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Class
learns how to fight for cause
By
Rod Watson
Buffalo
News
February 23, 2006
Civil
rights leaders aren't always born. With a teacher's guidance,
they can be made.
There
are at least seven of them in training at Buffalo's International
School 45 on Hoyt Street.
They
were part of a sixth-grade class outraged after a Black History
Month assignment a year ago had them read a Sunday News Parade
magazine article about the 1944 Port Chicago "mutiny."
The
explosion at the Navy port near San Francisco killed 320 and exposed
the racist underside of a military that assigned the most dangerous
jobs of loading munitions to untrained, overworked black sailors.
To add insult to the injury and death, the Navy then court-martialed
blacks who refused to keep serving as cannon fodder.
Fifty
sailors were convicted in a show trial and imprisoned to send
the message that the Navy was no place to start talking about
equality.
It's
not the type of black history you find in most textbooks, even
during February. But teacher Marilyn Foote-Kragbe reached outside
the box for her lesson plan. It was the perfect follow-up to instruction
about elections and making your voice heard.
After
discovering that California Rep. George Miller and the San Francisco-based
Equal Justice Society have been trying for years to get the black
sailors' names cleared and a stamp commissioned in their honor,
Foote-Kragbe's class took up the cause.
As
the name suggests, the International School includes kids from
around the world as well as native Buffalonians. But no matter
their heritage, they all can recognize injustice - even in the
land of equality.
The
kids - now seventh-graders - also can see the most visible signs
of American progress.
"Blacks
don't have to sit in the back of the bus now," said Jordan
Velazquez, whose parents came from Puerto Rico.
But
they're not naive, either.
"There's
a street in Buffalo . . . where the people are racist and they
fight a lot," said Sudan native Mustafa Felein, recalling
last summer's racially tinged violence, though he forgot the neighborhood's
name.
"Lovejoy,"
chimed in Leandre Some, who came here from the Ivory Coast area.
But
seeing society's warts doesn't deter them. Among the recipients
of their letters was one George W. Bush.
This
month, they learned of the presidential response from the director
of the White House Liaison Office: There would be no happy ending.
Emphasizing
the Navy's "thorough review" and its commitment to equality,
the liaison thanked them and wished them luck in their study of
history. And in classic spin, he noted the sailors ultimately
"received discharges under honorable conditions" - which
sounds great.
But
University of California, Berkeley, scholar Robert L. Allen, who
wrote a book on the incident, says that's different from an "honorable
discharge." He said some of the sailors complained that even
the Veterans Administration wouldn't recognize such a status.
Needless
to say, the kids were bummed by the letter. But they rebounded
as quickly as only 12- and 13-year-olds can.
Kaled
Saleh considered it "a privilege to hear from the president,"
even if the letter didn't come directly from Bush and they didn't
get what they wanted.
"I
feel like I've been listened to," said David Cruz, a native
of Puerto Rico.
In
fact, rather than getting discouraged and apathetic - like adults
- they talked of persevering on this and other causes, such as
starting a petition to stop planned school closings.
"Does
this make us civil rights leaders?" Tyneka Brackett wondered
aloud.
The
rest of the group answered with a resounding "yes."
Why?
"Because
we're trying to make a difference," said Dashaun Walters.
Original
Posted Story:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060223/1036865.asp?PFVer=Story
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