Re: How has life bin...For you to live in your Black skin...OURSTORY
'Our story' doesn't include black jamaicans in pre dominantly white societies? Someone mentioned mixed race people and tried to draw similartities to Jamaican leader who he mistakenly thinks are half-blacks.
Re: How has life bin...For you to live in your Black skin...OURSTORY
I'm older than any 2 of you probably, so my "story" is stranger than any fiction. I actually remember the death of Emmit Till, in 1954. I was 9, and I remember being horrified about the death of one so young, for something so trivial. I remember the Maumau rebellion in Congo. All this, because my black dad with less than a high school education, read the paper every day. At that age I didn't really know the whys, just that it happened.
I was a teen in the 60's. I went to a mixed school, in a mixed town, I was in "honors" courses, but all of my teachers were white. Only white teachers taught honors classes. I noticed, but just went on... BTW, to this day (and I'm 60 years old) I've NEVER had a African-American teacher.
For those who think the world is changing; I have been teaching in this high school for 18 years, and out of a teaching staff of over 130, I am the ONLY FULL-TIME, FULL SCHEDULE AFRICAN AMERICAN TEACHING AN ACADEMIC SUBJECT IN THIS BUILDING. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] There are special ed and phys ed teachers, but no math, history, or English teachers of color of any kind, not just black. I come to work, do my job, and go home. Some few I am friendly with, most I just speak and keep moving.
I coach the step team in my school. Most are African-American. The team takes a lot of my time, setting up competitions, overseeing their practices. (Last year I documented 234 hours of practice, that's 1 hour 20 minutes/day for the whole 180 day school year.) I approached the athletic director/student activity director about making the team a real team, not a "club". (more school $ support, better pay for me) He told me that "lets face it, those kids would never qualify for NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association) regs" (meaning he assumed that their grades would disqualify them) [img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] I then collected report cards, checking the academic status of my team members and guess what?? The team average is over 80, higher than any other team in the school!! At the end of the year, out of 30 students, 11 had averages over 90!
We performed on local t.v. and were featured in the summer of 2003 on a program about McDonald's Gospelfest with Roz Abrams hosting. No other local team have given the school this kind of coverage, but we were not invited to participate in the annual banquet for athletes. My assistant coach (a volunteer, dem noh pay more den wan a wi) and I gave a banquet for the kids out of the $2000 we raised in a competition. Every student received a small trophy for participating, and then we gave trophies to all of the students who received a 90 or better average.
As for Canada. Of course this is many, many years ago, but my grandfather was African-Canadian and often told me he had been called n...g.r more times than he had hairs on his head. His family were eventually designated a "pioneer" family when they moved to the West. And this family was so fair that his brother had blue, blue eyes.
Jamaica, land that I've come to love. My grandmother was "Jamaica white", so fair as to be indistinguishable from white people. Color prejudice was rampant in that family, one of the reasons I originally didn't want to go to Jamaica on my first trip. I have come to love going there, and after 5 years of travel there, I still tingle with anticipation before every trip. It's just so beautiful with it's mountains and azure sea. I just love to sit and people-watch, that rainbow of skin colors sweets me so.
I've infected my daughter, who has married a Jamaican man. For the newbies, look here for the whole story This Christmas vacation, I took my grandchildren (9 & 10) and infected the next generation. They now ask me when I'm buy them the next ticket! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] (Dem tink mi have a munny tree!! ) I think perhaps I will retire there and let them attend high school there.
Some of us just want to leave Babylon and get back to what we've lost.
Re: How has life bin...For you to live in your Black skin...OURSTORY
(((QueenB)))
Not one black teacher? I grew up in the south and I must say I had a few black teachers. Big up to Black teachers. My very first one was my 4th grade teacher, next one was fifth grade. I remember I got in a fight and she pulled me aside and gave me the same lecture my Mom gave me. Those two really made quite a impression on me.
Next black teacher was in my Jr year of high school, she was a young teacher probably about 28 or so. She was hip but also she did not put up with any nonsense. She really help prepare me for life outside of school. Very encouraging!
When my kids were attending school, I remember always being really happy when they had a black teacher, a role model, someone that they could relate to and that understood their struggles as a black child in America.
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