Wish I could check out that Paisley/LL Cool J song, but YouTube appears to have yanked it due to copyright problems. I did watch a clip of Brad Paisley talking about it on the Ellen show. Intriguing. As for the prom issue... sounds an awful lot like the premise of the documentary I never seem to find the time to watch called Prom Night in Mississippi. Has anyone seen it? Same thing-- separate proms-- in Mississippi, and the film documents the first integrated prom at that particular high school (which I think was funded by Morgan Freeman). I'd be really, really curious to know what BGA students thought about the idea of separate proms. Sounds like the BGA faculty condemns the idea, but would a majority of kids?
Thanks for sharing these thoughts!
--Kent
Recently, there has been a new controversy brewing over the confederate flag and its meaning with the release of Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's song, Accidental Racist. If you have not heard it, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pJZrQiO3ls . I'm sure their song is well intentioned, but it still bothers me that people fail to accept/understand that the stars and bars represent a period in our history where certain states were guilty of "treason". Southerners can have all the "pride" they want, but the "flag" represents a period when states were fighting for their right to own other human beings. The "flag" does not represent The South's affiliation to hospitality, good manners, etc. I would love to hear others opinion of the song.
One of our teachers at BGA brought a video to the faculty's attention that showed the struggle that four high school girls are experiencing over prom in Georgia. In Wilcox County, Georgia, there is a high school that hosts two separate Homecoming dances and two separate proms. One is for the white students, and one is "integrated." The faculty, as a whole, have been in an uproar over these videos. We've sent emails back and forth, had heated discussions over lunch, and have generally agreed that it is terrible that the school and our government have allowed this to happen, especially in 2013.
So, the story seems to be that the way the school is getting away with this is that the events are not officially sanctioned--the school has farmed out the dances to the PTA, which enforces the "whites only" dances via the police (as in, police turned away a bi-racial girl from the white Homecoming last year). Now four girls (two white, two black) are fighting back. One of the black girls was named Homecoming queen and was not allowed to attend the whites-only Homecoming, nor would the school take her picture with the (white) Homecoming King for the yearbook.
Thoughts?
BGA and Brookwood teachers--
Check out the "Videos" section of this website to see clips of our kids discussing the Confederate flag.
Welcome, BGA and Brookwood Teachers!
Thank you so much for joining this conversation-- a dialog between BGA and Brookwood teachers meant to reinforce the work that Stephanie and I are doing in our classes. Some background: I (Kent) teach American history to seventh graders at Brookwood, which is in Manchester, Massachusetts (up the coast from Boston). This course includes the Civil War, a subject that seems only partially understood if viewed through a strictly northern lens. Last year I found BGA and Stephanie, who agreed that it would be fun to collaborate on a Civil War project, and this year we decided that the collaboration would benefit from a little face-to-face time. A couple of weeks ago I hopped on a plane and went to Franklin, Tennessee, where I was graciously hosted by Stephanie and other folks at BGA. Aside from suffering at the hands of US Airways on the way home, it was a fabulous trip!
My hope is that Brookwood students will grow from wrestling with a challenging project that exposes them to a diverse set of viewpoints (principally regarding the causes of the Civil War and the meaning of the Confederate flag). Furthermore, I would like to think that the collaboration with BGA students will provide an avenue for my kids to deeply consider who "they" are-- in this case southerners. It became clear in the early days of this project that Brookwood kids are saddled with stereotypical images of southerners and that BGA students carry around a similar set of misconceptions about northerners; hopefully all students have already grown from the dialog.(Check out the work students have been doing at https://confederateflagdebates.wordpress.com/)
Which brings us to our conversation. If we are asking kids to conduct this exercise, it seems worthwhile to invite adults to do the same-- because we are models for our students and because, if the national discourse is any measure, grown-ups could use some practice at finding our common humanity, at working to truly understand those with whom we disagree, and at collaborating to solve our problems. Why not start by letting a handful of faculty members at BGA and Brookwood get to know each other a little better?
If you've read this far, and you're still interested, dive right in! I've loaded up some photos and images, and I've started a discussion thread (see "Class Discussions" on the right side of this page). Read and respond as the spirit moves you. Let's see where this takes us...
Many thanks!
Kent