There is nothing more powerful than hearing the voices of people who have been on the front lines of a battle against oppressive systems. The docuseries, “Defining US,” focuses on the U.S. public school system and its impact on low-income children of color across the nation. It premiered at the Toronto Black Film Festival in February, and as part of the series, two individuals with experience of the Bronx public school system shared their stories.

 

One, Angel Diaz, is a former student at the school and now a paraprofessional [teaching assistant] at the school, and the other, Ingrid Chung, is a former teacher and now principal at the school. Chung, and her former student, Diaz, participated in the docuseries seven years ago when Chung was still a teacher at AMS, the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science, a small public school, located at 1595 Bathgate Avenue, south of the Tremont section of The Bronx.

 

There, Chung presided over Umoja, a program unique to the school, dedicated to uplifting a handful of student participants, in which they are paired with young men of color who act as family to them, sharing certain life skills along the way, from planning for the future to teaching them how to shave.

 

According to Chung and Diaz, Umoja volunteers each take five young men from each of the four high-school years (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior) and stay with them throughout their time at school and for many, well into adulthood also. The school runs a similarly unique sister program called Nia for girls.

 

Chung and Diaz were introduced to the documentary through Paul Forbes, founder of the “Leading with Hearts and Minds” program at Defining US. Forbes is one of the executive producers and recommended AMS be part of the docuseries, which is supported by the Connect with Kids Network (CWK).

 

Of her students, Chung said, “My boys were showing up to all these different events and, naturally, being involved in the community and public school system at large. Paul also has really, really close relationships with the boys in my program and so, he thought of Angel, and thought of some other key players in the program that he wanted to highlight as a best practice program across the nation.”

 

The terms Umoja and Nia have a Swahili origin. Umoja means “unity”, and the program has really defined what that means. While the kids are still in school, they help one another out with assignments and accountability, while also providing a safe space and a helping hand in times of need.

 

“They need a meal? We’re going to take care of each other,” said Diaz. “We’re going to put clothes on their backs, we’re going to try to put a roof over their heads, and just make sure that we all stick together as one, because the majority of the day, we’re spending it here together.”

 

Aside from preparing the children for their futures, the group leaders and fellow students of Umoja also help the students in their daily lives, keeping them out of dangerous situations and making up for what they lack, whether that be food or housing.

 

“We also have a community where kids don’t even want to go home,” said Diaz. “We have Chung staying here until 6.30, 7 o’clock, you got me staying here until 6.30, 7 o’clock. You got cliques of our kids always surrounding us. We have our spaces that are always occupied. We can’t get enough of them, and they can’t get enough of us! That’s just genuine love,” he added.

 

The school is open “24/7” according to Chung and Diaz, who said the kids are always welcome to see them on weekends as well as over the summer. The actual experience of the documentary was something foreign to them, they said.

 

“We did a couple things [shoots] also in my home which was something that was, again, foreign,” said Diaz. “I didn’t even allow AMS to come to my house. For me, to allow a couple strangers with cameras, and know they recorded what it would look like as my everyday life, me interacting with my little sister and stuff like that, it was a little bit eye-opening.”

 

Diaz added that the documentary was like a time capsule in a way and Chung agreed, commenting on their growth over the years and how heartwarming it was, looking back and seeing the kids talk about Umoja even when none of the school representatives were around.

 

“I was a teacher then, Angel was a student, and now, both of us are in different positions at the same school,” said Chung. “Seven years later, and his little sister who’s in the documentary is now a student at my school,” she said.

 

“It was just really, really cool to have that moment be memorialized, to hear the kids’ perspectives, because when the kids are being interviewed, typically, we’re not in the room with them.” She said hearing their authentic perspectives on what the program is, what it means to them, and what it means to be an AMS student and a member of Umoja was special.

 

According to the duo, what the documentary tackles is the systemic racism they say exists within the school system in the United States as a whole. According to statistics shared in the docuseries, about 50 million children attend public schooling in the country. More than half are students of color and Black students are 200 percent more likely to be suspended from school, and to fail a class.

 

The Umoja program attempts to reverse some of these statistics, giving students the possibility to see that their destinies can be different from what the system and statistics would have them believe.

 

According to its website, the City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is the largest school system in the United States and enjoyed a recent win in the courts which will see the Adams administration revisiting its latest education budget for the upcoming year.

 

Meanwhile, Chung and Diaz say the goal at AMS is to create a safe space for students so they, in turn, can learn and grow into role models for others in their communities. They say by helping the next generation, they are also helping the community. “I’ll always remind people that this program saved my life,” said Diaz.

 

Over the past eight years, kids from the program have attended national conferences to present their work and share their impact, and Diaz and Chung said people are always super interested in their experiences of the program. “People are interested because we know it’s not a secret that our young men of color are in crisis,” Chung said.

 

She cautioned, however, that even though people want to hear about the program, listening was very different from action. “It is hard work to be so deeply committed to a family in ways that are very difficult to explain, like we all have it [their commitment to each other] tattooed on our hands, somewhere or our arms, or our backs,” she said.

 

Chung said she might not hear from some of her students for three years and then, they text her from a new number. “Like Angel said, “You need something? We got you,’” she said, adding that sometimes that meant showing up for each other at funerals.

 

“We can’t teach people how to do that, but we can teach you how to create a structure that really changes not only your life as an adult, but changes the lives of all the young people that have the opportunity to engage in it,” she said. “All we’re talking about is just creating genuine, authentic relationships with young people.”

 

As for her own personal ambitions, Chung’s dream is to open a pre-k through 12 school, where she can foster a community of learning and growing together, much like she has done with Umoja, and if the group of young men she has helped thus far is any evidence to go by, that dream will surely come to fruition.

 

Those interested in watching the docuseries or in getting more involved can visit https://definingus.org/about/defining-us-history/.

 

*Sile Moloney contributed to this story.