A Call to Conquer: Then vs. Now
In addition to being a first generation American, I grew up in Chicago where most of my middle school peers were Cambodian, Filipino, Laotian, and Vietnamese. A small delegation of my classmates hailed from Nigeria and various parts of South America. There was also Jimmy and Josh who learned to adapt like the rest of us.
SIDEBAR: Did you know that Chicago was founded by an African Haitian who became a wealthy frontier trader, trapper, and farmer along the mouth of the Chicago River (present day Michigan Ave. at Tribune Tower)?
I graduated from a high school named after a German general. The school, which was nestled in a Jewish community, was a major highlight of Chicago’s annual German Day parade (made famous by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). During lunch, we frequented a Swedish candy store and, after school, cut through the Spanish — Scandinavian neighborhood where our baseball team levelled rivals. The daily bus ride home was like a National Geographic field trip.
My teachers came from all walks of life and challenged us to level up! For example, B- work had to be corrected to earn an A. Although gang wars incited division, by race, at no point did I feel ‘less than.’ In fact, it was our tall and statuesque, Jewish principal who stood in the gap to protect Black students — primary targets of unrelenting violence. My principal’s leadership ensured all students’ safety especially the week our school was under siege. It never occurred to me that no one on staff was armed — even though those who threatened us were. Long before Iyanla Vanzant made the saying popular, my principal’s motto was: ‘Not on my watch!
From my principal, I learned leadership, compassion, integrity, fairness, and justice. From my teachers I learned astuteness, excellence, resolve, teamwork, and ‘Go!’
In lieu of unpacking current affairs, consider this: America has natural, fabricated, and imported resources at its disposal and produces the greatest STEM minds; creative talent; wealthiest influencers; and accomplished leaders from all disciplines and many nations, yet have a long list of excuses for the utter failure to rise to the occasion and conquer.
Why?
