Image by The Voice of Eye via FlickrRead Focus Scripture: Psalm 27:1-3
I never considered myself to be an overly brave person, and certainly not a political activist. As a matter of fact, in the area of political astuteness, I was fairly naïve and often quite timid. That’s why I am grateful to a friend and ally who helped me stay alert of the dangers all around me when I served as a school administrator. During my years as an educator, I observed people overacting with fear and panic to things they did not understand. I used to get frustrated at the petty reactions I observed. She, on the other hand, was able to analyze dispassionately the behaviors she saw and keep the situation in perspective, which allowed her to take appropriate action. I learned a great deal from her mentorship.
One of those situations involved students’ hair cuts. Back in the l990s it was in vogue for African American students to have designs carved into their hair. It was a mark of personal expression, racial pride, as well as a statement about the artistry of the barber. The fact of the matter is that hair carving has a long history for people of African descent. For example, one historical account reports that at the end of a Middle Passage voyage, off the shores of Suriname, all the slaves were led upon deck. Their hair was shaved in different shapes of stars, half moons and other figures. It had been the practice of slaves to adorn each other’s heads with such figures using broken bottles, because they had no razors or soap available at the time. My friend helped me to remember that this incident was remarkable because it spoke of resilience and cultural vitality in the face of a horribly dehumanizing experience.
Teachers at the school where I worked did not know this about African American children; nor did they care to find out, it seems. Instead, when they saw the carvings on the heads of many of the young boys, they automatically interpreted the artistic expressions as “gang representation.” Because fear and ignorance prevailed in the school’s culture, the office began getting disciplinary referrals for the offense of having figures carved into the hair. Before long, gang hysteria erupted.
Let’s be real about all this! Without a doubt, there were gangs in the surrounding school community, gangs that were moving into the neighborhoods in droves from the city. These gangs had their colors and their symbols, and their characteristic manners of dress. But at that time the head carving was not part of the gang culture. To make matters worse, teachers began to send kids to the office for mismatched shoe strings, for a pant leg that was pushed up on one side, or for drawings and symbols written on book covers and spiral notebooks, and other things teachers saw as representing gang affiliation. The situation was getting out of hand. It didn’t take long before just about every African American child in the school was being accused of being in a gang. My initial reaction back then was to express anger and frustration over the behavior of the teachers and community. My friend, on the other hand, helped me look at the corroborating indicators, which, in turn, prompted me to deal with the offenders on the basis of the hard evidence, not the head carvings alone.
She also helped me see through lenses of compassion those students who found themselves at the receiving end of unfair accusations. Because of my friend’s influence, I was able to adopt the position that even if they were affiliated with gangs outside of school, students were entitled to an education. Be that as it may, if the kids came to school acting like criminals they would be treated as criminals. But if they came to school behaving like students, they would be treated like students. Because of her clear vision, my friend also helped me garner the strength to defend this stance and make it part of the school’s position in a community that was changing rapidly. With respect to defending justice, she was fearless. Over time I pray that I will become just as fearless as she.
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