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Black History made in High School Debate

While Black History Month tends to focus on the past, a careful eye can see Black History being made in the present.

Ev ery year on the second weekend in February, two of the most difficult national high school debate tournaments are

held at two of the world’s most prestigious univ ersities; The Univ ersity of Cal ifornia at Berkley and Harv ard

Univ ersity.

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Charles Athanasopoulos &Geo Liriano

Together they attract ov er 1,000 competitors in pol icy debate. Out of that, after three gruel ing days of debate al l but

4, 2-person debate teams had been el iminated.

Three of those four teams consisted entire of Black debaters.

For 6 of the 8 debaters in the finals of two of America’s most prestigious debate tournaments to consist of Black inner

city publ ic school students is an incredible achiev ement, giv en the long history of this lev el of competitiv e successes

being reserv ed for affluent priv ate schools.

In Boston, the team of Charles Athanasopoulos (recently featured as an author on the LBS

website) and his debate partner, Geo Liriano, fought their way to finals of the Harv ard

tournament after attending the prestigious Harv ard Round-Robin, where 13 of the most

successful teams from around the country arriv ed to Cambridge early for a special

competition to see who is the best of the best.

Representing New York’s Bronx Law High School , the two finished 2nd out of 110 teams,

which in addition to sev eral other outstanding finishes this year, marks them as one of the

fav orites to win the national “Tournament of Champions” held ev ery April at the

Univ ersity of Kentucky.

“Though we couldn’t capture the three bal lots necessary to win the Harv ard Debate

Tournament”, the senior declared, “this weekend showed to us that we are on the v erge

of a breakthrough.”

Looking back at the weekend, Charles’ debate partner Geo explained his conception of the

importance of competitiv e successes for debaters using arguments centering on social

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Ayaan Natala (far right) and T iana Bellamy (second left)from Minnesota’s St. Paul Central High School posingw ith Rayvon Dean and Brooke Lindsey (far left) fromDetroit’s University Prep High School.

justice in a predominately white activ ity.

“We when debating about race, class and gender hav e always been aware of who is adjudicating the round, the

contestants and the people watching.” Lirano said.

“The only way people of color can prov e to them that we mean

business is showing up and taking what they bel iev ed was

supposed to be automatical ly granted to them.”

In Cal ifornia, Ayaan Natala and Tiana Bel lamy from Minnesota’s St.

Paul Central High School (attendees of the LBS’ Eddie Conway

Liberation Institute) stormed the competition, winning 6 out of 7

prel iminary debates. They then adv anced through the el imination

bracket to finals with Rayv on Dean and Brooke Lindsey from

Detroit’s Univ ersity Prep High School .

Two al l Black teams had “closed out” the finals of the UC-Berkley

tournament, the first time this has happened in the tournament’s

40 year history, and along the way the two teams el iminated many

of the top debate schools in the country.

Since the final round was not held due to trav el schedul ing

issues, the two were declared “co-champions”.

“I knew we we’re real ly good debaters because we bel iev ed in our arguments and were persuasiv e.” said Lindsey.

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“I didn’t know, howev er, that we would win the entire tournament …”

Ironical ly, the two teams hav e throughout this year used almost identical arguments in debates, claiming that

America’s persecution of domestic pol itical radicals, such as Assata Shakur, mirrors exclusionary practices against

debaters of color in the debate community, and thus an examination of these power relations is a prior question to

hav ing productiv e conv ersations on pol icy changes towards Latin America, the national high school topic for the year.

The radical content of their arguments and their unique style, incorporating hip hop, poetry and ev en dancing as part

of their arguments, reflects, according to Univ ersity Prep debater Rayv on Dean, the distinct real ity debaters of colors

face.

“As a student activ ist, I find it hard to debate under traditional norms. My partner and I choose to critique gov ernment

pol icy rather than adv ocate for economic engagement with Latin America. We choose to highl ight anti-blackness as

the forefront of our discussions because that is what affects us most.”

While taking home the championship was a historic accomplishment, St. Paul ’s Ayaan Natala says the stakes are higher

than mere competitiv e success.

“My success at Berkeley in itself is a significant accomplishment, but to me the most important success to me

personal ly is assisting the next generation of debaters to bel iev e in themselv es…Somewhere in the nation if I am

helping another young black womyn self-affirm herself in the way my mentors hav e nurtured me to grow into the

person I am today- I know I did my job.”

Both Univ ersity Prep and St. Paul Central wil l join Bronx Law at Kentucky’s Tournament of Champions in April .

Additional ly, teams New York’s ACORN Community High, Brooklyn Tech High Schools, who reached the “El ite 8” at

Harv ard, and Cedar Ridge High School in Texas, who were top 8 at Berkley, hav e also qual ified teams with Black

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debaters to nationals, ensuring this year’s tournament wil l hav e one of its highest ev ery percentage of Black

participants.

St. Paul ’s Bel lamy puts both their v ictory, and the community’s traditional ist backlash (with some seeing their style as

div isiv e), into a broader perspectiv e.

“I am not here to sav e the world, I am not here to personal ly end al l structures of anti-blackness within debate, I am

not here to ‘demonize white people’, and I am NOT an exception. WE are the rule in an entire inv isible community of

young, black, and gifted brothers and sisters.”

Regardless of results of April ’s nationals, one can be sure these young scholars wil l not be “inv isible” for long.

NOTE: The students mentioned in the article (along with sev eral other urban debaters) are currently raising funds to

attend the prestigious Tournament of Champions (TOC) this April . Please cl ick here to see how you can contribute!

You can also support the LBS Eddie Conway Liberation Institute.

Lawrence GrandpreLawrence Grandpre is the Assistant Director for Research and Publ ic Pol icy for LBS. He is a

graduate of Baltimore City Col lege High School where he was a recipient of the International

Baccalaureate Diploma. His primary extra curricular focus on high school was debate, where

he was Chesapeake Regional champion and 4 time qual ifier for the National Championship

tournament. He continued this focus on pol itical scholarship at Whitman Col lege in the state

of Washington, where he was the recipient of the Wil l iam O. Douglas Scholarship and the

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ayaan natala brooke l indsey detroit urban debate league eddie conway l iberation institute

lawrence grandpre minnesota urban debate league rayv on dean tiana bel lamy

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1 Comment on Black History made in High School Debate

Crystal Mac // September 20, 2014 at 2:46 pm // Repl y

I absolutely lov e your name and although I am not a part of the Baltimore community, the struggles where I am are

similar. I just lov e your mission and the way in which you are deciding to combat the injustices of today. I am wondering

if you ev er thought about expanding or al lowing others to use your same model and name in different cities and

states. I lov e on Columbus, Ohio and I hav en’t seen a similar framework for activ ism and adv ocacy such as yours and I

would be iterated in bringing that same model to Columbus. Please let me know what you are think. The struggle is

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beautiful and it’s real al l ov er the US.

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UPDATE: 12/29: Since this article has been publ ished, Kel l i has

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We DEMAND a publ ic apology from @BaltoCoFOP4 for their bul lying of Mrs. Kel l i Murray.

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