Three observations about last night’s Black in America 2: (Since I was in my car singing with my sister and niece at 8:15 pm on my way home, I only saw the last 5 minutes of the Journey for Change segment of last night’s show. I’ll comment more in depth on that when I see it. But from what I saw, exposure always creates hope and opens doors to places we would otherwise did not think existed. Where have you gone lately and where are you taking your kids?)
1 Steve Perry, a principal of a small magnet school he started, picks up kids to go to his school. Although a small beacon of light in a mostly dismal education dilemma, it is light nonetheless. I appreciate what he's done with what he has. The opportunities he's created for these children and the stern tough love he's shown them. The exposure to college classes by sharing a campus with a community college. The standard that each of them will go to college. It makes a difference.
I cried with the young lady as she awaited hearing if she was going to have a chance to go to college. Her story is a lot of our stories. Even though I did not struggle in my grades in high school, the emotional turmoil of home life made college the furthest thing from my mind my senior year. I was concerned about where I was going to be living for the next year, NOT what college I would attend in the coming fall. I had a senior counselor that all but dropped me off at the school herself in terms of re-focusing my mind on my educational future. Ms. Linda Griffin at E.B. Erwin High School in Center Point, AL was a vessel used to save my life. I tell her every time I see her. Who saved yours? Be sure you thank them.
I found it interesting that even with the success of Dr. Perry’s school and its students, the parental involvement was still SO LOW! What’s going on with some of our parents? How can we engage them in ways that work for them (knowing some are working tirelessly just to provide basic living needs)? Where can I fit in to fill the void of the absent-at-school parents (maybe I can go to the conference for them) for these kids so they have a adult presence who can help in that role? Is there a need for adopted community "people" to take one or two children under their wing to see them through their journey? Definitely something to think about, even for the professionals who do not have children and have the time, emotional and intellectual capital, to invest in these children.
What schools in our community could use some support so they can do what he is doing with these high school kids? Have you looked lately? What are the magnet schools in and around Birmingham? With all the displaced educators in the city, why not start another school with these teachers? The community has the money to fund it, we have just got to start looking under stones. I'm glad to be apart of one solution, the Birmingham Change Fund, because with our combined resources, we are addressing these issues in the Birmingham community. http://www.birminghamchangefund.org/
2 John Rice and his program Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) remind me of INROADS in its execution. Those of you who are INROAD Alums remember the leadership training we went through, especially those intense business breakout sessions where all HADES breaks out (like dealing with a major oil spill in the gulf), much like what we saw on the show. INROADS is the reason I have my job. I’ve been with my company for 6 years (9 including the three summers I interned with them). Great program. I also found out something new about John Legend and it made me smile! How do you get in? Check it out! http://www.ml4t.org/
3 I believe it was my sophomore year in college when my suite mate brought home a book entitled Our Kind of People by Lawrence Otis, Graham to read about the black upper class. (Great read by the way. If you’re a history buff, I know you’ll enjoy it). Numerous conversations ensued behind reading that book about wealth in the black community and the society that existed just above our heads that we had only heard discussed in kitchen conversations between aunts and grandmothers about the “other blacks” who lived in places like Mountain Brook, AL or Hyde Park, IL or Prince George County, MD. I’ll have to add that book to my reading list for the next year.
How interesting to hear last night about the needs of this economic bracket of MY people. It further confirmed Maya Angelou’s saying that “as human beings we are more alike than we are unalike,” and it prompted me to think how too many times we perceive and categorize ourselves and others in ways that separate us instead of bring us together; that divides us rather than unify us.
The Tuxedo Ball they highlighted is the same as the mixers and meet and greets we go to meet people. The bottom line question is how do you create opportunities to build relationships for yourself and others to allow you to live your dream life? I believe we ask ourselves that question all through life. What's your answer?
Overall, I'm looking forward to the conclusion tonight of this much touted documentary. I'm also looking forward to Latino in America, set to air in October of this year. I hope she continues the series for many ethnic groups here in America. I'd want to hear and see, read and understand. I'm sure I'll be better for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment