Find your people, change the world

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. — Margaret Mead

I’ve always been fascinated by history, particularly how movements have occurred to create waves of change throughout the 20th century. It gives me hope, knowing that all it takes is a spark. In studying the Civil Rights movement for example, I find that in every community from Albany to Birmingham, there were core groups of thoughtful leaders willing to take risks to disrupt the status quo. In education, we must work harder than ever to build coalitions that will elevate all of our voices, and we must find our sparks.

Have you heard of Charles Black? He was a foot soldier in the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s in Atlanta, Georgia while a student at Morehouse. He and his fellow peers led the student movement of sit-ins and negotiations with city leaders to desegretate lunch counters, stores, and public spaces. As one time chair of the Atlanta Student Movement, he contributed to the writing of the infamous Appeal for Human Rights document that went global, was covered by the New York Times, and later denounced by the Governor of Georgia at the time.

The Atlanta Magazine in it’s look back almost 50 years later writes about the movement:

The Appeal was the first salvo in the students’ plans. They were not going to wait around for courtroom wrangling and heel-dragging as white Atlanta resisted legal desegregation. They were preparing nonviolent protest and resistance. “We must say in all candor,” they announced, “that we plan to use every legal and nonviolent means at our disposal to secure full citizenship rights as members of this great Democracy of ours.

For the primarily white readers of the Constitution, the appeal triggered anxiety and indignation. For the black readers of the World (the country’s first daily newspaper for African Americans), the students’ statement confirmed talk around town about how kids were shaking up the “old-guard” power structure.

He was a student at the time, but he and many of his peers still understood their collective power. They were the spark. What’s interesting is that if you hear his story, he’ll share how at the time, even the elders in his own community oppossed their tactics, but shared their aim. Eventually history would be on their side and looking back, there’s much to learn from their experience.

First, those in positions of power should take notice. When people are unheard they find other outlets to express their frustration with the systems that are holding them back. Disruption is such an effective tactic because it forces us to reckon with our own flaws.

Second, for those of us truly interested in elevating the voices of those least heard in our conversations around education, we must begin with listening. In his famous letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. King articulates the problem:

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

As we move closer to the start of another school year, I hope that many parents and students who feel trapped in an educational cycle that doesn’t serve them or meet their needs, can find their voices and join with other people to bring about change. Let’s become the spark our students deserve by advocating for game changing educational opportunities.

SDW3