The Lies That History Tells Part 4: Some Don’t Have Books To Lie
Lies changed my outlook on important figures in history and seemed to always paint America as the hero/peace maker, when many times the leaders of this country were the main perpetrators and oppressors.
Some students in some neighborhoods don’t have history books to lie to them, or any books for that matter. I want to stretch the idea of students being lied to in school, and explore the idea of inequality in the school system. The more people I talk to in college, the more I realize the gap of information that was taught to me in high school. This takes me back to all the different discrepancies that I fought for throughout my secondary educational life.
I never felt empowered. I was born in Los Angeles, then as a young child I moved to the south side of Chicago. Seven years later, I moved to a suburban area of Atlanta. Five years later I found myself in the urban poverty-stricken city of East Cleveland, Ohio. Living in so many different places taught me to see both sides of life. What I saw in Metro Atlanta and what I saw in East Cleveland/Chicago was not fair or equal. The most challenging undertaking of my life was the day I decided to stop being a bystander, and began to fight against the injustices that I saw in my neighborhood.
I noticed that this inequality in educational and community resources would perpetuate the stereotypes and tensions that people have between ethic groups and racial backgrounds. I was doubtful that anyone would listen to youth about these problems but I always use this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. to encourage me, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” Regardless of my apprehension I knew I had to try to change what was wrong. I began to push my personal boundaries and leave my comfort zone by becoming a part of a non-profit organization called Ohio Youth Voices. Through Ohio Youth Voices, we developed a program called “urban-rural-suburban visits” where students from different socio-economic backgrounds would visit different neighborhoods and see the differences in culture, race, resources, and opportunity.
These visits taught me that students from different backgrounds are really the same. However, getting students from different places to realize this was the hardest thing I have desired to accomplish. Through perseverance and determination, these visits began to breakdown stereotypes. We decided to organize a statewide youth conference where a youth agenda was created that was eventually presented to Governor Strickland. I learned that youth do have a voice and an impact on the society around them. This was another step in the journey of my life and the first time that I truly felt empowered.
I can only hope (and fight for) educational funding in poverty stricken areas of the country are allowed the same resources and opportunities as affluent areas. It brings me one level of sadness to see people receiving history that is false, but it is far more damaging for students not to have books at all.
While working at a high school in Chicago, I was sitting in a classroom when the teacher challenged the students with a quote. Unfortunately I forget the exact phrasing, and she didn’t know the originator of the quote, but it was something to this effect:
“It’s not that our goals are too high, and we fail to reach them, but that our goals are too low, and we meet them.”
You very fortunately were able to be exposed to different environments, and this exposure enlightened you to the injustices existing within your community, and you were were able to then transcend your “personal boundaries” to begin vying for a change.
I think that the battle youth face today is in fact this one of “personal boundaries.” It seems as if we have accepted that in the past people fought so that we can be where we are today, but now we feel that we are stuck in the “where we are today.”
Youth today need more avenues through which to garner empowerment and inspiration in order to understand that we can continuously surpass our own limitations. And the trick is that as you said, the limitations indeed are “personal”, if we allow ourselves to grow past them, we can and will.
And this blog offered one important solution, and that is exposure. Being exposed to safer and more economically stable communities, or even effective and engaging youth programs, would definitely allow youth to dream for themselves, and accomplish those dreams.
While working at a high school in Chicago, I was sitting in a classroom when the teacher challenged the students with a quote. Unfortunately I forget the exact phrasing, and she didn’t know the originator of the quote, but it was something to this effect:
“It’s not that our goals are too high, and we fail to reach them, but that our goals are too low, and we meet them.”
You very fortunately were able to be exposed to different environments, and this exposure enlightened you to the injustices existing within your community, and you were were able to then transcend your “personal boundaries” to begin vying for a change.
I think that the battle youth face today is in fact this one of “personal boundaries.” It seems as if we have accepted that in the past people fought so that we can be where we are today, but now we feel that we are stuck in the “where we are today.”
Youth today need more avenues through which to garner empowerment and inspiration in order to understand that we can continuously surpass our own limitations. And the trick is that as you said, the limitations indeed are “personal”, if we allow ourselves to grow past them, we can and will.
And this blog offered one important solution, and that is exposure. Being exposed to safer and more economically stable communities, or even effective and engaging youth programs, would definitely allow youth to dream for themselves, and accomplish those dreams.
Thank you for your comment Aaron. I appreciate that quote that you shared with us. I can do nothing else but agree with you. There is another mentoring program for ninth graders in Ohio that takes inner city students on trips to to museums and different cities around the country. This is to do exactly what you said, bring exposure. I think this trend will catch on around the country and more students will begin to transcend their “personal” and environmental limitations.
Thank you for your comment Aaron. I appreciate that quote that you shared with us. I can do nothing else but agree with you. There is another mentoring program for ninth graders in Ohio that takes inner city students on trips to to museums and different cities around the country. This is to do exactly what you said, bring exposure. I think this trend will catch on around the country and more students will begin to transcend their “personal” and environmental limitations.
I agree with the points raised in this post about the greater detriment of the young minds of those who do not receive adequate education but I don’t know if there is a comparison to be drawn between this faction of youth with those who are told lies in their books. Both are apart of the “injustice anywhere” team so to speak. While we cannot go back in time and give ourselves the books we needed nor “unhear” the lies we were told, we can be beacons of light for the generation, which proceeds us. In order to effectively do this, it is vital that we first self-educate and share our learnings with our peers. Also our community needs to injected with a sense of confidence to express ourselves intellectually. Knowledge truly is power and the stigmas surrounding educated black people have been fed to us and sadly we regurgitate it back. It is more than books that lie or books that don’t exist, it is the complacency with our position in society once we graduate from the classrooms.
I agree with the points raised in this post about the greater detriment of the young minds of those who do not receive adequate education but I don’t know if there is a comparison to be drawn between this faction of youth with those who are told lies in their books. Both are apart of the “injustice anywhere” team so to speak. While we cannot go back in time and give ourselves the books we needed nor “unhear” the lies we were told, we can be beacons of light for the generation, which proceeds us. In order to effectively do this, it is vital that we first self-educate and share our learnings with our peers. Also our community needs to injected with a sense of confidence to express ourselves intellectually. Knowledge truly is power and the stigmas surrounding educated black people have been fed to us and sadly we regurgitate it back. It is more than books that lie or books that don’t exist, it is the complacency with our position in society once we graduate from the classrooms.