Seventy Seven Strangers

I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.

See, it lines these midtown Manhattan skyscrapers
where former hustlers like myself sign papers
and pull off fucked capers like, 16 infamous stars of the time
They got us choppin and, baggin and
servin that shit to niggaz 16 bars at a time now
The crime is undetectable by the feds
cause in heads of our kids is where the track is
And music is potent it’s straight to the soul
so it’s much more addictive than crack is
Now, the high is just an illusion all lies and confusion
But to feel that rush just once, my young bucks’ll go through it
So in essence, they still floodin the streets with the thugs, drugs and the killing
They just usin these record labels to do it

For African Americans, from slavery to the modern civil Rights movement, … you pursued learning because this is how you asserted yourself as a free person; how you claimed your humanity. You pursued learning so you could work for social uplift, for the liberation of your people. You pursued education so you could prepare yourself to lead your people.

The children of the community were told in no uncertain terms by their parents and their teachers that their role was to excel in school because so many had suffered so that they might be in the position to receive an education. We students were admonished that we must excel for those who had come before us, for our communities, for our descendants, in short, for all to whom we were connected by kinship or affiliation.

The role of community in education has changed considerably during the years since the desegregation of schools. Prior to desegregation, the Black community played an especially significant role in schools, providing many of the resources the local districts refused to provide

I pledge allegiance to my Black People.
I pledge to develop my mind and body to the greatest extent possible.
I will learn all that I can in order to give my best to my People in their struggle for liberation.
I will keep myself physically fit, building a strong body free from drugs and other substances which weaken me and make me less capable of protecting myself, my family and my Black brothers and sisters.
I will unselfishly share my knowledge and understanding with them in order to bring about change more quickly.
I will discipline myself to direct my energies thoughtfully and constructively rather than wasting them in idle hatred.
I will train myself never to hurt or allow others to harm my Black brothers and sisters for I recognize that we need every Black Man, Woman, and Child to be physically, mentally and psychologically strong.
These principles I pledge to practice daily and to teach them to others in order to unite my People.

I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment.
― Malcolm X