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Thanks Fire for the warm welcome. Thought I might make a first post here. Hope you like it, enjoy.

Was Dr. King Acting Too White? — Reflections on Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King day came and went, which meant that all the children were off of school presumably to reflect upon and celebrate Dr. King’s accomplishments. The day following Martin Luther King day, a crying female student was brought down to my office. Being the school psychologist, having emotionally distressed students sent to me is not uncommon, however why this student was upset was of great concern.

After the student had calmed down, we began to discuss why she was crying in class. She replied, “I do well in school, I just got an “A” on a big Algebra test and my friends told me to stop acting so white”. She went on to say that the other students tease her all the time about “acting white” because she does well in school, doesn’t speak “black enough”, and thinks she is better than the other students. As I spoke with this student, it became quite clear that this was a very smart girl who was destined for college and most likely a successful and productive career in whatever area she decided to excel in. Unless she succumbed to peer and community pressure to stop acting so white and gave up.

Over the past 12 years as a school psychologist, I have had many black students share this same tale with me. It being the day after Martin Luther King day, I began to wonder why succeeding in academics became associated with selling out in the minds of my young black high school students and what Dr. King might have thought of all this.

In my public high school career way back in the late 1970’s, I seem to recall that I had learned that Martin Luther King was a man of great academic accomplishment. I recall that he studied very hard and graduated high school early (with honors) so that he could attend college with his older sister. As I also recall, he excelled in college and earned a doctorate degree. By the standards of some of the youth today, would the Rev. Doctor Martin Luther King have been acting “too white”?

It would seem that Martin Luther King’s dream was that black students would excel and demonstrate academic excellence in all areas. In my school and many just like it across the nation it is now Black history month. During black history month in the schools there are posters on the walls and daily announcements which present to the students example after example of great accomplishments by Black Americans in all areas of science, medicine, agriculture, music and the arts. I believe it is thought that by seeing the accomplishments and struggle of great Americans who were black, it would motivate the students to higher achievement. Yet somehow there seems to have developed an ideological disconnect between the accomplishments and hard work of these great Black Americans of the past and academic success now. This attitude seems to have permeated (or is co-influenced?) many levels of society as anyone who listens to the current offerings of Rap pouring from the Radio knows that there are many Rap artists that preach in their songs that succeeding in school is selling out.

This is greatly troubling and a perversion of Dr. King’s dream. If accomplishment and hard work are not rewarded by the community and individuals have a sub-cultural disincentive to success, then no amount of federal money/pressure, pandering by educators, re-inventions of history, Martin Luther King days off, or black history months will have a pronounced effect on the behavior of students who equate success with selling out.

CyberStoic

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