Q&A: Documentary looks at 2013 Hopkins High School walkout

Ten years ago, a racist incident at Hopkins High School and the administration’s response prompted a walkout protest of over 100 students.

In 2013, members of the Hopkins High School ski team participated in what some referred to as a “Ghetto School Spirit Day.”

Black students felt their culture had been mocked and hung up posters in protest, which led to disciplinary action. Months later, students walked out in protest.

Now, independent journalist Ralph L. Crowder III has directed a documentary about the walkout titled “Before Black Lives Mattered, the Kids Marched for Education.” It will be screened at the Minnesota History Center on Saturday.

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He aims to highlight the influence the 2013 walkout had in a larger conversation about equality in education, as well as correct the narrative from media coverage at the time.

MPR News arts reporter Jacob Aloi spoke with Crowder about the film.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell us a little bit about this documentary

Crowder: To keep in mind and context of history, this happened maybe about six months after Trayvon Martin’s death. So this was before it was popular to be involved in quote, unquote, movements for social change, or things of that nature.

This had nothing to do with any unfortunate death of any person by the police or anything like that. This was about public education. 2013 was an interesting time period too in terms of the outward movement of a lot of students from the core of Minneapolis public schools. Because there was a lawsuit that the NAACP filed in the state, with a local attorney here, where there was a program that came out of this lawsuit, and the lawsuit was basically about the functionality of public education in Minneapolis and the disparities that we all know about.

And 2013 was still very much of a media spotlight in terms of the things that are of great impact, specifically for Black students in their outcomes of public education, not only in Minneapolis public schools but obviously the state.

That coincides with this other movement of students that have been through this lawsuit that put a lot of people and families in these first-ring suburbs of the Minneapolis Public Schools, Hopkins being one of those. So 2013 was a very interesting year because I believe that this was a kind of what became a political, some would say, victory.

Some would criticize this as not necessarily a victory — is it the best thing for all these students to be integrating in these first-ring or second-ring suburbs outside of the cities? Are they going to receive a better education? Because this is a part of what has been documented by some. When you have more integrated schools, you have a better quality of education for Black students. There’s a lot of debate on both sides of that.

You posit that this is part of the larger conversation about equity and equality, and talking about race and diversity within education?

Yeah, you know, that’s a good point that you’re making. But guess what, those kids didn’t say nothing about equity. I mean, it’s actually documented, it’s in this piece of valuable preservation of history, these kids weren’t saying equity, they wanted equality.

And why not? Why not, should any human being want to be treated just as equal as the next, especially in the context of public schools where we’re all contributing to the vitality of these schools, as public, as members of the public? And so in many ways, these kids were way ahead of the adults.

In a very interesting observation, it seemed like the adults were behind and the kids were forward in terms of their position of being equal human beings and articulating that, in the chance that they all were in sync with, when they walked out at Hopkins High School in 2013.

The term equity, I struggle with it, honestly, because I don’t really know what it means, in a real sense. I’m a kind of equality person.

As people go to the screening on Saturday, what would you like for them to get out of it?

There is no coincidence in anything. So there is no coincidence that we are here right now talking to you because MPR was a very important first step of this conversation, in terms of their coverage. And the way certain things needed to be corrected in terms of responsibility to journalism and responsibility to the story.

So a lot of things that I think that I would like for people to take in, and I know they will, because this is a human story ... I think, at some point in time, although you might enter this particular story, in terms of some issues that are not new. They’re happening in public schools all over the country. And 2013 wasn’t the first or last. 2023 is not the first or the last. And, matter of fact, this is also coming at the 60th anniversary of the Children’s March in Birmingham, Ala.

These themes are generational, and there are different pockets of stories within those generations. And what I would like the audience that attends this particular screening is, looking at the absolute greatness of these kids — independently, by theirselves, without any involvement from any adults.

Remember, the adults placed these kids here, this was kind of engineered for them to actually navigate. But the way that they took over their issue and defined their humanity was absolutely fantastic.

It forces you to get past any of the political or racial overtones and really look at these kids as being great examples of possibility within the context of public schools, or just education in general.

And what great potential these kids have, when they get full support from their parents, their educators and their community, it makes you really question a lot of — what I feel is a lot of negative imagery and negative stories that are applied to specifically Black youth, a lot of times. And it makes me appreciate and value even more the voice and the freedom of independent media to be that alternative.

Do you think this documentary is part of the effort to correct the story and to make sure that this aspect is being shown?

Absolutely, because you know what? A lot of those kids were hurt. Some of the adults that stood with those kids, that worked in that school, suffered a great deal of loss for being brave enough to stand with the kids. And so, that particular hurt —

Just imagine you did everything right. But for some reason, I’m viewed as doing something wrong, to the point where I even have potentially a criminal charge against me for hanging up a poster? Posters.

This particular documentary is definitely a moment, a great, honorable moment, from my perspective, about the potential of our young people in Minnesota history, but actually national history.