Under the baobab: A fruitful Black History Month comes to an end
“We will rebuild, reconcile and recover, in every known nook of our nation,
In every corner called our country, Our people, diverse and dutiful.
We’ll emerge battered but beautiful.”- Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”
This is the end of the most fruitful Black History Month in memory. Folks and institutions like Penn State, the Palmer Museum, The State Theatre, FOBA, the State College Area School District, NAACP and local municipal governments have celebrated the contributions of African Americans. Thank you, brothers and sisters for your concerns and recognition.
We may finally be emerging from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s too early for the crocus to bloom but not too soon for their buds to poke through the melting snow in anticipation of Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostications. Most of us have endured bothersome masks, stuck ourselves with multiple vaccinations, sheltered in chilling isolation, abstained from life sustaining embraces while patiently avoiding contact with those who hadn’t. Thank you for your patience and your love shown by your restraint.
Recent trials and convictions have helped reset the scales of justice and rescale the quantity and quality of our collective compassion. Many have been made to understand that they can no longer cloak themselves in the disintegrating mantles of white supremacy to escape justice nor kowtow to the nonsensical mumblings of deluded con artists to escape reality. Thank you for your compassion and understanding.
Yes, we still face wars and rumors of wars in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Thankfully, our warrior daughters and sons are not in immediate peril. Citizens in Red Square at great personal risk, protest their government’s irresponsible and tragic misadventure in Ukraine. We are grateful for their courage.
This season passes. We pause to breathe and reflect. We know the work is not done. We must resuscitate the dream of our mothers and fathers to build a beloved, compassionate and just community. As they did, we begin with the children.
As bad as things have been, it has been worse for the children. The pressures on them have been even more intense. For them there is no frame of reference for what we have experienced the last few years. For them this has not been exceptional time. It has been their norm.
Recently there was an altercation between two boys, one African American, one white, at State College Area High School. Usually a school fight results in some form of school discipline: suspension, detention, or in my Catholic boys school upbringing, a couple of smacks on the hand with a ruler. In the State High incident the police became involved. Rumors began flying about arrests and punitive charges. There were letter writing campaigns, petitions, and GoFundMe efforts for lawyers.
Calmer, more compassionate heads prevailed. Seria Chatters has provided courageous leadership in diversity, equity and inclusion issues for our children. Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna decided not to press adult criminal charges. Local clergy began counseling one of the children and their families. Community organizations defused the situation by placing the interests of both children at the center, of their efforts. Local authorities are beginning to see this as a situation where restorative not punitive justice should be utilized.
In good news, Racial Unity Network (RUN) raised over three thousand dollars at the “God’s Trombones” benefit for the Pennsylvania Innocent Project and the State Theatre’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” was quite successful. Charima Young, former Penn State director for local government and community relations, was appointed assistant vice president. President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Harvard Law grad is first African American woman to be so honored.
“We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be:
A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free”
-Amanda Gorman