In celebration of Black History Month, NBC Bay Area’s Damian Trujillo talked with the leaders of three parochial schools in the South Bay who made history.
Rod Jemison represents the Jesuit motto at Bellarmine proudly: a man for and with others. Jemison is also the first Black principal in Bellarmine’s 175-year history.
“Just tells you that the pioneers of our culture paved the way for me to sit here today. I think about Douglass, I think about King, I think about Malcolm,” Jemison said.
And while diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, or DEI, have been heavily scrutinized under the Trump administration – Bellarmine still has a DEI director.
But Jemison also notes. the DEI philosophy does not completely define the Bellarmine mission.
“It can’t be the only way in which justice is served. It can’t be the only way in which America finds its way to hope and justice,” Jemison said.
Five miles away is Archbishop Mitty High School, an academic and athletic powerhouse.
Latanya Hilton is a Mitty alum, and also the school’s first Black president. She says Mitty also has a DEI director.
“We have always been super mission-driven around belonging and inclusivity and equity, because that is what the catholic church has called us to do because the Catholic schools were built to educate the marginalized communities of this world,” Hilton said.
For Hilton, social justice is a lived experience.
Originally from the deep south, her parents attended San Jose State with John Carlos and Tommy Smith, icons of the civil rights movement during the 68 Olympics.
“When you see these iconic individuals like Rosa Parks, MLK, we tell the story of the accomplishments but there’s also the story of the sacrifice and the times when they may have wanted to give up and they had to keep going,” Hilton said.
In downtown San Jose, Ashley Rae Mathis is also a first at her school; she is the first black head of school in Notre Dame’s 175-year history.
Home of the center for women’s leadership.
“While I am the first head of color, it is significant that I am a black, African American identifying woman. That is the distinction for me,” Mathis said.
“Yes I’m modeling leadership in terms of academic excellence. And I’m modeling what a Black leader could and should be, and it’s a tremendous weight and a tremendous privilege,” Mathis continued.
The mission at Notre Dame: educate the future women of impact.
“Our school was founded with the principle that diversity is a gift, and social justice is our intention,” Mathis said. “Representation matters and modeling matters. I don’t just want to be the first, I want to pave the way for who is to come.”
Mathis, Hilton, and Jemison say Black history is American history.