Uppers Update - “Despite this, a garden grows”
This morning at the end of morning meeting, the Uppers took time to discuss Martin Luther King, Jr. We started with a simple question, wondering why we had the day off yesterday. Over the course of the next hour, we had a deep, informative, powerful discussion that led us through the following topics:
The Civil Rights movement
The Black Panther’s 10-Point Plan
Institutional racism
Racial profiling
Slavery
The Constitution
Current ICE operations in the US
The murder of Renee Good
The US involvement in Venezuela
Henny Lewis (local Holocaust survivor who came to speak to us for the past 2 years)
Being a bystander vs. being an upstander
Protesting- places that we have seen protesters, how it makes us feel, what it’s like being in a protest
Students shared questions, understandings, and feelings. They made incredible connections between things we have been learning about in class and current events. They demonstrated care, compassion and clarity in talking together, asking questions and offering thoughtful responses. Teachers offered informational points but mostly it was just the kids talking.
This afternoon, some of us will be joining in the national walkout scheduled for today, The Free America Walkout. Uppers are currently making signs and making plans.
I recently read a poem called “The America I Know Could Use a Good Cry” by Marcus Amaker. In it, the narrator sits with America and they discuss history. These lines from the end feel relevant to me today:
(this first line is America talking)
“I was born in a house not my own, and my fathers demanded
that their portraits hang on every wall. White paint covers each
brown brick and our backyard is a museum of unmarked graves.”
“Despite this, a garden grows,” I said. “And every home
can be torn down and rebuilt again.”
“But I’ve been told I shouldn’t completely let you in,” he said.
“Some people in my family stand in the doorway,
blocking the entrance.”
He left before I could tell him that my people have a history
of finding ways inside broken spaces and making them whole again.
