Learning and living are not schooling.
Laura Reeder,
Boston, MA.
I teach teachers. I am a teacher. I am exhausted by the confusion that we perpetuate about who deserves to learn and who needs to be schooled.
Black Man, proud with no apologies.
Bart71
Chicago, IL
I am who I am. I accept who I am. I love who I am. Black men have jumped over all forms of racism in the past and will continue to jump over them. I know that daily I defy all stereotypes. It makes me stronger. It keeps me on my game. It sharpens me. It reminds me of a legacy of strength, perseverance courage, and tenacity. I come from a legacy of ancient greatness. I come from a legacy that survived the middle passage and slavery. I come from a legacy that fed the economic engine of democracy, though my ancestors never got paid for it. I come from a legacy that was dignified in the face of the KKK, Jim Crow, Black Codes, Separate but Equal, and Poll taxes. I come from a legacy of Civil Rights and Black Power. I come from a legacy that could embrace Jesus and Muhammad. I stand tall with every victory and I will teach my sons and nephews the same. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have nothing to apologize for. I am strong. I am intellegent. I am productive. I am a father. I am a role model. I am a patriot. I am a Black Man. I am an American, in fact I am the quintessential American. Yes, here since the founding of this Nation. If anyone has an issue with that, then that is not my problem. I am not going to hide from my skin. It is mine. I am very satisfied with it and what it means to have it.
Don’t drink out of THAT fountain!
Alice Lynch
Jonesboro, AK
This is what my father said when I ran up to the water fountain with no line in the big downtown Houston department store. I was small enough not to see the sign above it that read “Colored”, but old enough to read it when he grabbed my arm harshly and pointed up to it. “But, Daddy, it’s clear like this water!” I guess that point was lost on him. It was never lost on me. I didn’t understand separate but equal things, and this turned out to be one of many I’d witness as a child.
