The Hand That Feeds You

I won’t be ignorant or insensitive and quote one of my favorite lines of Chris Rock’s Bigger and Blacker, but if you are familiar with his standup, you will soon realize what quote I am referring to. To put it plainly, I am so tired of black folks. Of course I realize that “all black people” are not one particular way or another, and I also realize that I am using “black folks” loosely. Charge it to my poetic license and not my level of open-mindedness or tolerance. However, the crime and mentality in many black neighborhoods is so devastating to our community and society in general, that it pains me to continue to witness and experience much of its effects. Although I have purposely placed myself in low-income communities to work, my desire to continue my service in our communities has recently been challenged.

As an educator, I see my purpose as helping children to grow and mature academically, emotionally, psychologically, and socially. I know that children from low income families, which are often minorities, often have problems getting the resources, instruction, and proper role models that they need in order to actually develop into the individuals that are going to contribute most to society. So that’s what I feel my purpose is…to help little minority children realize their potential and press towards that potential. But what is sad is, the community sees us not as community leaders or service providers, but as targets, targets for their criminal activity, their vandalism, their ignorance.

My second week on the job, my car was broken into, windows busted, and out of sight valuables, stolen. Just last week, two teenagers were standing outside in the almost empty parking lot, in the rain, with hoods on, waiting for myself and/or the other dedicated lone ranger to leave the building. The custodian had to watch me as I went to my car. And today, a hubcap from two different cars was stolen. All this, from a neighborhood that needs educators that can give their children, their brothers and their sisters, the love, attention, and intellectual stimulation that is so often missing in their own families of origin.

It is disheartening that as an educator, you sacrifice so much of yourself. You give your all. You endure ever-changing policies and methods of evaluation, budget cuts, and subpar pay just so that one student’s life can be enriched because of your service. You take your dedication to tomorrow’s future and become a teacher, a principal, a school counselor (that’s me), a school psychologist, and yet, a target. What happens when enough is enough, and all those dedicated individuals take their dedication elsewhere? A place where they will be safe, their belongings secured, and their efforts appreciated? Where will that leave our little minority children?

This blog was a nice little vent, but a follow-up to what all this means for black America is forthcoming....hold your horses.