Black Faces

Standing in the shadow of the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington D.C., I am in awe of it's enormity and magnificence, but troubled by the response of my students.  Yesterday was a long tiresome day with the kids way off their game in terms of their learning and showing what they  know; I have seen my kids in a new light and I'm impressed by some and discouraged by many; we hold them up so high and it's always so hard to see some fall from that lofty platform.

I had a quick conversation with my principal who was traveling with us:  the problem our kids are having:  context.  None of this history matters to them or has any relevancy away from having to know it for TCAP, or to the other reality of taking the U.S. Citizenship test.

I teach mostly Latino students.  I agree that regardless of the race of my students MLK is an important figure in this country when it comes to social justice, but my students do not see their own heritage represented in the nation's capital.  Wandering through the Native American Museum, I longed for the kids to be able to discover their native heritage, to find some pride; a stronger sense of identity.  Not of Mexico, but feeling lost or unwanted in the United States, my students are in a limbo I can relate to but never imagined could exist.  As a multi-racial person I would be grouped into the race that I resembled the most.  Growing up where I did, I found my identity without a race or nationality attached, which remains the most liberating moment of my life when I realized that bi-racial was a race and, neither of the two could truly support in defining who I am.

But my students are seemingly unwanted by the rest of this country.  In D.C. I hardly heard Spanish.  There were many other languages, but rarely Spanish, and I wondered how they felt.  On the trains they spoke in Spanish quietly or sometimes more English than they would normally use conversing with each other.  Maybe to not draw attention to themselves?  I think constantly about the isolated lives my students live:  some rarely venture away from their street let alone across the country, and when they do, they find in the heart of our country, no trace of recognition for their own cultural heritage.

Which brings me back to context:  they are in-between, in-between countries, and some feel no connection or identity to either country.  How do I as a teacher, teach them to find an identity in a place where they do not wholly feel accepted?