Ozanne and her husband Marlon Anderson are committed to Black youth excellence through high standards of academics, leadership development, building self-worth, and a positive cultural identity. Their goal is to create empowering learning environments so that youth can love, learn, and thrive. Nehemiah staff members Andrea Dearlove and Eli Steenlage sat down with Ozanne and Marlon, Security Assistant at West High School in Madison, to get their personal and professional perspectives. 

When asked “What is the recipe for creating black leaders?”, Marlon answered that leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., are born from an environment of adversity. For example, Marlon and Ozanne’s son, Noah Anderson, led a march with his fellow students when Marlon unjustly lost his job at West High School, but a feat such as that wouldn’t have happened if Marlon hadn’t lost his job. Marlon feels that, unfortunately, there has to be some trauma in the making of a leader. Another ingredient in the recipe for a leader, Ozanne adds, is love. All of the attributes we give love, patience, kindness, doesn’t hold grudges, etc., we can give to leadership. When you think about leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., they all had a love for the community and a feeling that they had to do something, they couldn’t just sit by. 

When Ozanne and Marlon first came to Madison from Milwaukee, it wasn’t very long until their sons, Jonah and Noah, had to be put into the school system. From a very young age Jonah and Noah were showing very “tremendous gifts”. But as they went through the predominantly white schools, the microaggressions towards them became more apparent. Jonah and Noah were very talented artists, yet when it came time to showcase students’ art, they were never chosen. That is when Ozanne first realized that her sons were being overlooked, that they weren’t being seen. Eventually, it was time for the youngest Anderson son, Micah, to go through the school system. Micah’s always been an extrovert and a “social butterfly,” so when Ozanne saw Micah singing with all he had yet being placed in the background of the musical production he was in at the time, her heart caved because she felt complicit in putting her children in a place where they were being overlooked. They weren’t being truly seen. That day, she pulled Micah out of that school and enrolled him in a different school. 

In this new school came another challenge. For the first time, Micah was getting in trouble with the same teacher over and over again. It got to the point where Micah didn’t want to go to school anymore. Ozanne could “see the light fade from his eyes”. When Ozanne met this teacher before the school year started, she could tell that it was not going to be a good fit for Micah. Now after some time with this new teacher, issues began to arise because of all the early signs Ozanne saw. Eventually, Ozanne received a call from the principal of the school saying that Micah was causing all sorts of problems and basically was being a nuisance in the classroom. This upset Ozanne, not because of what Micah had supposedly done, but because this was the first time she was contacted by the school about Micah’s recent behavior. Soon thereafter, an old teacher of Jonah and Noah reached out to Ozanne and asked her to enroll Micah at Lincoln Elementary. Lincoln had more diversity than Micah’s current school and good programs. After going to Lincoln, Micah’s light reappeared in his eyes. Micah began to succeed again once he was taken out of the toxic environment of not being seen, of being targeted as a stereotype, and being part of a system that is complicit in being what it always was and always will be.  

Ozanne wants parents to know that they have every opportunity to push the envelope and do what they need to do to help their children succeed, whether it means switching schools, talking to the teacher, or even the superintendent. Part of the system in place is making the parents feel inferior, making them feel as if they shouldn’t be involved. Nehemiah K-12 programming teaches students to advocate for themself. If Ozzane’s son didn’t have advocacy, his identity would be at risk in these spaces that don’t make room for diversity. If she could do it all over again, Ozzane’s oldest sons would not have gone to the school they did. Young children can’t call out and identify microaggressions, they can only feel them and then internalize them. Children create their identities based on what is the norm and students of color end up with inferiority complexes because the established norm looks nothing like them.

Ozanne sees Nehemiah’s K-12 programs as an oasis where kids feel like they are welcome and that they belong and conversations about inclusivity don’t have to happen because everyone is included. Every year, when kids come back to A.C.E, it is like a family reunion. Kids don’t have to code switch or worry about if they’re enough, they can just be in the space. Ozanne believes that the environment sets the stage for learning. If the environment around a child is toxic, like the first school Ozanne’s sons attended, then that is a hurdle to clear before learning can begin. 

When asked how she tries to combat the current system and established norms, Ozanne said that she does a few things. Ozanne being a familiar presence in the halls isn’t the norm. She brings cultural intelligence which is very important in changing the narrative with the students (things that went unnoticed and uncorrected are now noticed and corrected). Building relationships with students is a game-changer. Walking a student to class versus solely telling them to go to class can lead to a conversation and even a trusting relationship.

Marlon shares a story in which a positive interaction with a teacher sowed a seed in his life that has stuck around to this day. Marlon was known as the class clown and was loud in the halls and one day he was stopped in the hall by a teacher he didn’t know. Expecting to be scolded, Marlon was surprised to hear that the teacher wanted to have a conversation with him about how he was able to project his voice so well. The teacher was having difficulty getting his students to project their voices and wanted to know how Marlon did it perfectly. Instead of scolding Marlon like many other teachers would have, the teacher had a positive conversation with him and that has stuck with Marlon after all these years. 

There is a lot lacking in the current school system. For example, teachers can’t build relationships with all their students because there are thirty of them at a time, and the curriculums, values, etc. are built into the system for the outcome of things except the wellness of the child. If you don’t meet the child at the most basic level of human interaction, the things you say will go in one ear and out the other. 

After sending their children through the Madison school system and working in the school system, Ozanne and Marlon have experience and knowledge in the schools and the community to create change. They agree that having space for children to be authentic is what Madison needs. There is work that needs to be done but can’t because the space doesn’t afford what is needed. Fortunately, there has been a change in the willingness of schools to partner with organizations like Nehemiah for the better. There is a value when we all want to be the village raising the child. 

Listen to the full conversation on The Nehemiah Community Transformation Podcast.

Article authored by Harry J. Hawkins from an interview conversation with Ozanne and Marlon Anderson.