led me to the research in

which i’m pursuing today is how is it

that we can

expose children

to stem

that is rooted in their culture and is

fun

but more importantly how is it that we

can

excite

and invite black parents and children to

want to do stem

in their own lives

and so when i was at google i was

studying computer science at morehouse

college

i was a gates millennium scholar

yet in that space i questioned my

credibility and belonging

and that’s a serious problem

impostor syndrome in

belonging

so how is it that

we can

excite black children to learn stem

so that one day they’ll be able to

pursue a stem career

and they won’t have to worry about

if they’ll see someone that looks like

them or not

and that is what i’m here to talk about

and so

growing up

in my childhood bedroom i had

glow-in-the-dark

stars on the ceiling

and i remember the telescope that sat by

the window and i had many hot wheels i

was a boy

and so i had many hot wheels

and

i remember when i lost the tooth

the tooth fairy left a kite

under my pillow where my mom and i went

to the park and we flew that kite up

against the wind and we would go to

driving park with my great grandfather

and we would count the cargo that is

being pulled by

the steam engine

and so subliminally i was surrounded by

stem but today i’m seeing its

intentionality

and so

how is it

that we can get more black children who

grew up just around the corner from here

to be excited

about learning stem

and how is it that we can expose and

excite these black children to learn

stem when it’s rooted in their culture

and it’s driven by their curiosity

because

what is stem

it’s science technology engineering and

math but in short curiosity

is simply

what is it that your child sees

what is it that they’re thinking about

what is it that they’re wondering about

and what is it that they’ll know

and so

when

we allow children to be curious

because we know that many children are

curious

they will

they’ll go around the house they might

take apart the vacuum cleaner

they might go around pushing different

buttons around the house

and they might be like me and they might

touch the stove

but when we invite and we expose

children to do activities alongside of

us and we talk to them about and we ask

them questions it opens the door

that welcomes and validates their

curiosity

so

did you know

that we are suffering

uh from a lack of infrastructure that

supports our children’s curiosity

and just in 2011

there were only 29 black students

that took the advanced placement

computer science course

out of 3 000 students nationwide

we can’t even compute the data to see if

black children are capable of taking and

studying computer science because of the

lack of infrastructure

that won’t provide them the opportunity

to take it

and did you know

in columbus city schools

there are

zero

offerings of ap computer science

so even if we gathered all the children

that we knew to go and to take this

course there’s a lack of infrastructure

to even to provide them with the

opportunity

and another threat to

the

that another threat

to children’s curiosity

is the infrastructure that is not in

place

that protects them

so the safety and security of their

curiosity

and so

did you remember

my my cousin mackenzie who i

brought to google and she was exposed to

stem she was surrounded by it

had a great time

well she died

from gun violence

so

imagine not even imagine

what if we invested in infrastructure

like the ap courses and after school

programs and recreational center

programs

and just more robust programming that

would support the curiosity

of our children allowed them to explore

it but in a safe and secure environment

because when one black child dies

that’s a decades worth of intellect gone

and so together

we must invest in this infrastructure

that protects children’s curiosity

their dreams

and even their own lives

so what is it that i want you all to do

today

i want you to become advocates for still

and i’m here to dispel the notion that

you have to have a college degree in

stem in order to talk about it because i

just finished my dissertation study

where i took 15 black parents and

together we

learned how is it that we find stem and

the everyday things that we do

at the beginning of the study ah they

they questioned themselves they didn’t

know how to do it and so there was a low

level of confidence but by the end of

this study

they were sharing activities and this

their general excitement

that they can do it

and that they

can talk about stem in their homes and

so what might that look like well

thanksgiving and the holidays are coming

up and so how about when you’re getting

ready to pull out your grandma’s pound

cake recipe ask your child why is it

that we put only a teaspoon of baking

soda and now a cups worth

uh the the next time you’re watching

that movie black panther

ask them if vibranium is real

or the next time you’re brave enough to

brisk this cold weather and to go out to

the park and there’s a lake

ask them why certain rocks skip better

than others

and if you don’t know the answer to this

these questions

guess what

you can google it

and so

today

we have to be able to provide these

opportunities

for our children to learn stem that is

rooted in their culture and their

curiosity so that one day they don’t

have to question their credibility

and so

this

is what i encourage you all to do

go home

do something stem

because you can find stem in the

everyday like listening to music to

watching movies to cooking to baking

to playing basketball and even playing

uno

and when you do that for your children

you are encouraging them to see that

their everyday scientists engineers

designers and more

that way

when they

grow up instead of

doubting themselves and questioning

their credibility when they are in the

stem profession

they’ll know

that they belong

thank you

[Applause]