Asya Howlette is an educator running for the New Orleans Public School Board, District 2. Below she details her journey to running for an elected

My mom says I’ve had the same personality since I was a baby. My fellow bookworms will understand me when I say I am an Erudite, a Dauntless and a Candor. I am also a proud Griffinpuff (Griffyndor + Hufflepuff...with a tad more Hufflepuff). I am decisive, focused, loving and, as you could probably imagine from those book references, consistent. I have always been curious about why things exist as they do and serious beyond my age about getting sincere and true answers to my many curiosities. My womanhood and my blackness are like anchors to my divine purpose — and my disposition often keeps me advocating at all costs for my community. 

Working with my girls highlighted disparities in education and the long-term impact it has on black and brown communities.

When I decided to become an educator I was a student at Hampton University working with a mentoring program called Sister to Sister. Sister to Sister was run by Hampton students and community advisors to mentor young black girls in the community. Working with my girls highlighted disparities in education and the long-term impact it has on black and brown communities. While working with Sister to Sister, I began an internship at a local high school working in the counseling department were I had the privilege of working in a predominantly black public school that was offering students an education that not only prepared them for their post-secondary options, but was also full of love and a deep sense of tradition and community. From these experiences I knew I wanted to stay in schools, especially those that serve black and brown students. 

Since I was in middle school and often grounded for having a smart mouth, I’ve been in love with reading. I started reading everything from The Child Called It to Flyy Girl. Reading became my secret favorite — a getaway from being perpetually grounded. Having the opportunity to attend an HBCU introduced me to a world of black literature that has forever changed my life. I was not only introduced to new books, I was introduced to new people that would continue to bless my life with their learnings long after our graduation.

Through reading I began to understand why our education system and all other systems exist as they do.

In my first few years of teaching I read Between The World and Me, followed by Worse Than Slavery, followed by The Warmth of Other Suns, followed by countless other pieces on the black experience, which changed how I made since of everything in my world. From reading I began to understand why our education system and all other systems exist as they do. I learned that an institutionally racist system can operate in all its oppressive glory even when filled from top to bottom with brilliant and talented black and brown faces. In my mind, I imagine it like chain restaurants. KFC will taste like KFC even if the store owner, manager, and employees have better recipes from their momma’s momma. You may get friendlier service depending on where you are and who’s behind the counter, but the restaurant is going to still be Kentucky Fried Chicken.

That said, I am in the business of learning, teaching, disrupting, and repeating. I am a black educator. I have stayed in schools because I believe the people with the closest proximity to the work are the ones who are best positioned to build a system that is designed to serve black and brown communities. When I decided to run for school board it was because I was seeing first hand that good intentions and great ideas were not enough. What if our next phase of leadership is brave enough to say “what if” and then chase that? What if we had leaders who centered the actual human experience while creating policy? What if people acknowledged what has been and the significance that it has played in getting us to this moment...but then also recognized that where we have been and where we are doesn’t equate to where we aspire to be. What if we fought to thrive?

Stepping out on “what if” is terrifying and it can be costly. And it’s for this reason that I can make sense of why many people don’t take that step. But for those who dream of a future that includes them at their best — those with so much to gain by taking the risk — it is invaluable to know that there are coalitions of people who believe in the same future.

Running for school board while being a leader in education has demanded that I not be satisfied. Because if I were satisfied, I would be accepting that what has been and what is happening now are, in fact, good enough for our kids. I would have to accept that I am directly responsible for not believing that our kids are worth the fight. And for those of us who have access to power and who can navigate this system — that is simply unacceptable.

To learn more of Asya’s motivations, visit her website asyafornola.com and follow her campaign on social media @asyafornola