When I first learned about this I must say like so many others it came as a surprise...I think he would be better off going back to being Superintendent of the Memphis City Schools...They need someone who has inside information about the workings of that system and who also has the political know how to to quickly turn around the Memphis City Schools System for the better...I think this is his unfinished legacy...Because the sad fact is there are schools that still don't have air conditioners since he was first Superintendent some 20 years ago...
Working in Memphis City High Schools I have experienced first hand what systemic neglect and legalized mental lynching and genocide has done to our kids...I have spoken with high school seniors who can't read or write at their grade level...I have met 14 and 15 year olds who are parents with two or more kids...I have been to high schools where it look like they are running day care centers, so many of our kids are having babies and they are babies themselves, so ill-prepared for this bruising and punishing world...I watch these kids walk up and down the halls and in the classrooms, full of energy but yet so full of anger because they do not know how to healthfully articulate and creatively express what they feel...There are no arts programs in many of our inner city schools...And since many of them can't proficiently read or write, many of our kids feel the need to prove their worth or lack thereof of by engaging in violently aggressive acts and/or risky sexual behavior...
These kids are basically making life or death decisions based on a perceived lack of options and hope...We are basically seeing another generation of crime and poverty growing before our very eyes with no community intervention...It is time we get back to the ' It Takes A Village' concept before it becomes to late...Like Dr. King said so many years ago, this is the fierce urgency of now!!!
Hopefully Herenton will get the job done this time around!!!
Working in Memphis City High Schools I have experienced first hand what systemic neglect and legalized mental lynching and genocide has done to our kids...I have spoken with high school seniors who can't read or write at their grade level...I have met 14 and 15 year olds who are parents with two or more kids...I have been to high schools where it look like they are running day care centers, so many of our kids are having babies and they are babies themselves, so ill-prepared for this bruising and punishing world...I watch these kids walk up and down the halls and in the classrooms, full of energy but yet so full of anger because they do not know how to healthfully articulate and creatively express what they feel...There are no arts programs in many of our inner city schools...And since many of them can't proficiently read or write, many of our kids feel the need to prove their worth or lack thereof of by engaging in violently aggressive acts and/or risky sexual behavior...
These kids are basically making life or death decisions based on a perceived lack of options and hope...We are basically seeing another generation of crime and poverty growing before our very eyes with no community intervention...It is time we get back to the ' It Takes A Village' concept before it becomes to late...Like Dr. King said so many years ago, this is the fierce urgency of now!!!
Hopefully Herenton will get the job done this time around!!!
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