Skip to main content

They Have a Dream

For Martin Luther King's birthday (OK, almost 6 weeks ago now; I'm a little behind), the kids wrote what their dreams are. some of them provide a window into what these kids deal with every day.

"TJ:" (more about this one later; a very troubled child)
I have a dream fighting other kids. I have a dream hurting somebody on the football field. I have a dream about running away from home, school, and my football team and when I came back everything was alright."

"Jamila:"
I have a dream that people will stop smoking and drinking, stop shooting people, stop stealing money, and stop hating people. I wish that Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive. I wish people would stop mugging people.

"Steven:"
I have a dream that people would give dogs and cats good homes. I have a dream that people would stop being on drugs. I have a dream that people would respect their homes. I have a dream that people would give people in Africa some food. And I have a dream people would stop killing and fighting.

"Kobe:"
I have a dream that nobody was on drugs, that nobody killed each other and that no one got raped. I have a dream that my mom does not have diabetes and that I do not hear gun shots and that everything is OK.
These are not the kinds of dreams that many of us had when we were kids, nor are they the kind of dreams that kids should have to even think about. The last child in this list is moving. When someone came to his apartment to threaten his 16-year old brother's life, his mom decided she had had enough. The boys' father was shot and killed a couple of years ago and she was not about to lose anyone else that way. She packed them up and moved them in three days. We miss Kobe a lot - he was a wonderful, sweet child - but he may need to leave to stay that way. I hope he's found somewhere better.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Loss

  (I have been putting off finishing this blog post for months. You'll see why)  Today, I was cleaning a bookshelf and I found the journal from one of my third-grade students, who I call Fred in my book , in 2001. I still had it because he didn't come to the last day of school to get his stuff this year and I guess it got put in a pile and somehow I've kept it with me.  He didn't come to the last day of school, probably because his family was a mess: dad in prison, mom in an abusive relationship, all the kids (understandably) acting out violently. Fred was expelled from our school in second grade for hitting a teacher. Then he was expelled from the other school, I don't know why, at the end of second grade. He came back on the condition from the administration that he be in my class because I had him as a student in first grade and he listened to me and worked well with me.  We had a really good relationship, although Fred was definitely not easy to have in class....
Post a Comment
Read more

A New Prison, Part Two

  Second very long part of the prison visit report.   After we got all the paperwork filled out and went through the metal detector, we got visitation slips with the name of the inmate, and made our way over to the other building for visitation. This is not maximum security so thankfully you can just sit next to the inmates, and not be separated by glass or have to use a telephone to talk.    First, you get a gate unlocked and go into a holding pen that is of course in direct sunlight (or rain if it's that season) and surrounded by fences topped with razor wire. You wait there until the gate at the other end is unlocked. This holding pen was a little bigger and less claustrophobic than the other prison (I do not have any claustrophobia and I came very close to a panic attack once at the other place) and they opened the other gate more quickly. Then you walk, again in blazing sunlight (or rain) to the visitation building. This one was less of a walk than the other pri...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Best Mistake

I recently wanted to get a pedicure (I promise this will be important) and was looking at nail salons nearby. I knew there was a place called Kim's Nails near my exercise class, so I quickly googled to see if I could make an appointment online (I hate calling on the phone) and it let me, so I made an appointment for a few days later and went on with my day. Later that day, I got a text confirming my appointment and I realized that I had made the appointment at the wrong Kim's Nails! I meant to make an appointment for the one in my city and I made one at a nail shop in the next city over (Kim's Nails is a common business name). Because I had already made the appointment and they had taken the time to text me, I figured I'd just go with it. OK, if you're still with me, this is where it gets exciting! A few hours after I got the confirmation text, the owner of Kim's Nails texted me again. the text just said, "Are you a teacher?" I didn't know why they...
1 comment
Read more