“Come to my side of town.”
The students of Ballou High School know a different Washington, DC than do the more than 18 million tourists who visit our nation’s capital each year. They live in Southeast DC, across the Anacostia River, and the tour buses don’t go through their neighborhoods. Some travel guides explicitly call the communities East of the River “areas to avoid.” Even some residents of the District don’t often visit Wards 7 and 8, as the river acts as not only a literal boundary, but a metaphorical one. The bridge that should connect these two Washingtons is all too rarely crossed.
The statistics about poverty or crime or violence in this community tell such a limited story, and it’s not the only story to tell. Those statistics should not build a wall that hides the humanity on the other side. Young people grow up in these neighborhoods, often too quickly, facing adult challenges too young. But they also grow up as all young people do: with joy. With talent. With pride. With love for their families, both biological and chosen. With style and humor and ambition and charm. For them, Southeast DC, and their own Ballou High School, is more than the headlines that others write -- it is home. And for the educators who work with these young people every day, they know that the stories we tell--and hear--about ourselves make all the difference.
This is why we write. These are the stories not on the tour. As one student put it, “[Come] to my side of town and... see what’s monuments to me.” Meet these Humans of Ballou, both student and educator, who speak up not only for their school and their neighborhood, but for the many communities across the country who need to be seen and heard, on their own terms.
Humans of Ballou is the third volume of The Ballou Story Project, a program that provides a platform for these students to tell their own stories and act as leaders in their community.
Learn more about The Ballou Story Project and other books authored by unheard voices at www.shoutmousepress.org .
