As we celebrate the outstanding work of the area’s top educators at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education Gala, let us also remember the youth that those educators work to serve.
Incidentally, this week marks the 50th year since the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. That brutal act of domestic terrorism and racism killed four innocent girls and maimed many other Americans.
Those who supported the bombing were upset with Birmingham black youths’ efforts to racially desegregate the public establishments and schools. In the spring of 1963, the whole world watched as the Southern city’s officials allowed dogs to eat demonstrating children while civil servants rolled young protesters down the street with high-powered water cannon.
What we do not often remember is the role of the educators who sought to both protect their students and to create opportunities for them. Some teachers indirectly and directly challenged their black students to fight for their rights in the streets. Nearly all of the teachers, however, demanded what great educators have been requiring of their pupils for centuries: that their students excel despite their circumstances.
Here in St. Louis, we honor those educators who have expected excellence from young people in spite of poverty, crime, failing school districts and otherwise bleak circumstances.
In my own years of educating, I have found that the power of expectations far exceeds that of punishment. That is why recently I was taken aback with 19th Ward Alderwoman Marlene Davis’ proposed ordinance to make wearing one’s pants low on one’s hips illegal and punishable by a fine or jail time. I agree with the vast majority of Alderwoman Davis’s policy proposals (she has been and continues to be an advocate of the people), but I cannot support her effort this time.
I would humbly suggest that if she is so disturbed by the young men who “sag” their pants, she communicate to them that she expects excellence of them as future representatives of the community. Considering the staggering numbers of black males associated with the prison-industrial-complex for non-violent offenses, the answer to our community’s problems cannot be to further criminalize our young people with legislation and laws concerning their fashion choices.
As the educators in 1963 Birmingham expected young people to be the leaders of a better America, let us continue to expect excellence of our youth. We must emphasize to today’s black youth their role in shaping history.
In Birmingham, the children were the crusaders for freedom, and they succeeded in achieving their goals in the face of bigotry and bodily harm. Fifty years from now, people should remember our young people for what they managed to achieve and dream despite their circumstances.
Indeed, history will fondly remember those who had great expectations for the youth during the most trying of times. So when we reflect and celebrate this week, let us also formulate our dreams and expectations for our local youth who need us now more than ever.
Stefan M. Bradley is director of the African American Studies Program at Saint Louis University.
