As conversations around the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States continue, teachers from Nashville Classical Charter School in East Nashville want to make their message loud and clear: They are here for their students.
"Recently, our school community was rocked by the controversy around the Black Lives Matter movement," Marisa Frank, the Dean of Culture and Arts at the school, which serves mostly low-income students, wrote in an email. "Over 60 percent of our students and their families are African American, and as educators, it hurt our hearts that they had to listen to debates over whether or not it’s OK to say out loud that their lives matter."
Several communities across the country have faced new and old conversations revolving around race and privilege. East Nashville—home to a Black population that makes up the second-largest racial group of the area, followed by white, according to City-data—was not exempt. To show the school's strong support for its students, Frank wrote "You Matter," an original song containing messages from her fellow teachers.
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Tamica Nicole, a parent, delivers the heart-warming message over the song's piano instrumentals.
"Do you know you matter?/ Because you do," she sings. "I'm right here standing by your side/Gonna dry those tears streaming from your eyes."
"I promise you, I promise you I'm going to fight now to end injustice so you won't have to," the song continues.
Listen to "You Matter" in full above.
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