Martin Luther King Day

"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the last 50 years, Mississippi has made huge strides towards achieving racial equality. I live in a state without segregation, lynchings, and political violence. Civil and voting rights are preserved to the letter of the law. The bulk of Mississippi's African-American population is represented by an African-American U.S. Representative. About a third of the seats in the state House of Representatives are held by African-Americans.

Yet the states still swelters with injustice. Widespread poverty, especially on the Delta and to a lesser extent in Jackson, disproportionately has a darker face. African-Americans still face limited educational opportunities and as a result limited life opportunities. If one walks the hallways of my school, you would find a 97% African-American student body that is receiving an inferior education compared to a mostly white high school minutes away and on other side of the city limits. Our building is worse, our teachers tend to be less qualified, and there seems to be a pervasive sense of failure among significant chunks of the student body. It's like they've given up before they walked through the door.

It's my job to give my students the same opportunity as their white counterparts. It is something that I'm not sure if I can actually do. I have failed consistently to be the amazing teacher they need me to be. I find myself making huge mistakes and learning important things on the job. But I have to try. You can't change the world by sitting on your butt. More importantly, I can't help them to change their world by sitting on my butt.

So I'm going to quote another prominent African-American, Jesse Jackson, to finish off this posting:

"Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith, and in the end faith will not disappoint. Our time has come. Our faith, hope and dreams have prevailed. Our time has come. Weeping has endured for nights but that joy cometh in the morning."

I believe that Mississippi can be a better place. So let's suffer for it together. Maybe the bright morning will come sooner than we think and that oasis is not too far away.