Former Assistant to the Director of Urban School Services
Every morning when I arise, I ask the Lord to remind me why I continue in this struggle for quality education for poor children. What can I do today to make a difference in the life of a child whom an education is essential—as much a requirement for life as water and air? I am often intimidated by the magnitude of such a task because I realize that the ability to create that opportunity for our children requires a power greater than my own.
When I consider the sacrifices that were made by our ancestors to afford children of color a formal education, the implications of our responsibilities overwhelm me. Frederick Douglass, a slave, realized the value of education as “the pathway from slavery to freedom.” I am therefore strengthened in my faith, knowing that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I gain boldness in understanding that this struggle is for the survival of our children. I find power in the unity of those fighting with me because united we shall stand. I feel confident that in time, we shall be delivered from the bondage we know as substandard education that perpetuates the cycle of poverty and despair. In the words of the old Negro spiritual, “we shall overcome—someday.”
So, what shall we do in the meantime? What exactly is the meantime? The meantime is the time between already and someday. In the meantime we must determine the role each of us will play in this movement. Participants can be supporters, advocates, or adversaries of educational reform. Supporters believe in the cause but are not actively involved. Advocates support the mission and are actively involved. Adversaries revolt against creating educational options for the poor. Thus, they revolt against providing children with the best possible education to ensure their future as gainful members of our society. Yet these adversaries ultimately practice school choice themselves by condemning children to substandard schools.
If those of us who are advocates sit and wait for someday, then another 40 years will have come and gone and we will still be waiting. But if we fight for our liberties with the passion and fervor that we have for our children, someday can be today. If we must march, then we shall march. If we must sit-in, then we sit-in. If we must cry out, then we must cry out loudly enough for all to hear. As children of Christ, we should not sit idly by and wait for someday to come. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the time is always ripe to do right.”
Someday
A poem by Tasha Tillman
I struggle each day because I know our children can no longer wait.
We allow a system to determine their fate.
Everyday another one dies.
Maybe not physically but mentally, or emotionally inside.
The children, so innocent and lost, they often don’t realize the cost that they must pay as they patiently await someday.
If Dr. King were alive, what would he say
as we sit and allow them to offer us someday?
Someday is not soon enough; our children can no longer wait!
Education has become the center of every political debate,
Yet the system is still failing, and human lives are at stake.
What is the discussion about? What more is there to say?
If these were your children, would you wait for someday?
The Meantime Volume 1 Number 1