It has been almost four days and I’m still experiencing restless sleep after reading Nikole Hannah-Jones’ essay in The New York Times, “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” Trained as an English teacher in New York City, I’m a Black woman who taught for 10 years at a school similar in all ways but one to the middle school where Hannah-Jones sent her daughter. Hannah-Jones’ bright, ambitious teenager accused her mother of intentionally sending her to “a bad school” when her class privilege could have bought better options.

I taught at a school founded by a white woman philanthropist who wanted to give students who lived north of 96th Street in Manhattan the “same” educational opportunities her own children had. Her privilege brought with it funding and resources that other schools in our district struggled to access. Although I taught mostly in the middle school, I joined my high school colleagues in boasting of our 100% high school graduation rate and 100% college acceptance rate. We knew we were doing great work. We also knew we were an exception to the many schools failing Black and brown students across all five boroughs.

We knew we were doing great work. We also knew we were an exception to the many schools failing Black and brown students across all five boroughs.

At the heart of Hannah-Jones’ essay is a mother with a long, distinguished history of writing about school segregation and how it operates, trying to articulate the deep, relentless and intentional segregation of New York City public schools — and who wanted to protect her daughter from the social isolation and racist microagressions she says she experienced when her parents sent her to an all-white school.

As her daughter’s middle school principal, Emily Paige, frames it: Segregation in New York City schools is a Venn diagram of race, class and ability. While Hannah-Jones agonized over the racial segregation she was trying to challenge with her choices, I reflected on how often teachers and parents applaud the majority-Black and -brown schools that triumph over racial (and, somewhat, class) segregation by leaning into the segregation of students by ability.

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Keturah Kendrick

Keturah Kendrick is a former New York City educator who currently lives abroad. She is the author of “No Thanks: Black, Female, and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone.” Her work has also appeared in Newsweek, HuffPost and USA Today.