The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Future? Our kids are sending us a message
I went around the world on Wednesday — with lunch in India and dessert in France — and along the way I learned a little bit more about the different cultures I come in contact with every day, and I did it all without leaving the town of Woodbridge.
I was invited to the annual multicultural presentation and luncheon presented by the fourth-grade class of Naomi Reizfeld at Beecher Road School as part of Black History Month. It is part of my effort to show kids how that history has made a difference in America.
The day at the school started when I was greeted at the door by a fourth-grader taking part in the program, who chatted up a storm about why she chose Jamaica as the country she wanted to represent.
“That is where my Dad is from,” she said, leading me down a series of winding hallways before arriving at Reizfeld’s class.
The room was packed with parents and visitors and festive students dressed in colorful clothing associated with the countries of their heritage, such as Indonesia, Haiti, Taiwan, Poland and many more too numerous to list here. And a smorgasbord of food, with dishes representing the many cultures in the room, was spread out down a long table.
The program had three parts.
In one part, each kid chose a country to represent and used a box to colorfully illustrate significant parts of the country on each side, such as the capital, wellknown structures, key words or phrases in the country’s language, favorite foods and so on.
Martin Luther King Jr. was the inspiration in another segment of the program in which each student stood and read what they hoped for in the world. Each student started their speech with “I have a dream.”
What did the fourth-graders hope for?
They wanted an end to hunger, more peace in politics to get things done and more respect for one another; they wanted an equal education for everyone and more teachers; they wanted people to stop texting while driving and to put down cellphones once in a while; they wanted a cure for cancer and for people to understand they are lucky for what they have; they wanted more appreciation for the military and an end to terrorism; they wanted to end bullying, stop pollution in the ocean so the fish wouldn’t die and to stop animal abuse; and they wanted more technological advances that made going to places like Mars possible.
Those are serious thoughts and a serious bucket list for children who eventually will be in control of the country — and it brought huge rounds of applause.
Of course, kids always push the envelope: they also wanted the privilege to immediately vote and have as much rights as their parents. That brought a huge round of laughter.
This is the first of two schools I will visit during Black History Month. And I am happy to say, I was not alone. A doctor who works in Bridgeport and a Superior Court judge also were on hand representing the positive changes in black America.
This was a day for the leaders of tomorrow — and they made very clear what it is they want and don’t want — and they want us to resolve our differences.
I have written before that we need to go back and find the kid in us so we can once again find common ground. Our kids are telling us it is OK to be black American, white American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Indian American and so on. They want us to remember the commonality in all that is “American” — and it is diversity that is the guts of America and we need to get back to being what we are.
And as a group, they tell us how they feel about the beauty of that diversity in the opening and closing their program:
“I love a world of difference,” they recited. “It’s beautiful to see, where every face is different and no one’s just like me. I love a world of difference, where people are free to pray to God the way they choose and still be friends with me. I love a world of difference with different foods to eat, with different kinds of music that sound so rich and sweet. I love a world of difference, where I can take your hand and tell you things about myself that you will understand. I love a world of difference, with people who are fair, so let us try to make that world for children everywhere.”
I can’t say it any better. Future? Our kids are sending us a message.