The Importance of Education

By: Selma Ulm

My grandfather always said, “they can take everything, but they can’t take your education.” As a Palestinian, holding onto as much knowledge as possible was instilled in me as essential to survival. I was conditioned to be irked by misinformation, try to remedy ignorance, and extend empathy and kindness to my peers and community by facilitating an individual’s ability to learn.

Scrolling through the website for the first time, I saw this ethic reflected immediately as ARCC defined what it does and its goals. ARCC’s model that addresses racism by weeding out ignorance, spreading and building knowledge and information, and making it accessible to a wide audience attracted me to its work. I knew I needed to get involved, and thus am so honored that I get to be part of this mission, community, and intern class.

I am excited for the summer ahead, working with other interns to find funding opportunities for this great work. I want to ensure that as many people as possible have access to ARCC’s materials as possible, and we can develop enough individual’s personal strength and character to stand up to the racist wrongs that pervasively take over much of culture and politics today.