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So, my journey began
in the Bronx, New York,

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in a one-bedroom apartment,

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with my two sisters and immigrant mother.

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I loved our neighborhood.

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It was lively.

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There was all this merengue blasting,

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neighbors socializing on building stoops

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and animated conversations
over domino playing.

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It was home,

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and it was sweet.

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But it wasn't simple.

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In fact, everyone at school
knew the block where we lived,

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because it was where people came
to buy weed and other drugs.

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And with drug-dealing comes conflict,

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so we often went to sleep
to the sound of gunshots.

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I spent much of my childhood worried,

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worried about our safety.

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And so did our mother.

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She worried that the violence we witnessed
would overtake our lives;

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that our poverty meant

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that the neighbors with whom
we lived and shared space

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would harm us.

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Our entire life was in the Bronx,

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but my mother's anxiety
spurred her into action,

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and soon we were driving
so fast to Connecticut --

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(Laughter)

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To boarding school campuses,
with full scholarships in tow.

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Man, don't underestimate
the power of a mother

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determined to keep her children safe.

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(Cheers)

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(Applause)

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At boarding school,

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for the first time,

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I was able to sleep without worry.

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I could leave my dorm room unlocked,

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walk barefoot in the grass,

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and look up to see
a night sky full of stars.

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Happy novelties.

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But there were other novelties as well.

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Very quickly, I felt like I didn't belong.

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I learned that I didn't speak
the right way,

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and to demonstrate
the proper ways of speaking,

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my teachers gave me
frequent lessons, in public,

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on the appropriate way
to enunciate certain words.

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A teacher once instructed me
in the hallway:

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"Aaaaaas-king."

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She said this loudly.

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"Dena, it's not 'axing,'
like you're running around with an axe.

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That's silly."

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Now at this point, you can imagine
the snickers of my classmates,

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but she continued:

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"Think about breaking the word
into 'ass' and 'king, '

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and then put the two together
to say it correctly --

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'Asking.'"

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There were some other moments
that reminded me that I didn't belong.

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Once, I walked into
a classmate's dorm room,

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and I watched her watch
her valuables around me.

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Like, why would she do that?
I thought to myself.

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And then there was the time

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when another classmate
walked into my dorm room,

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and yelled, "Ew!" as I was applying
hair grease to my scalp.

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There is emotional damage done
when young people can't be themselves,

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when they are forced to edit who they are
in order to be acceptable.

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It's a kind of violence.

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Ultimately, I'm a quintessential
success story.

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I attended boarding school
and college in New England,

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studied abroad in Chile

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and returned to the Bronx
to be a middle school teacher.

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I received a Truman Scholarship,

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a Fulbright and a Soros Fellowship.

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And I could list more.

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(Laughter)

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But I won't.

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(Laughter)

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I earned my doctorate
at Columbia University.

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(Cheers)

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(Applause)

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And then I landed a job at Yale.

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(Applause)

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I am proud of everything
that I've been able to accomplish

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on my journey thus far.

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I have eternal imposter syndrome.

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Either I've been invited
because I'm a token,

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which really isn't about me,

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but rather, about a box
someone needed to check off.

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Or, I am exceptional,

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which means I've had to leave
the people I love behind.

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It's the price that I and so many others
pay for learning while black.

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(Applause)

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I police myself all the time.

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Are my pants too tight?

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Should I wear my hair up or in a fro?

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Should I speak up for myself,

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or will the power of my words
be reduced to "She's angry"?

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Why did I have to leave the Bronx

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to gain access to a better education?

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And why, in the process
of getting that better education,

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did I have to endure the trauma
of erasing what made me me --

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a black girl from the Bronx,
raised by an Antiguan mother?

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So when I think about our current
education reform initiatives,

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I can't help asking:

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What are our students of color
learning about themselves?

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Three -- three decades of research reveal

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that students of color
are suspended and expelled

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at a rate three times greater
than white students,

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and are punished in harsher ways
for the same infractions.

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They also learn this through the absence
of their lives and narratives

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in the curricula.

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The Cooperative Children's Book Center
did a review of nearly 4,000 books,

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and found that only three percent
were about African-Americans.

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And they further learn this

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through the lack of teachers
that look like them.

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An analysis of data

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from the National Center
for Education Statistics

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found that 45 percent of our nation's
pre-K to high school students

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were people of color,

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while only 17 percent of our teachers are.

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Our youth of color pay a profound price

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when their schooling
sends them the message

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that they must be controlled,

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that they must leave
their identities at home

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in order to be successful.

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Every child deserves an education

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that guarantees the safety to learn

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in the comfort of one's own skin.

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(Applause)

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It is possible to create emotionally
and physically safe classrooms

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where students also thrive academically.

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I know, because I did it in my classroom

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when I returned to teach in the Bronx.

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So what did that look like?

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I centered my instruction

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on the lives, histories
and identities of my students.

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And I did all of this
because I wanted my students to know

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that everyone around them
was supporting them

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to be their best self.

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So while I could not control
the instability of their homes,

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the uncertainty of their next meal,

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or the loud neighbors
that kept them from sleep,

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I provided them with a loving classroom

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that made them feel proud of who they are,

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that made them know that they mattered.

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You know,

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every time I hear
or say the word "asking,"

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I am in high school again.

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I am thinking about "ass" and "king,"

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and putting the two together
so that I speak in a way

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where someone in power
will want to listen.

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There is a better way,

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one that doesn't force kids of color
into a double bind;

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a way for them to preserve their ties

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to their families, homes, and communities;

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a way that teaches them
to trust their instincts

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and to have faith
in their own creative genius.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)