Signs
I spent the greater part of my day at Clay Middle School on Western Av. between Imperial and El Segundo. It's interesting being at a school where the students are predominantly Black instead of Latino. Here are some things that I noticed:
1) The teachers seemed scared of the kids.
2) The teachers must be scared of calling parents because they never brought it up when the kids misbehaved.
3) Some teachers were getting PUNKED by the kids.
I felt a sense of shame seeing those kids misbehave. I wanted to drag them out of the classroom and shout, "Is this what your ancestors escaped from slavery for? So you could act a fool in school?" Or should I have been explaining to them that the legacy of racism is feeding their teacher's inability to check their behavior because they secretly don't think the kids can behave any better?
Driving down Imperial Hwy through South Los Angeles on the way back to the 110 fwy, there are a great many things I see that I don't see up here around my neighborhood. Today, outside the WIC building on Vermont and Imperial, I observed a huge sign that said,
"Free Bus Rides to Prisons"
with some hearts encircling the letters. Gee, I wonder why I don't see that in other parts of the city? Gee, I wonder how seeing that every day impacts the kids that see it. It makes prison just seem so normal.
1) The teachers seemed scared of the kids.
2) The teachers must be scared of calling parents because they never brought it up when the kids misbehaved.
3) Some teachers were getting PUNKED by the kids.
I felt a sense of shame seeing those kids misbehave. I wanted to drag them out of the classroom and shout, "Is this what your ancestors escaped from slavery for? So you could act a fool in school?" Or should I have been explaining to them that the legacy of racism is feeding their teacher's inability to check their behavior because they secretly don't think the kids can behave any better?
Driving down Imperial Hwy through South Los Angeles on the way back to the 110 fwy, there are a great many things I see that I don't see up here around my neighborhood. Today, outside the WIC building on Vermont and Imperial, I observed a huge sign that said,
"Free Bus Rides to Prisons"
with some hearts encircling the letters. Gee, I wonder why I don't see that in other parts of the city? Gee, I wonder how seeing that every day impacts the kids that see it. It makes prison just seem so normal.
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