WHYY: Half of Pa. schools still don’t have a single teacher of color. These Black educators explain why
For Aliya Cantanch-Bradley, the fight for diversity and inclusion has been her life’s work.
As a teenager, she organized a student walkout at Philadelphia’s William Bodine School for International Affairs. A first for the school, the students were pushing to have the Black Student Union formally recognized by the administration.
“At an early age, I was shifting my focus to equity and finding our voice as a people in a sea of all that was transpiring around me,” said Cantanch-Bradley.
She remembers wanting a space at school to address Black issues, but feeling like her voice wasn’t valued. Her student advocacy opened her eyes to how she could create agency within herself and for her community.
