School embodies spirit of Black Lives Matter
History, culture lessons let students see selves
Kani Woolridge has seen enough death and mourning in his 13 years to last a lifetime.
So, when he took the mic this week at the all-school Mbongi — the morning assembly — at Martin Luther King Jr. elementary school in Milwaukee, it was personal.
“I will not die young,” Woolridge chanted in the words of Milwaukee activist Muhibb Dyer.
“I am great / I am mighty / I am awesome / I am magnificent,
“My destiny is not to die on the block. ... And I will not die young.”
It is Black Lives Matter at School week in cities across the country. But for students in Milwaukee’s only African-American immersion school, the notion that black lives matter is front and center every day.
“Our students are immersed in their history and culture from the minute they walk in the door until they leave, from the murals on the walls ... to our Kingian values,” said Angela Harris, an MLK Jr. kindergarten teacher who sits on the Black Lives Matter in Schools national committee.
“We want our children to understand that they have a purpose, that their futures matter and there’s a reason that they are all here.”
The second-annual Black Lives Matter in School, which kicked off Monday, is a national effort to focus on the lives of African-American children and the hurdles and inequities they face in education.
Organizers have four goals: an end to “zero-tolerance discipline practices and the adoption of restorative justice practices in schools; the hiring of more black teachers; mandating black history and ethnic studies in programs in kindergarten through high school; and the funding of counselors, rather than police officers, in schools.”
Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association’s Black Caucus have organized a series of events this week aimed at promoting those ideals.
The initiative takes its name from the national movement that emerged after the 2013 murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Florida, and several high profile killings of black men and boys by white police officers in the years that followed.
Milwaukee Public Schools, where more than half the students are AfricanAmerican and some schools exceed 90 percent, was criticized in conservative circles for funding the creation of Black Lives Matter curriculum in 2013. But the district has defended the initiative as a continuation of its civil rights curricu-
lum.
And it is in keeping with the emphasis MPS has nurtured at MLK Jr. since the immersion program launched in 1991.
“Black Lives Matter has everything to do with the affirmation of black dignity — from the child to their caregiver to the broader community,” said Monique Liston of Ubuntu Research and Evaluation, who is working with the school to reinvigorate its curriculum and professional development for teachers. “And that push is relentless throughout the school day.”
MLK Jr.’s program is not unlike that of the city’s other immersion schools — MPS’ French, German, Spanish and Italian language schools, as well as the independent charter school, the Hmong American Peace Academy — said school board Vice President Larry Miller.
“Students really need to see their histories and culture and their community experiences in a positive light,” Miller said. “When they walk into a school, children need to be able to see themselves.”
At MLK Jr.,the halls are lined with the faces of black luminaries past and present: Dr. King, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama and others. Classroom libraries feature books on black history. African drumming and dance are highlighted in the arts programs.
Most teachers are African-American, and a few are black men — both a rarity for an MPS school. And the stories and accomplishments of black people are infused into lessons across the curriculum. A teacher might reference, say, Henrietta Lacks and her “immortal” cell line as part of a science or math class; or the Mali emperor Mansa Musa in a lesson on African history.
“We talk a lot about standing on the shoulders of giants,” Harris said. “A lot of times, when you talk about AfricanAmerican culture, people tend to think it starts at slavery. We want our students to understand that ... before we descended from slaves, we descended from kings and queens.”
To kick off Black Lives Matter week, students and staff gathered for an allschool Mbongi, where Principal Marcus Arrington led them in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, the Black Pledge of Allegiance and their scholars’ pledge.
Harris’ kindergartners performed Useni Eugene Perkins’ poem “Hey Black Child.”
“Hey Black Child,” they shouted together.
“Do you know who you are Who you really are Do you know you can be What you want to be If you try to be What you can be ...”
Throughout the week, teachers planned to incorporate Black Lives Matter themes into their classroom lessons. On Monday, social studies teacher Janet Butler led students in a discussion of the parallels between the abolitionists who fought against slavery and Black Lives Matter activists battling racial injustice.
It meandered into a broad-ranging discussion of stereotypes, what it means to be free or enslaved in a contemporary context, and race relations.
“I’m tired of white people ... they think they’re better than us,” one boy said. “I’m tired of white people killing black people.”
And Butler pushed back. “Black people kill black people,” she told him. “Are you tired of that?”
There is a weariness in eighth-grader Kani Woolridge’s voice when he talks about the friends and family members who have died. He himself hasn’t always walked a straight line, he said, but he sees the school as a kind of second chance.
“I seen a lot, and I did a lot,” said Woolridge, who credits especially the men at the school who step up to guide boys without fathers at home. “Just knowing there’s people who really care about you and where you’re going, that inspires you to do better,” he said.
In a way, that’s what MLK Jr. is about, steeping young people in their history and culture in the hope that it will inspire in them “a confidence to try,” Arrington said.
“What I notice is a lot of our young people are very apprehensive to even try, whether it’s because they lack a certain skill or they don’t believe it’s for them.
“We want them to see that they’re connected to a rich heritage ... and to draw from that legacy to move forward in their lives.”