The Day Jesse Jackson Came to Town

As I watched the aftermath of the Michael Richards "saga" unfold I could help but notice the press conference Jesse Jackson held about the use of the dreaded "N" word. As I watched Jackson talk of a boycott of this word I started to think back a few years ago when Jackson came to the high school I was teaching at. Then like now, Jackson just did not seem to have a grasp of the key issues facing the school. What was even more shocking and depressing was the fact that it didn't seem like he wanted to know the key issues.

The school year had started and the usual problems were in abundance. Students had been placed in the wrong classes, buildings were not ready to be inhabited by students and teachers and there were too many students roaming the halls during class time. This first week of school was much different than years passed for you see the word was, Jesse Jackson was coming to the school the following week. I wondered why and how? I could not believe Jesse Jackson was coming to the High School I worked at. I had always had a love/hate relationship with Jackson. I had always admired his accomplishments as an African American leader in the past but I had also grown somewhat skeptical of his rhetoric in recent years. I have to admit I was a bit excited. I just wondered why us and what did he has to say. The day of Jesse Jackson's arrival, I spoke to an activist friend of mine and the mayor of our city that to get an idea of what this might be. Was it a pep rally? Was it a chance for someone with a little political authority to talk tough to our kids? Was it a chance to see someone hold some folks accountable at our school? I waited in anticipation. Mr. Jackson came to our school early and had a closed door meeting with many of the dignitaries in the city. He then proceeded to our school auditorium to the cheer of students and teachers alike. He came to the podium and began his speech. He peppered it with a number of his trademark colloquialisms. "Keep hope alive" and "I am somebody" filed the auditorium. He then started to let the audience know he knew what we needed. He talked about how he was going to ensure that we had enough books and computers. He repeated this pledge to us several times. He let us all know he would make sure we definitely had enough books and computers. As I looked at the faces of my fellow colleagues I could tell exactly what they were thinking. "He thinks we need more books and computers? Is he for real?" We were all a bit baffled. I had no choice but to surmise that Jesse came to town without really knowing what was happening at the school. More computers? At the time this was going on I had eight computers in my room and I was trying to get rid of seven of them!!!! As one of my colleagues and I were apt to say from time to time, when our students have mastered the computer that lies between their ears then I will gladly put them in front of a laptop or two. More books and computers in the classroom? Hey I have to admit, it sounds good. It's a great nightly news sound bite and even makes a good campaign slogan but once again it did not address the main problems at hand which included a lack of accountability on the part of the administration, kids cutting classes, teen pregnancy, the fact that 90% of the 9th graders read at the 4th and 3rd grade level and kids feeling that somehow being book smart meant acting white and not being authentically black!

The problem, when it comes to issues in education is that people seem to want a quick fix. Folks want an easy solution to an extremely complex problem and instead of digging down to the root causes of these problems we simply skim the surface. As Jackson spoke it was painfully obvious he did not understand what the problems were at our particular school. He did not know that when he left our auditorium 7-8 classes would have to fill the auditorium because their were two buildings not renovated in time for the new school year. He had no clue about the amount of students whose schedules were wrong or students who had no teacher for one or two of their class periods. It was obvious to see that Jackson had no idea that we were short 1500 desks and we had classes with up to 40 or 50 students. I do not mean to disparage the good Reverend but in my mind it behooves a so called leader to know a little bit about the reality of his or her surroundings when he or she shows up to the party to wax philosophical. To put it bluntly I expect a lot from various leaders be they governors, mayors so on and so forth. I expect double from African American leaders because they know the type of struggles that have gone on in working class Black and Latino neighborhoods. They have a historical context as well as present day knowledge of what is happening in inner city areas. To come to a school and not know what the problems and to merely give us a sound bite is just disheartening, especially when you have a person who has so much influence all over the country and practically all over the world!! My hope is that if Jesse Jackson or any leader for that matter, goes to any urban school in the country, they will sit down and listen instead of stand up and pontificate. They will humble themselves enough to ask insightful questions to find out what is actually going on. The day Jesse came to town I was left with more questions than answers and it was going to be up to my students and I to figure it all out. We sat in the auditorium for period four and did just that.