RE Log Spring 2019

SPRING 2019 Ransom Everglades LOG 15 Miami’s Diaspora Vibe Gallery and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, which provided a space for Caribbean artists. McKinney recalled visiting RE before she was admitted and believing it to be the most beautiful place she had ever seen. She knew of the school’s academic reputation and deeply wanted to be a part of the community. She arrived with a group of friends from Westlab and felt accepted from the start. Watson and Myers had similar experi- ences a few years later. All had previous- ly learned to navigate a world dominated by non-blacks. All felt welcomed into the RE community, but each experienced moments when they felt like outsiders. Myers, who studied at Brown University and was admitted to RE’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017, recalled white girls who told him they couldn’t go with him to the movies because their parents forbade it. Watson remembered English and history classes that glossed over or ignored the black experience. McKinney, who attended Vassar College and the University of Miami School of Law, recalled a sense of dis- comfort arising from her classmates’ re- action to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Most students would head to the beach or the mall. Her family attended an MLK Day parade. “I would think, ‘This is shameful,’” she said. “These people are very nice, very smart. They should know better. That made me think we should have some kind of Black Student Association at school.” The initiative was fully supported by the ad- ministration at that time under Head of School Frank J. Hogan III. The club started with about 20 members – including some white students. One of the club’s first projects was directed toward the annual St. Alban’s Day celebration with local elementary school children. McKinney, now the director of communications at Florida Memorial University, bought dolls with dark skin to hand out but, most importantly, she wanted campus visitors to know that Ransom Everglades had black students, too. Many of RE’s parents supported the growth of the BSA, which launched during McKinney’s senior year. Watson and Weaver recalled a meeting that took place at Watson’s home with input from her parents. Gordon Myers’ mother also invested deeply in the group. “They liked the initiative we took,” said Watson, sister of the television per- sonality Carlos Watson ’87 . “I remem- ber thinking it was nice having a group of like-minded people to relate to. It wasn’t the whole experience at Ransom Everglades, but it was something that made my experience richer.” It also represented a defining moment for the school. Black student associations had sprouted up all over college cam- puses. The RE students’ decision to come together to form one, and the adminis- tration’s willingness to back it, made a statement about Ransom Everglades and the direction it was headed – or, at least, the direction it wanted to go. The club has now been around so long it counts legacy families as members: N. Patrick Range II ’95 , a third-generation opera- tor of the Range Funeral Home in Miami who served on RE’s board of trustees for several years, watched his niece Cheyenne Range ’14 follow him to Ransom Everglades, then to the BSA. “Having the opportunity to meet dif- ferent people from different walks of life, being able to share those experiences, that can only enhance the richness of the academic experience,” Patrick Range said. “I don’t think there are many things more important than diversity, particu- larly at a place like Ransom Everglades.” Range was a freshman during the uproar over the racial slurs against the teacher that led to several expulsions and news coverage. That event, he recalled, proved pivotal in the life of the BSA. “What happened was certainly a shock,” Range said. “It served as an op- portunity for us to come together. The student body looked to the association and we felt the need to take the lead from a student standpoint.” The BSA, an organization created to serve the student body, was now elevat- ing the entire school. “It was a really big deal at the time,” he said. “We had to drive home the point: This is not RE.” Racism and conflicts between blacks and whites were things I didn’t encounter in Trinidad. At the same time, I was also trying to figure out what it meant to be a black American. It was a period of discovery and learning for me.” – Steffan Alexander ’92 “ Erica McKinney ’89 Steffan Alexander ’92