Celebrate Or Party?

Celebrating has become synonymous with partying
and having a festive time. In the case of Black History
month it's a time for rememberance of black people
that contributed their hard work, efforts and even their
lives that have helped make this country what it is today.
Emmett Till's death was a tradgedy and one that should
never be forgotten and for a school to say that his murder
was too graphic is to border on censorship. Will these same
people also say that the holocaust is too graphic? To use
this lame excuse is to sweep piece of black history under
the rug. So let us not forget the real meaning of Black History
Month.

The award-winning author of "A Wreath for Emmett Till," a poetic memorial to the teenage civil rights icon murdered in Mississippi, said Wednesday it was "unconscionable" that a planned presentation of the work by students at a Los Angeles charter school sparked the firing of two teachers.Marilyn Nelson, a former poet laureate of Connecticut and National Book Award finalist, wrote to the school, Celerity Nascent, and said that she was "troubled" and "shocked" at the events and urged that teachers Marisol Alba and Sean Strauss be reinstated.

Controversy erupted last month when the school canceled a special Black History Month presentation by the seventh-grade class that was to include the reading of a poem and laying of a wreath of flowers inspired by Nelson's book. School officials had contended that the Till case — in which the black teenager was beaten to death in 1955 after allegedly whistling at a white woman — was too graphic for younger children and did not fit the mood of what was to be a celebratory event. The students had been learning about Till and planning the presentation for two weeks, and many wrote letters of protest to urge administrators to reconsider their decision.

Alba, who helped students prepare the presentation, and math teacher Strauss signed one of the letters and were later terminated."It's a terrible injustice," said Nelson, a professor of English at the University of Connecticut. "I wanted them to know that they're not alone. They raised their voices and that took courage."In her letter, Nelson wrote, "Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Mamie Till-Mobley would have been proud of your students' passionate and clear view of your decision to cancel their program. They would have signed the students' letters of protest too."





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