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Tatiana '21 Discusses Upper School Awareness Initiatives

Two Upper School activities, Women’s Studies and Same Hate Different Time, joined together to reimagine the traditional V-Day performance, which are usually presented in a town hall meeting each February. This year, the two groups worked together to present the first-ever virtual presentation of “VOICES: The Voices of Women of Color Through a Global Lens."

To learn more about this initiative and others, please read the Q&A below with Tatiana Batson ’21, one of the co-founders of Same Hate Different Time.
 
Why did you get involved in Same Hate Different Time?
The VOICES presentation was put on by two separate clubs- Women’s Studies and Same Hate Different Time. I am the co-founder of Same Hate Different Time. I and three other students decided to create Same Hate Different Time in the summer as a way to bring awareness, educate, and help make a change for the injustices POC go through in this country.
 
How did you decide to move the presentation in this direction (and what did it mean to have additional people, like alumni and parents, participate?)
At the beginning of the year, Hazel and Mrs. Greenberg asked our club, Same Hate Different Time, to join them in creating the first VOICES that focused on women of color. I was so happy that we finally got an opportunity to focus on POC because this was the exact reason why Same Hate Different Time was created. With Ranney being a PWI (predominately white institution) we knew it was going to be hard to get POC representation from just the community, so we reached out to POC friends we have outside of school, such as people we met from SDLC, the Black Girls Lead Conference, and even some women from the organization that my mom is involved in called the Financial Women’s Association (FWA). With the performances being virtual and having several non-Ranney participants, I think it made the whole presentation wonderful. It allowed several points of view from almost every group of women represented with people sharing their personal experiences, giving some advice, reciting poems, and singing.
 
What do you feel is most important about the work your club does?
Even though we have mainly been focusing on the VOICES presentation and the Black History emails we sent out during Black History Month, we have not been able to touch on every topic that we planned on, but I think how we try our best to talk about the things POC go through that is not normally voiced. For example, our Black History emails involved daily summaries of black historical figures that most people wouldn’t know including Claudette Colvin, Mum Bett and we also talked about the inaccurate “violent” way that Malcolm X is remembered and referred to while also explaining his similarities to MLK. By educating through this way of thinking, we are trying to show that there is more truth when you do your own research than what might be recounted in history books or the news.
 
What did you get out of participating in the VOICES project?
Participating in the VOICES project allowed me to learn more about the struggles that other POC women go through. It was also interesting to see that we all had some similar struggles, when it came to colorism and feeling whitewashed.
 
What feedback have you received from the VOICES Project?
We received a lot of positive feedback. I think all of the people that participated were glad that they did and were proud about speaking out. We also got a lot of positive feedback from teachers and students throughout the school. All of the nice responses showed how many people were actually choosing to listen, which was our main goal with VOICES this year.
 
To watch Ranney School’s VOICES, click here. Learn more about the global activist movement here.
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Ranney School

235 Hope Road
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777

Our mission is to know and value every child, nurturing intellectual curiosity and confidence, and inspiring students to lead honorably, think creatively, and contribute meaningfully to society.