The Western Justice Center is pleased to announce that Songhai Armstead, a longtime advocate for the underserved and an innovator within Los Angeles County’s justice system, has been selected to head Los Angeles County’s groundbreaking Alternatives to Incarceration Initiative.
Imagining A More Perfect Union
Harnessing the Power of the Arts
By Sophie Sylla
Sophie Sylla is a Fulbright Scholar and teacher entering her third year at the USC Gould School of Law. WJC is proud to name Sophie our 2020 Judge James F. Nelson Summer Intern. The Judge James F. Nelson Fund was established in 2012 by Sterling Franklin, Trustee of the Morris S. Smith Foundation, to honor Judge Nelson’s life and legacy.
This summer, I created “Reflection Through the Arts,” a new arts component for WJC’s conflict resolution curriculum that we’ll start sharing with students soon -- through remote learning and through WJC’s online learning lab, School Tools.
In these uncertain and painful times, it is crucial that we recognize and harness the power of the arts. That is why creating “Reflection Through the Arts” means so much to me.
Before attending law school, I was an arts teacher, first as a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa then at an elementary school in Queens, NY. What struck me most in both settings was the severe inequity that exists across our country and the world.
During my time in South Africa, I taught visual arts to high school students in Cato Manor, a township in Durban. Though my students had little access to art education or supplies, they were gifted artists who practiced their craft whenever they could. With support from a local non-profit partner and a few lessons from me, they quickly discovered their hidden talents – natural artistic abilities that I felt exceeded my own. Before leaving, I provided training for local teachers and tutors who I hoped would carry on the art education my students deserved.
Back in New York, I soon encountered the same educational inequities that I had faced as a child. I met students who were often the first pushed out of the classroom for disruptive behavior, deprived of a chance to learn, explore and grow. Determined to change that dynamic, I used the arts to connect with those students, helping them unlock their hidden artistic talents and find their voices. Like my students in South Africa, they had natural abilities and active imaginations that were a joy to witness.
“Reflection Through the Arts” builds on what I learned as a teacher to help students explore conflict resolution, mediation and social justice through the arts, architecture, animation, photography, and even fashion! Students will have a chance to reimagine their classrooms as peacemaking spaces, see themselves in places the world tells them they do not belong, and explore communication through fashion and Camp culture. Students will even get to create a final arts project, like a mural, that can serve as a lasting visual representation of their learnings as peer mediators, artists and activists.
Art education is not a privilege; it is a right. In California, state law guarantees all students access to art education. Despite this, millions of students in California are underserved when it comes to the arts, especially Black and Latinx students. Studies show that access to the arts improves engagement in school, reduces dropout rates, and improves academic performance.
The same is true for conflict resolution education, yet we routinely underinvest in both, particularly in struggling schools. Think about what kind of future we could build if we chose to fund programs like art and conflict resolution education – programs that not only help students develop skills critical to their futures, but also give young people experiencing pain and trauma an outlet and a chance to heal and thrive.
Our students have enough imagination to envision that future. What about us?