On December 13, 2014 in New Bedford, MA a group of scholars,
reacting to injustice, protested by chanting and holding signs.
And what university did this corps of “scholars”
attend. Ah, this advanced group
was not post-secondary.
Rather, they are second graders from the Alma Del Mar Charter School.
One has to admit to being impressed. At their age, to be so enlightened is a
gift few possess. All I remember
was that my contemporaries and I thought mostly about escaping the clutches of
our pedagogues. Then again, in
second grade, I didn’t consider myself a scholar.
The Boston Globe reported;
“According to
Will Gardner, the school’s founder and executive director, a “handful” of the
school’s students requested to hold the protest after a lesson on citizenship
and the First Amendment, in which topics in the media, including the August
death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., were discussed.
The students
from Shabrina Guerrier’s class asked the head of school, Emily Stainer, if they
could hold the protest.”
Mr. Gardner
also said the teacher made clear; “was very clear with the scholars that this
was not to be an antipolice event in any way,”
Mr. Gardner used the word scholars* without irony. There is a video in which he comes
across as a bit smarmy.
The Globe
also reported that; “The students from Shabrina Guerrier’s class asked the head of
school, Emily Stainer, if they could hold the protest.”
Now I’m going
out on a limb and guess that Shabrina’s class heard a story that may not have
been completely evenhanded. It is
not likely a kid that age will want to do that unless prodded a tad.
Mr. Gardner
should stop using the word Scholars and maybe use a more apt term, “Young
Pioneers.”
George Borden, a
local policeman whose daughter was a protesting scholar was under-amused.
“I don’t think 7-year-olds can come up with the
idea to go out and protest on the street,” said Borden, whose daughter Alana
was among the students on the sidewalk.
Ah, but Mr.
Borden, don’t you see, you are not a scholar.
There are two
sides to every story and maybe Officer Wilson should have been indicted. I was not in the class at Alma Del Mar and
cannot say if Scholar-Leader Gurrier was or was not truly even-handed. My experience, as a kid and a parent
makes me a doubter.
Somehow an invitation found its way into
Officer Borden’s daughter’s backpack:
“Join us for a peaceful protest in New
Bedford to stand up for justice for Michael Brown and Eric Garner and to
protest against the unjust systems that allow police officers to kill Black men and boys with immunity”
This had to be a miracle as Scholar Gardner
claimed “The school did
not issue any kind of invitation to any protest.”
*When Gardner uses the term “scholar” maybe “snowflake”
would be more accurate.
