| 00:00:05 | CURRICULUM. |
| 00:00:06 | SO, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE WOULD SAY TO ME, HOLDING UP FRANCESA IS A MODEL IS VERY DANGEROUS BECAUSE YOU CAN DO THAT IN THE SUBURBS. |
| 00:00:17 | THAT'S FINE. LEAVE PLAYFULNESS AND WHIM AND JOY AND BRAHMS AND WOODY GUTHRIE AND GREAT BLACK FOLK MUSIC -- LEAVE HAPPINESS TO THE CHILDREN OF THE SUBURBS. |
| 00:00:34 | THESE BLACK KIDS DON'T NEED THAT. |
| 00:00:38 | WE NEED TO HAVE A REGIMENT TO PUMP THOSE TEST SCORES 3 PERCENTAGE POINTS TO SATISFY THE GOVERNMENT. |
| 00:00:48 | SO THAT IN A WAY IT'S WORSE NOW THAN IT WAS THEN. |
| 00:00:52 | IT'S PARALLEL. |
| 00:00:53 | IN BOSTON WHEN I WAS A YOUNG TEACHER, THERE WERE STANDARDS, TOO. |
| 00:01:00 | THERE WAS ACCOUNTABILITY, SAME THING. |
| 00:01:02 | I WAS NOT A REBEL AT ALL. |
| 00:01:04 | I WASN'T POLITICAL IN THE LEAST WHEN I STARTED TEACHING. |
| 00:01:10 | I WAS STIRRED BY MARTIN LUTHER KING AND BY THE DEATHS OF YOUNG CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS IN THE SOUTH. |
| 00:01:15 | THAT'S WHY I BECAME A TEACHER. |
| 00:01:23 | BUT BASICALLY I JUST WANTED TO TEACH CHILDREN. |
| 00:01:26 | AND THEN MY FOURTH GRADE CLASS -- THIS WAS A TYPICAL ALL-BLACK CLASS, ALL-BLACK SCHOOL JUST AS WE HAVE TODAY. |
| 00:01:37 | AND THERE WAS NO -- THERE WAS NO BLACK MATERIAL IN THE CURRICULUM OF ANY SUBSTANCE. |
| 00:01:42 | EXCEPT FOR A FEW TOKENS, YOU KNOW? |
| 00:01:47 | EVERYBODY THE GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER BECAUSE THE KIDS CALLED HIM THE PEANUT MAN. |
| 00:01:58 | HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING CONTROVERSIAL. |
| 00:02:00 | BUT THERE WERE NO STORIES OR ANYTHING ABOUT BLACK KIDS. |
| 00:02:06 | SO ONE DAY JUST ON A IMPULSE, PURELY ON A IMPULSE WHEN I WAS IN HARVARD SQUARE, I WENT INTO OUR LOCAL -- I ALWAYS JOKE AND CALL IT OUR LOCAL COMMUNIST BOOKSTORE, THAT'S THE HARVARD COOK. |
| 00:02:23 | REMEMBER JOE McCARTHY SAID HARVARD WAS CRIMSON. |
| 00:02:26 | THAT'S A GOOD NAME FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE RED. |
| 00:02:30 | I PICKED UP A BRAND-NEW BOOK BY LANGSTON HUGHES. |
| 00:02:34 | PARTLY BECAUSE THE KIDS HADN'T SEEN A NEW BOOK. |
| 00:02:37 | KIDS USED TO SAY, EVERYTHING IS OLD AND RAGGEDY AND I BROUGHT IT IN AND EVEN BEFORE I OPENED THE BOOK, I HELD IT UP. |
| 00:02:49 | BY THE WAY, I HAD 35 KIDS IN MY CLASS. |
| 00:02:53 | IN A NIGHTMARISH BUILDING VERY MUCH LIKE TODAY. |
| 00:02:55 | THEY HAD A STRING OF SUBS BEFORE I WAS APPOINTED. |
| 00:02:59 | I WAS THEIR TWELFTH TEACHER THAT YEAR. |
| 00:03:04 | AND THEY'D BEEN RATHER HOSTILE TO ME AT FIRST BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WHY SHOULD THEY TRUST ME AFTER THEY'D BEEN ABANDONED 10 OR 12 TIMES ALREADY? |
| 00:03:15 | BUT SUDDENLY EVERYBODY WAS ON THE EDGE OF THEIR CHAIR AND I REMEMBER A LITTLE GIRL IN THE FRONT ROW WHISPERED TO THE GIRL IN FRONT OF HER, SHE SAID, LOOK, THAT MAN'S COLORED BECAUSE THERE'S A PICTURE OF HIM ON THE FRONT AND I READ A COUPLE OF POEMS TO THEM AND ONE GIRL IN THE BACK ROW, WHO HAD BEEN MOST HOSTILE TO ME, DISTANT, SORT OF -- A BEAUTIFUL FACE, CHISELED, AUSTERE, A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN SMILED BUT COLD. |
| 00:03:54 | LOOKED AT ME WITH THAT LOOK IN MALCOLM X'S EYES WITH THAT FAMOUS LOOK AT HIM. |
| 00:03:59 | NEVER SMILED. |
| 00:04:00 | SHE SUDDENLY GOT UP AND CAME AROUND THE WHOLE ROOM, CAME UP AND TOUCHED MY SHOULDER VERY GENTLY, STROKED IT KIND OF THANKFULLY AND SHE WHISPERED, THANK YOU. |
| 00:04:15 | 'CAUSE THEY'D NEVER HEARD A POEM BY A BLACK MAN BEFORE AND SHE SAID COULD I BRING THAT BOOK -- COULD I BRING THAT BOOK HOME AND SHOW IT TO MY MOM. |
| 00:04:24 | I WAS SO HAPPY. |
| 00:04:25 | I WOULD HAVE GIVEN HER MY CAR. |
| 00:04:27 | THE NEXT DAY SHE CAME IN AND SHE MEMORIZED ONE OF THE POEMS, THE GREAT FAMOUS POEM BALLAD, WHICH HAS THOSE FAMOUS LINES, WHAT HAPPENS TO A DREAM DEFERRED? |
| 00:04:41 | DOES IT -- DOES IT DRY UP LIKE A RAISIN IN THE SUN? |
| 00:04:47 | AND THE NEXT DAY I WAS FIRED. |
| 00:04:50 | I WAS FIRED FOR READING THAT AND OTHER POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES. |
| 00:04:56 | THEY HAD THIS LIST THAT JUST LIKE TODAY THAT SAID LANGSTON HUGHES WAS AN EIGHTH GRADE POET. |
| 00:05:03 | AND I'D READ HIM IN FOURTH GRADE SO THE FORMAL CHARGE AGAINST ME, IF I RECALL THIS WAS ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE "NEW YORK TIMES" BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE ASTONISHED. |
| 00:05:21 | THE CHARGE WAS CURRICULUM DEVIATION AND THE "BOSTON GLOBE," OUR LOCAL PAPER, OF COURSE, PLAYED WITH THIS. |
| 00:05:29 | AND THEIR HEADLINE WAS SOMETHING LIKE, RHODE SCHOLAR FIRED FROM FOURTH GRADE. |
| 00:05:37 | BUT IT DIDN'T HURT ME, YOU KNOW? |
| 00:05:40 | I GOT FIRED FOR CURRICULUM DEVIATION AND A COUPLE MONTHS LATER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HIRED ME FOR CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. |
| 00:05:52 | WHITE PEOPLE CAN TAKE THESE RISKS. |
| 00:05:56 | MY HARVARD DEGREE WAS SORT OF LIKE MY AMERICAN EXPRESS GOLD CARD. |
| 00:06:01 | DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU? |
| 00:06:02 | BUT IT DID POLITICIZE ME. |
| 00:06:05 | THEN I DID BECOME POLITICALLY ANGRY. |
| 00:06:10 | AND THE PARENTS OF MY KIDS WERE VERY LOYAL. |
| 00:06:13 | A LOT OF WHITE TEACHERS SAY TO ME, IF I STICK OUT MY NECK, DO YOU THINK BLACK PARENTS WILL SUPPORT ME? |
| 00:06:21 | AND I SAID, OF COURSE, THEY'LL SUPPORT YOU IF THEY THINK YOU'RE ON THEIR SIDE. |
| 00:06:31 | THEY'RE NOT STUPID. |
| 00:06:33 | IF THEY THINK YOU'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR CHILD, THEY'RE LIKE ALL OTHER PARENTS. |
| 00:06:36 | SO THEY SHUT DOWN THE SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY. |
| 00:06:39 | AND THEN THEY SHUT DOWN THE WHOLE SCHOOL SYSTEM. |
| 00:06:45 | THEY ORGANIZED -- IT SORT OF -- WHAT'S THAT WORD, MUSHROOMED? |
| 00:06:49 | >> Host: UH-HUH. |
| 00:06:51 | >> Guest: AND THE BLACK LEADERS IN THE CITY SEIZED ON THIS. |
| 00:06:55 | THEY SAID, GOOD LORD, IF THE GREATEST BLACK AMERICAN POET IS FORBIDDEN IN THE FOURTH GRADE, ALONG WITH THE FACT THAT WE HAVE A TOTALLY SEGREGATED SYSTEM, A VICIOUSLY |
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