A few weeks before we departed REMS for the summer Carlotta Walls, one of the 9, Little Rock Nine visited our school to share her story and her hopes for the future. Her visit really had an impact on our students; much more than I perceived there would be. Our students were prepared to digest the hard content. They ask articulate and intelligent questions, made thoughtful connections and spoke of a healthier future culture. Check out below for a few images, a student letter/poem and my personal letter to Carlotta and G-ma. Dear Carlotta Walls, Thank you for coming to our class room and sharing with us first hand what happened to you. You have had such a bad experience but you went through it so others and yourself could live a happy life. I have made a free verse poem for you and you inspired me to write it. I hope you like it! Division Division, too much division, All around the world, there is only division. Division can only be darkness or is it light So which is it light or darkness? Maybe both. Only division can know who or what it is. Division from race, division from gender, division from… It needs to stop all of this division is too much to handle all of this division is too much to feel. I can’t be me you can’t be you because they decide we aren’t the same, Divide is what they do that’s all they do. Because there is no quality in this so-called community Such a funny word what does it mean? Division that weird funny little simple word that turns into bad. Is it something in math is it something among Us as people People. That’s what they say but if you aren’t what they call human then I’m not because we are the SAME. I think it means all of those things but there will be bad that comes from division there always will We are NOT divided even though they tell us we are. We are not a we there is no community here Because of that one word, Divide. Not now Not anymore. Yes, I say no more Division. Like I said I do hope you liked it! Sincerely, Briana (student from REMS) Dear Carlotta and G-ma,
The day you both visited my classroom my heart was warmed. Inspiring young people to take a more open-minded and hearted perspective of the world is one of the biggest gifts I believe I can give to students. Your visit to Renaissance had a profoundly positive impact on our student's disposition towards the world and an almost heartbreaking revelation that bad things that happened in our world, have indeed happened. I can share with you that my students expressed a fiery proclamation to create a future motivated by equality for all. I’d like to tell you that I heard my students express profound insight gleaned over a period of time yet my experience with them was limited. The school year has come to an end. What I can share is my story. I was born into a racist family and raised in a white-centric world. My father and other neighborhood dads passed their closed-minded beliefs down as knowledge disguised as tarnished wisdom-- ”This is the way of the world children, watch out!” For a while, I harbored and nurtured those adult's ideals as my own. I have memories as a small boy chanting racial slurs and discussing with my young friends how we would grow up and make the world a better place for white Christians; how we would make our dads proud. The strange thing about my father is that I don’t think he is at his core a hater. My father was full of hurtful and closed minded words yet his actions towards others confused me. I witnessed him on so many occasions befriend those that he talked poorly about. He sadly chose to take terrible ideals on as defining attributes of his character instead of aligning himself with his true compassionate nature. I think perhaps this contradiction of his character was just enough of a catalyst for me to start to ask the right questions. I was 14 when I began to see the flaws in arguments for inequality. Today I’m grateful I cherish equality as a human right preserved for all. Yet, I harbor shame because my current default response to people different than I is concern. I’m ashamed and sad that I have to internally dialog to arrive at a place of understanding and equality. I’m mad that as a small boy the adults responsible for my well-being impressed upon me a hateful and hurtful way of seeing the world. On the flip side, I’m pleased that I’ve developed enough awareness to move through fear to arrive at love. My experiences have made me who I am. And though I choose to move through the world with openness for all, I have to work at it more than I’d like. I’d rather my default be trust rather than fear. Yet it is what it is. As I move forward in life the racism that lurks in me will die with me. I am beholden to you both for helping me impress upon the young the absolute value of standing up to injustice and perhaps most importantly, that all people should be awarded the honor of being considered with an open heart and an open mind. With gratitude, Kenny Harris Educator Renaissance ELOB Comments are closed.
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