The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. ... Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a nightalready devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? (1967)
The preschool where I taught Spanish for two years was the academic home to 200+ African American children of Knoxville, TN. One day in the first weeks I taught there, I was doing small group Spanish practice with three 4 year-old boys. Referring to a puzzle of Dr. King's face, I asked one of the boys who the man was on the puzzle. Wide-eyed, he informed me, "That's Dr. King. He made us!" "He did?" I mirrored back the same level of awe (due to my excellent affect regulation instincts). One of the other boys cut in matter-of-factly--"Nuh-uhh. Jesus made us!" Man, I miss my students.
One tradition at the school was that each year the kids had their own little MLK day parade on the playground. Another was that the principal would play a portion of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech over the intercom. I learned a lot from traditions like these. I felt humbled. I felt curious. And I felt honored to participate in the rich ways the faculty passed down identity and the art of remembering to the youngest of our next generation.
1 comment:
So this comment is crazy late, but since I just discovered your blog, so I fig it's cool. I love this post and I'm glad the holiday made you think of the kids and back to that time. Traditions like this should be at every school :)
Post a Comment