by Attica Scott
"A young child...asks his mother why the man in the grocery store is so dark. Instead of answering, his mother tells him to be quiet, which tells the child it's not okay to discuss differences."
—Beverly Daniel Tatum, (May) 1998
Isn't it difficult to talk about race? Racism? Or even improving race relations in East Tennessee? Yes, it's difficult to talk about all of these issues. But, does it do any of us any good not to discuss the tough issues?
Does it do our children any good when we tell them to "be quiet" because we don't know how to answer their questions? How can our youngest cross the racial divide when we aren't teaching them the skills needed to build strong, long-lasting bridges?
The fact that we continue to celebrate the life of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., really makes me think about what we are learning and what we are teaching. It's amazing to me how many of our students don't know anything about Dr. King, his legacy, or even the Civil Rights Movement. I have attended the MLK Youth Leadership Symposium for about seven years. Many of the young folks there, when asked, respond that MLK Day is just a day off and that they don't really know what's so important about the Civil Rights Movement.
Is this because we think that the Civil Rights Movement is one that has come and gone and needs no further discussion? I sure hope not, because there are people in this country who continue to fight daily for basic civil and human rights.
The lack of knowledge about Dr. King and his legacy is not shielding our youth from America's ugly past. It is dooming them to repeat many of the injustices of that time in our history. A time when black teenage boys where brutally beaten and murdered because they found white women attractive. And now, in our community, we are living in a time when (as occurred at a Dunkin' Donuts recently) an man of South Asian descent can be verbally harassed, and violence can ensue, just because...
If we stopped to think about why hate groups continue to thrive, then we'd realize that they thrive off of young recruits who have had very little to no opportunities to discuss differences. There are very few opportunities for dialogue in homes, schools, houses of worship, afterschool programs, and other places where these kinds of tough issues should be discussed, but are avoided.
Some young people who are able to live Dr. King's dream and build relationships across race and ethnicity do so because they see some adult or adults in their lives building these kinds of relationships. And they also have the opportunity to talk about race and difference. As Erin Burnette, a contributor to the APA Monitor, a publication of the American Psychological Association, said in 1998, "A key factor in preventing racism, say many psychologists, is to get children to talk about it."
Hopefully, your conversations will happen throughout the year and not just during King Week or as part of some 30-minute presentation during Black History Month. If you want your children to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement, remember that Knoxville has treasurers of that heritage in its midst, like those at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. If you want your children to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement, teach them. And if you want to know whether what you are teaching is sinking in, listen...
Let's continue 2003 with a commitment to creating a community where young Muslim students can walk without fear that someone will verbally assault them just because they are Muslim. Let's commit to creating a community where our brothers and sisters from other countries can open businesses here and not be told by Knoxvillians that they need to go back home.
We must all commit to creating a community that will not stand for intolerance or injustice. We must create a culture of resistance to all forms of oppression. We must do this individually and systematically. We must do this for our future. And we cannot do it in silence.
Peace.
January 23, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 4
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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