For the past six years, I’ve been teaching in inner-city schools and I have heard this statement or one like it in almost every public school in which I’ve taught. Recently, some students saw a postcard of Nelson Mandela that I use as a bookmark. One asked, “Ain’t that Morgan Freeman?” I thought, okay, not knowing what Nelson Mandela looks like in America is acceptable because I’m sure they haven’t been exposed to his photo. So, I explained who he is and what he did and why he is important to generations of people worldwide (I actually did this on February 11,the date of Mandela being freed from prison in 1990). Some of them dismissing Mandela as “just an African” infuriated a student that I had from Senegal (I say had because he (unfortunately) had to go back to Senegal). He went off on a rant about how so politically inept and globally blind they were.
-“You know who all these rappers are but you don’t know Nelson Mandela?”
-“So, we ain’t African! How are we supposed to know?”
-“So what, I’m African. I know who Martin Luther King Jr. is.”
-“ That’s different.”
-“How?”
- “It just is.”
This led into a great discussion and sorta time line about how MLK and the civil rights movement influenced people around the globe during the sixties just as Ghandhi had influenced Martin Luther King. Many of my students truly feel as though this is ancient history and don’t want to or can’t see how they have benefited from the sweat, blood, tears and lives of blacks and whites to improve this country. I gave a simple assignment of a page written, explaining how what you do now is possible due to a man having a dream. Here is what I received from a black male student:
Martin Luther King Jr. effected (not my error) me because he gave us a chance to be equal with whites but he caused more problems for blacks.
I can’t make this sorta stuff up folks; I’m not that talented. Now imagine this paper being given to you folded so that it creates eight squares when unfolded. Knowing that I would see his brother at the barbershop, I gave a copy of it (folded) to him. A few days later, the student gave me a complete page. Why not do it correctly the first time? What did you possibly gain from a zero on the assignment, the embarrassment of your family seeing this, and the lecture that you must have received from parents and/ or grandparents who actually went through hell during this time?
Having had to spend most of our summers in Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham Alabama, my brothers and I were constantly being told about the “old days” and why we should appreciate what we can do “now”. Was it fun listening to stories that we could recite almost word for word when all we wanted was to be outside playing? No it wasn’t and they didn’t care. They told us because they knew it was important. Is the oral tradition of passing down history dying? Or is it simply being drowned out by the thumping bass beats on the stereo? Hey, I listen to rap music too…the big word being too. And there are rappers who use this knowledge in their craft, but that’s not what I want to get into now.
I talked about the Little Rock Nine and how these nine black students prepared to enter an all white school after the ruling of Brown vs. board of education that segregation in education was unconstitutional. Immediately, I get hit with statements. “Why they want to go to an all white school anyway?” “ They couldn’t go to a black school?” I thought of a quote from Melba Patillo, one of the nine students who spoke of a woman getting in her face about attending Central High. She was told, “she was getting to fancy for her britches and that other people in our community would pay for her uppity need to be with white folks.”
-“ It wasn’t that they wanted to go to an all white school. However, if the greater opportunities to succeed educationally are there, why shouldn’t they go where they can have a greater chance at success? You have to remember that black schools were extremely under funded.”
I then came up with an analogy that they might give some time.
-“ Let’s say you received two scholarships (athletic or academic). One was offered by a school that didn’t have as strong of a reputation as a good school that graduates top graduates or top athletes for the next level but their black enrollment was high. The other school was nationally known for both academics and athletics; however, their enrollment of minority students was very low. Would you shun better opportunities because of the people around you? Think of all the ball players who attend schools like Nebraska or Iowa. There aren’t huge numbers of blacks in those states. They go because these are schools that are known to produce professional players. They are there for a better chance at success.”
They sorta latched onto this, so I ran with it a bit more and talked about how we all create blueprints for others to follow on how to or not to approach situations in life. Whether you influence siblings, students or children, you can make life easier or better for someone because they can look at you as a pioneer that made this an option. This is what our focus on Black history is about. How did people respond to improve life for us? They did not give up, they were not selfish, they did succeed.
And they still fought it. “Well, that was then. It’s illegal to do that stuff, now.” It’s only illegal now because people fought then to make it illegal! Yes, black community, this is where we are now. We talked about scenes from the movie The Great Debaters. The Harlem Renaisance, Langston Hughes (one of my favorites), the dignity of the characters, the respect of the time, the value of education and experience. Yes, they were angry about the racism, lynching, the treatment of James Farmer Sr. in the pig scene. But they didn’t understand or appreciate the debates. I kept talking about the psychological importance of the New York Times deciding to capitalize the N in negro(e). I screamed about how language influences action. Many looked at me like I was crazy for caring so much about something that happened in the past. So I said,
-“Why can’t white people call you niggas? Slavery happened in the past. It’s over now, right? So, it doesn’t matter if they call you nigga because you’ll never be a slave, right? RIGHT?”
-“Naw, that’s different.”
-“That’s different. Is that all you can say? The only difference is that in the past someone imposed this mentality but today, you all willingly self-impose mental inferiority. Go ask your grandparents if what they went through for you was worth your failing school (19% of black males graduated high school in Cincinnati in 2001-2002 school year). And don’t tell me that was a long time ago. If I go and check I’m sure your graduation rate unfortunately isn’t high either. This makes us look bad as a country let alone a race. Ask your grandparents if while they were being discriminated against if they thought, I can’t wait for my grandbabies to go through this same lack of opportunity, that I endure everyday. You all have the opportunity, no duty, to do and be so much more than those working to pave a smoother road for you.
Marcus--- This is so fascinating on so many different levels... Maybe you all need to take a visit down to the Freedom Center. (Is it still there? Hope so!) Hedley is doing some interesting stuff with a group called Facing History and Ourselves which kind of uses the holocaust as a springboard on discussions about understanding history so we don't replicate it. I don't know if they would have material looking at Civil Rights but they should! Hey-- just so you know and you can tell your students, the Civil Rights movement and MLK influenced Civil Rights campaigners in Northern Ireland so the global influence was significant. Keep on your good work challenging them! Remember we talked about doing an exchange programme at one point? We could still try and pull it off....
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