The daughter of writer Nikole Hannah-Jones — sent by her mother to weak New York schools as a racism-fighting “sacrifice” — insisted bucking her mother’s wishes and going to a top high school was the only reason she landed on her feet, a confrontational new interview revealed.
asserted
interview → send → feet
“I think I’m fine because I’m in the school I am now,” Najya Hannah-Jones, 16, told her mom in a recent showdown on WBEZ’s This American Life.
asserted
Jones → think → Life
“I feel like if I picked a different choice that you wanted me to, I don’t think I would be fine,” she added.
asserted
she → feel → that
That shocking comment came a week after her mother released an essay confessing her daughter was left years behind her peers after being deliberately sent to some of the Big Apple’s worst schools, where the New York Times journalist thought her own “time and status” would be able to uplift the predominantly black schools.
asserted
time → come → schools
Instead, Hannah Jones admitted in the Times essay, her daughter simply ended up struggling to do basic math and writing by the time she was 12 — and that the girl was “boiling” mad when she discovered her education had been used as a tool for her well-heeled mother’s social experiment.
asserted
education → admit → experiment
So Najya insisted she be allowed to choose her own high school and drew up a list of potential candidates — which her mother relented to, but not without misgivings.
asserted
mother → insist → misgivings
“She comes back with her list of schools, and I internally cringed,” Hannah-Jones told This American Life.
asserted
Jones → come → Life
“I’m like, I cannot believe this.
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I → ’m → this
My child came up with the exact opposite of my life’s work,” she added.
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she → come → work
“And every school on there is a school that screens and has hardly no black kids.”
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that → screen → kids
Despite her mother’s reaction, Najya studied hard and got into her top choice.
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Najya → study → choice
And while she struggled to keep up with classmates when she was first admitted, she’s since caught up and is thriving.
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she → struggle → classmates
And even though Hannah-Jones admitted that she’d “failed” her own daughter to help other people’s kids, she continued to push back on her daughter’s complaints as they had it out on This American Life.
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they → admit → Life
“We don’t have to actually agree.
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We → have → ?
It’s OK for us to see this in a different way.
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us → ’ → way
But ultimately, you got into your first choice of high school,” Hannah-Jones told her daughter.
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Jones → get → daughter
“But you could have had me way higher in education,” Najya replied.
uncertain
Najya → have → education
“Do you feel like your life is being held back?” her mother said, listing various reasons and examples for sending Najya to the struggling schools.
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mother → feel → schools
“What we were trying to do was not just about giving some additional funds to a school.
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trying → try → school
We were trying to change the power dynamics.
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We → try → dynamics
”
“You put me on the line to help a school, but it didn’t work,” Najya said.
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Najya → put → school
And Najya’s high school choices weren’t the only ones her mother was uncomfortable with — she even sniffed at the girl’s ambitions to go to Harvard, which she dismissed as a “PWI” or a “predominantly white institution.”
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she → sniff → PWI
“I’ve been ingraining Howard into her since she was 3 years old,” Hannah-Jones said, referring to the historically black Washington, DC university.
“Then one day she comes back from middle school, and she says she wants to go to Harvard.
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she → ingrain → Harvard
And I was like, we have never mentioned the word ‘Harvard’ in our household.
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we → mention → household
What the hell is happening?” she said.
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she → happen → ?
“We don’t even discuss PWIs as an option in our household.”
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We → discuss → household
Because I’m like, did I mishear you?
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I → ’m → you
Did you accidentally say Howard?
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you → say → Howard
No,” Hannah-Jones continued, only half-joking.
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Jones → continue → ?
“I’m disappointed.
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I → ’m → ?
I’m like, what is wrong with you?”
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what → ’m → you
“I both admired it and was appalled at the same time,” she said.
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she → admire → time
“Like, where are you getting these ideas?
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you → get → ideas
Who is putting these crazy ideas in your head?”
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Who → put → head
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