![]() ![]() We don’t value a baby because they’re “diverse”, we value them because they are a BABY. The mom in me cannot ever understand how anyone could hurt a child. MSCS is an incredible boon to the children lucky enough to attend.Ĭhildren should be protected. In times when it felt like the entire country went insane, I turned to school superintendent Dr. My seventh- and fifth-grader have been cared for in ways I never knew a public school could provide. There was even a number to call for parents to be tutored so we could support our kids with homework help. During learning from home because of the pandemic, meals were provided, devices were distributed. They’ve twisted themselves in knots to focus on getting young people what they need, whether it’s virtual science demonstrations via Microsoft Teams or shoes that don’t pinch. If you have a kid in MSCS, you know that the educators and staff have absolutely stepped up at every opportunity to provide a safe place for the kids. Memphis-Shelby County Schools serve a 74% Black student body in a 64% Black city and a 54% Black county. No child deserves to start their school day in racial violence. I didn’t want to scare the faculty, but I wanted them to take it seriously. I wanted to pull the alarm as hard as I could. I couldn’t let this slip into that space where people convince themselves that what they’re seeing may not be what they think it is. I wanted to be sure the staff didn’t presume that maybe it was some musical band sticker or a TikTok challenge by kids trying to be edgy. When I took an intact sticker to the faculty, I leaned in to assert, “This is absolutely a white supremacist slogan. My youngest thought I was insane when I parked and jumped out of the car to claw them off. In January, at my middle schooler’s campus, about a dozen “IT’S OK TO BE WHITE” stickers showed up on the fence posts then earlier this month, another few appeared on the backs of signs. So, of course, you do the most radical thing you can think of - you put stickers on a dumpster for 7-year-olds to read. You’re angry that you’re not kings and need to blame someone. The small disrespects done to Black people. The sly jokes meant to obscure anti-Black feelings. I grew up in West Memphis and Marion, across the river in Arkansas, back when it was still very segregated. It’s almost like the anger isn’t logical.Ĭommunity lost: Binghampton residents forced out as home flipper moves in Funny how closely linked are the dual rages at a rainbow crosswalk and Black Lives Matter. Presumably, the area is being targeted for being whatever “woke” means to racists. Reports of these stickers keep popping up on social media in the Cooper-Young district. Our neighborhood is next to Cooper-Young, where the city’s LGBT community center sits and where every other yard has a BLM sign and several houses have large artistic pieces supporting BLM. I live in Rozelle-Annesdale, where I frequently see Black Lives Matter yard signs on our street. MLK50 distorted the images of the stickers to avoid amplifying the racist messages they intend to spread. She murmured, “Oh my God, why would anyone do this?” Photo illustration of the two stickers Coleman found on school grounds. Neither of us wanted the child to know he was being threatened. ![]() We both tried to pretend it was regular vandalism. Board of education, I had to hand a Black woman, who cares deeply for children, hateful propaganda. I tried to keep it businesslike, suggesting that the maintenance staff keep an eye out in case there were more.īut the truth is that I also spoke in that grown-up tone because a second-grader was in the office and I didn’t want him to be curious and ask what I’d given the nice lady. We took an example of each into the office to tell the nice lady who calls us adults Mom and Dad but knows all the kids’ names that a white supremacist group had been through. I cussed and sweated as we worked, and I told my son we had to get them off before anyone else saw what these *expletive deleted* put near his school. But he jumped right in, and together, we scraped off four of the former and two of the latter. I couldn’t help but say, “OH WHAT THE F-” out loud and then I told my youngest kid to wait. In big black and white letters, one read: IT’S OK TO BE WHITE and another said: BLACK LIVES MURDER WHITE CHILDREN. Recently, though, I was late picking up the oldest because someone decided to add stickers to the dumpsters where my youngest has to pass to get to my car. We drive to pick up the oldest and head home, talking about their respective days. I walk to the door of my youngest’s elementary school and we walk back to the car. Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50Įvery school day, I pick up my two kids. Katrina Coleman sits at their home with their children. Environmental Justice Open dropdown menu.MLK50: Justice Through Journalism Close What this white comic found at their kids’ school isn't funny. ![]()
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