I am a little torn on posting this tonight, as I wrote it off the cuff and sent it to the editor of my local paper without much consideration. However, the knee jerk letter to editor writing seems, for me to be the best way to do it. I don't know how many times I have said, "I should write a letter to the editor." I say it, and then do nothing.
So, tonight, I came home from our poorly attended black history month program and wrote this letter. I wrote it in the little box on my local paper's website, read it over quickly, and then hit "submit." So, typos or none, making sense or not, it's gone and out of my hands.
(I am actually marking out the names of the schools and administrators so that my blog will be a little less search-able, though I am not sure why I am doing this.)
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Dear Editor,
Tonight, I attended the ******** Black History Program which was entitled, "From Civil Rights to Human Rights." I would like to personally commend district 80 as a whole, ****** Principal *****, and Superintendent ****** for bringing such a fabulous, and important program to the city.
The program tonight asked us to consider what black history has to do with the human rights struggles of today. What human rights issues are affecting our community, our country, and our world today, and how can we help solve those problems? The students of the district were asked to write essays reflecting these questions, and 5 winning essays were read at tonight's program. I was moved by the responses, and felt a sense of pride in our schools knowing that students were asked to consider such deep, important, and meaningful questions.
One young student, I believe a third grader, while reading his essay asked us to calm down, and then to consider the effects of racism in our community. This young child asked us, the community of Mt. Vernon, to come together and face our problems, to admit our inherent racism, and work together to heal the wounds of our racism infected society.
This child, this child, asked us to come together, and to talk about our problems, not to hide them or pretend that they do not exist. He asks us, the adults, the parents, teachers and community members that will influence his future and teach him what is important in our world, he asks us to stand side by side and address these problems with love, compassion, and above all - with honesty.
The children of our community are well aware of the problems associated with racism in Mt. Vernon. The children of our community are not blind to the problems of inequality, of poverty, and of injustice. The children of Mt. Vernon want us, their guiding adults, to moved forward into a new century that values human rights. The children of Mt. Vernon are asking us to stand up and do what is right, and to fix what is wrong. The children of Mt. Vernon want us to be honest with each other about the prevalence of racism in our community, and the unlimited possibilities that the future holds for us all. The children of Mt. Vernon, when given a voice of their own, want racism to end, and want the fair and equal society they read about in their text books.
Tonight, while I was in some ways saddened by the small turn out at the school program, what seemed like a lack of press coverage of the event, and by the small number of white attendees in the crowd, I was also very proud of all of the students who wrote essays about human rights themes, those students who won, the community members and school administrators who took the time to organize a beautiful event, and those who simply took the time to be there.
The evening closed with the famous song, "We shall Overcome", and surely someday, with the help of those who want it, we shall indeed overcome the racism that infects our society still today and move forward into a world that is dominated by love and equal opportunity.
***edited to add..erg. why do I always find the typos AFTER I send it off??
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