TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE
Students leading gun debate
Public schools have been under intense scrutiny and criticism lately, and Shelby County Schools have been no exception. But on Thursday, April 19, the day of the walkout, I observed an impressive group of young people at Manassas High School and their equally impressive young teachers as they stood in solidarity with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivors and called for an end to gun violence.
At the request of student leaders, I was there representing the Alternatives to Violence Project, a program developed in the 1970s at the initiative of Bernard Lafayette in collaboration with incarcerated people in New York prisons. The program trains people to work for transforming, not engaging violence, and that transformation starts within each of us. Several groups like ours set up tables in the cafeteria at Manassas and interacted with young people as they came to lunch. Not only were students respectful, but they also seemed eager to hear of ways to counteract or transform violence.
Then I attended the walkout, which took place on the football field. Despite the cold, several hundred students listened to two students (who survived gun violence), and others whose family members have, talk about their experiences, insisting that we must stop the killing that marks Memphis as one of the most violent cities in the U.S.
Vincent Spriggs, the MC, played a popular rap, challenging students to count the number of times the speakers referred to guns. (It was 48!) Then he reminded them that these references, even uttered in song, shape our spirits, our souls and pull us toward violence. The program, planned by seniors, English teacher Don Garrett and media specialist Angela Brooks, showed great maturity and wisdom in calling all of the people gathered to put down guns, renounce violence and hate, and come together.
I applaud not only the administration of Manassas who had the wisdom to let the young people lead, but the teachers who supported them and the youth themselves who, as they so often do, show us the way forward in this city and thus give us hope.
Joni Laney, Memphis
Legislators failing the test
TN(not)Ready: I propose that every politician who speaks about, votes on or proposes standardized testing must first proctor a class for one day of every week of testing. Watch the students who fall asleep halfway through the test. Have your throat seize up when you see a child who is overwhelmed and anxious with tears running down her face. Try to contain the students’ volume and activity after they have sat at their desks for 21⁄2 hours and still have eight more days of testing. Or better yet, take the test and experience how confusing some of the questions can be.
Anne Engstrom, Memphis
Testing, not learning
I tend to be a “go along to get along” person. I don’t pull my kids out of school during testing, don’t write letters to the state, etc. I may need to change that. Last week my youngest spent an hour of school time with his head on his desk because of the testing schedule. The next day my oldest called to be checked out because the final two hours of school time would be spent just sitting in homeroom while the students in two grades higher were testing. And none of Email letters to letters@commercial appeal.com; mail Letters to the Editor, The Commercial Appeal, 495 Union, Memphis, TN 38103; or click on the “Submit Letter” link on the Opinion page atcommercialappeal.com. this even has anything to do with all the technical issues, which have been insane. Something has to change.
Tiffany McClung, Memphis
The Lord watches over you, the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. Psalm 121:5-6
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