Public Schools & Hurricanes
"A closed mind, like a closed room, soon becomes stuffy."
-- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
I watched an interview with a social studies teacher from Florida. Obviously, there is an effort to white wash American history, from the giddy-up to the present. Republicans say that they don't want to make any students "feel uncomfortable."
I found myself going back in time, a half-century ago, when I was in my first year of high school. Some of my friends still laugh about how I organized a sit-in, that got the participation of 90% of all grades, for an open lunch. Since we had a fairly liberal school administration, we ended up getting a 45-minute lunch time, where we could leave school.
But what I am best remembered for was introducing my class to the case of my friend Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. My class would be, at that time, the largest to graduate from our rural, upstate school. So soon, there were about 130 students and one teacher communicating with Rubin through letters and cassette tapes.
Believe it or not -- but I swear it is true -- not all parents of 10th graders approved of their white children communicating with black inmate who had been convicted of a racist triple murder. There is also the possibility that some parents did not trust my judgement. It all started in 6th grade, when I read a John Lennon poem in my English class. But that's another story.
The teacher was soon told that the Carter connection needed to end. He understood the consequences of each of his options. We continued, and he got fired. He immediately got a job at another area school, and years later began selling wind mills for individual properties.
Rubin felt bad that this teacher was fired. Up until the end of his life, Rubin would ask me about different students that had communicated with him back then. This included a kid who told Rubin that, as he was convicted, he must be guilty, and belonged in prison. I remember Rubin responding that he respected the kid's not going along with the crowd, and encouraging him to study the legal case before making any decision.
Rubin encouraged all of our class to question everything a teacher or text book claimed to be true. One of the examples he gave to illustrate this was "Columbus discovered America." He said that this was clearly known to not be true, yet it was still being taught in schools. He said that most teachers actually appreciate when students ask questions, and that the responsibility for the best education falls upon students, teachers, and administrators.
A few years back, a young teacher at my old school called me. He had watched me debate the representatives from a large local industry about a series of toxic waste dumps they graced our area with. He asked another teacher about me, and that person noted that I had connected Carter with the school decades before. This guy taught an AP class, and asked me if I would come in to talk to his class about the Hurricane's case?
Of course, I did. I had told Rubin about it, and he was excited. He knew how important a really good education is, and like myself, understood that rigid minds were attacking public schools in various parts of the United States. We talked about this for hours. Rubin again recommended asking questions, thinking for one's self, and to "dare to dream!"
We should all be supporting public schools and teachers who teach the truth about America, both good and bad.
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But there is always hope in youth.
