I've been mulling over the many times God shows up in my school day. While I don't "teach" theology, I do teach and enforce the morals of respect, support and family. That's Jesus right there. While I don't openly pray with my students, I pray for many of them. And while I don't lead a class into the aspects of sin and Jesus' grace, I do work on showing forgiveness and giving an equal share.
Recently, we've had two school assemblies featuring speakers for Black History Month. Having been doing more and more research about the history of slavery and some of its most notable faces, I've come to understand that there really isn't a way to discuss slavery and the civil rights' movement without mentioning the faith of many of its people.
Now, I know this can go both ways. some can argue that the Kingdom-Over "faith" of Christianity and more than likely Catholicism, was one of the main roots of the evils of slavery. Besides winning land for the crown, giving faith to the Natives of the new land was another top priority. Now, if it had to be forced, the more the merrier. I also understand this highly complex relationship, but knowing this allows me to know that love and grace wins more than brute force. We can learn from those mistakes as well. Should we forget? Of course not, but what can a teacher in central Ohio do to alleviate the sins of the past?
Back to the speakers. One of them was a characterization of Sojourner Truth. Among the retelling of her history of being a child born into bondage and being sold from her family at 9, told of how singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," became an anthem of her love with God. I'm looking around for my principle who is probably ready to pull the woman off the stage like she's at the Apollo Theater Amateur Night. Then the speaker goes into singing, "Jesus Loves Me," and I'm in the back, smiling as ever at the situation. I teach in an age where you can't offend anyone or speak of anything Christian, but I'm in an all-school assembly singing "Jesus Loves Me."
A Week later, we have another speaker, a radio personality and ex-body builder who spoke to the kids about a healthy lifestyle and staying positive. He ends the lesson by saying, "Put God First" and had the kids repeat it. Awesome! God isn't separated from schools. He's knee deep in them. The only thing that's close to being separated is that the schools cannot endorse any one religion (maybe you're thinking we did with the speakers we chose).
So, I go back to the novels I've read and the references to God. Shilo. Day of Tears. Sounder. Because of Winn Dixie. Stone Fox. Maniac Magee. The list is an awesome sign of the writers who wrote with their experiences and sometimes, their faith (I can only assume, but in each case it's dealt with respect and reverence). And if I'm getting into this topic full bore, how can we truly understand the people we are expected to learn about without mentioning the faith of these people? This also means we talk openly about Ghandi's and Malcolm X as well as Martin Luther King Jr.'s. Can I expect my kids to understand the abolitionist movement without first understanding that many of the first were religious men? The history books make short thrift, in my opinion. Does it mean that my own education should be as well?
I'm chapter 6 into Day of Tears, about the real-life slave auction of the Pierce Butler plantation slaves. My theme of the story is to make the kids realize how slavery was not only deplorable and a horror beyond belief, but that it was a systematic breaking of a man's spirit. I spend the time to re-read sections of the story when slaves brokered for their own lives and to keep the masters from selling their families, and end up sounding live slave auctioneers in the process. The kids of today have no understanding of this. They only know talking back, respect and personal space. Will today's black youth ever understand that feeling of worthlessness? I'm going to keep asking them and emphasizing and teaching. It's the best that I can do.
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