This week, members of the Baltimore Ravens organization, including team president Dick Cass, tight end Benjamin Watson and Ravens Ring of Honor member (and surefire NFL Hall of Famer), Ed Reed, as well as Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and Baltimore City Public Schools CEO, Dr. Sonja Brookins Santelises, gathered at Renaissance Academy High School in West Baltimore to officially unveil the recently completed $1.5 million renovation of the school financed by Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti.
Renaissance, a school located in Druid Heights, is one of the most impoverished and violent communities in the city, near the epicenter of the uprising of 2015, and faced imminent closure last year. Allegedly, when Bisciotti got wind of Renaissance’s plight his reaction was something to the effect of, `That school can’t close.’
“The Ravens decided to fund the restoration after multiple news stories highlighted the students’ and community’s dedication to the school, amid fears it would be forced to close,” the Ravens organization said in a statement.
Sean Yoes (Courtesy Photo)
“Thanks to the courageous investment from the Baltimore Ravens, there is no doubt that the children in this school and in this beloved community will deliver equal returns,” said Nikkia Rowe, the school’s principal said during a press conference. “At Renaissance, we always speak to `changing the outcome’ and we are humbled by the leap of faith taken by the entire Ravens organization.”
There is no doubt, Rowe is an indefatigable advocate for the young people that attend her school. Most people outside of Renaissance and Druid Heights will never fully know how hard she has fought for them and the wider community.
Perhaps the best case for Renaissance’s survival can be made by young people like Christopher Streeter, 18, a young brother who just graduated from the school in June.
I first met Streeter when he was with other Renaissance students, faculty members and community leaders during a segment on The AFRO’s First Edition. They were fighting for the school to remain open, when its fate was still in doubt in 2016.
“North Avenue…or whoever makes the decision to close these schools down has to understand…these mentors, these administrators, they are the ones who are going to have to deal with the bloodshed after they allow all of these schools to combine into one school and let kids from different parts of the city in,” Streeter said in 2016, revealing wisdom that eludes many at least twice his age. Once I spent some time with him, it didn’t take long for me to recognize the resilience I’ve written about and spoken about so many times over the years. But, what seems to set young Streeter apart is his ability to endure the virulent cruelties reserved almost exclusively for Baltimore’s Black and poor communities, yet remain relentlessly optimistic.
He has witnessed the aftermath of bloodshed in abundance already; he entered Renaissance in 2014 and in 2015 and 2016 four students, four young Black men like himself who attended the school, were murdered. One of them, Ananias Jolley, who was stabbed to death by a classmate inside the school, Streeter was particularly close with. In fact, it was Jolley’s grandmother who helped Streeter get a job less than a month after he graduated.
Streeter currently lives in Northwest Baltimore however, he spent most of his childhood in Yale Heights in Southwest Baltimore, which has experienced more than its share of murders over the last several years. As he reflected on his time there, he offered a searing critique of his generation and ultimately the plight of urban America.
“In Baltimore it’s a whole different ballgame. You have people that envy you, who you hang around everyday…you’ve got to watch who you hang around with. I try to stay positive, because there is a lot of negativity out here…I don’t want that to be my downfall,” Streeter said. “My generation really don’t have any morals and principles that we live by…that’s why we get killed. It’s our environment.”
He saved his harshest indictment for the power structure, which enables and sometimes fuels pathology. During a recent trip to Annapolis he was supposed to address a hearing convened by Sen. Bobby Zirkin, chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, focused on Baltimore violence. That did not happen.
“They know what they are doing…they waited to push everybody back to talk,” Streeter said. “The people who actually live in B-More, they didn’t get to talk…the people who really know what’s going on. There’s a difference between B-More and Baltimore, it’s two different worlds,” Streeter added.
Still, Streeter is determined to transcend “B-More.” He is enrolled at Catonsville Community College where he is scheduled to begin studying Information Technology in January.
“I want to get paid good money working in information technology. With my information technology money, I want to invest in real estate in Baltimore. There’s so much I want to do, it’s just how I’m going to get there,” he said. “I just want to take it one step at a time.”
Sean Yoes is the AFRO’s Baltimore editor and host and executive producer of The AFRO’s First Edition, which airs Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on WEAA 88.9.
