I Can’t Breathe,
But I Can Hear You
For anybody that knows me, or has ever attended a meeting, an assembly, or even a graduation at New Horizons Charter Academy, you’ve heard me say the following: “I started my life witnessing the ugliness of Segregation. I grew up in North Carolina and Virginia in the south, during the sixties, and I stand before you as a product of hard work, a little luck, and a college education.”
New Horizons Charter Academy Community: The violence, looting, and intentional agitation in the streets of Los Angeles, and across the country this weekend are not the solution to the endless killing of unarmed Black men, or the systemic racism communities of color continue to experience 50+ years after the Civil Rights Movement.
When the dust settles, if there aren’t politicians, police chiefs, and policy makers with agendas for change, we’ll find ourselves right back where it started on June 19, 1865 — Juneteenth — “Freedom Day” for enslaved African-Americans.
There are two ways that we can move things forward – the ballot box and a commitment to education. Both create access to economic, social, and political opportunities that simply wouldn’t exist otherwise.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out to Mike Wallace during an interview in 1966 (when I was the same age as many of our students), “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
So make them hear you. With your vote. And your diploma. And your Bachelor’s degree. And the people you elect to be mayor. And the folks you empower at your job as a lawyer, a judge, or a journalist.
And if you can’t take it from me, take it from someone you trust. Someone who knows. And someone who’s proven to you they care about justice and change. About Philando and Stephon. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd.
Maybe a parent. Or a grandparent. A teacher, or coach, or mentor. Or maybe you prefer taking it from a president. In which case, you can do that too.
Like President Barack Obama, “I recognize that these past few months have been hard and dispiriting.” And like him, I believe that we can take effective action to make this moment a turning point. Through education and the ballot box.
In the words of our 44th President, “Let’s Get To Work!”
In Change,
Richard Thomas, M.Ed.
Executive Director/Principal
New Horizons Charter Academy
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