I wanted to share with you all a column from Monday’s Detroit Free Press that really moved me. The piece focuses on one of the reasons students are straying from the Detroit Public School system–they are casualties of youth violence. The writer’s young cousin, Chris, was one of those casualties.
The column hit so hard because I worry I might know a “Chris.”
About a year ago, I became involved with a group here in DC called Project Northstar. The idea behind the nonprofit is to reach out to children who are homeless, in danger of homelessness, or recently homeless, and provide them with additional academic support and positive adult role models.
I was paired up with Michael, a fifth-grade boy with a sweet smile and a strong sense of responsibility for his six or seven younger brothers and sister. Being the big brother is a tough role, and one he takes very seriously. Though I’ve been unable to prod him into bringing schoolwork to our sessions, on the rare occasion we do focus on academic work, he shows enormous potential. He is smart, thoughtful, creative. He loves to draw and is fascinated by anime.
If I could only get him invested in tapping that potential.
I’ve been working with him for almost a year now, and each week I feel as though I’m losing ground, not gaining. Our first session back this fall, he told me of sassing his teacher; of getting into a fight at school; of a three-day suspension. He skipped tutoring a few weeks ago, opting instead to stay home and watch a movie. He insists his homework is finished already when he does come, and on my attempts to find reading material that would interest him–comic books, sports magazines, crossword puzzles–he protests any reading at all. “I just like to look at the pictures,” he says. He talks occasionally of his friends–boys who encourage him to fight, who see themselves as gangstas. They started bullying younger children in the school. The reason? Because someone did it to them.
I find myself scanning the “blotter” in the paper each day–the section that reports on shootings and other violence each day–fearful I might see his name, or for that matter, the names of any of the other kids I interact with at the site every week.
We’re failing these children. Whether in DC, Detroit, New York, LA, or even Podunk, Ohio, there are too many children out there that we aren’t reaching. Too many children who don’t have a passion for learning, who have not been inspired to see beyond what their lives are to what they might become. Ms. Christian says it best about her cousin: “no one taught him how to turn his life from a minus to a positive.” And every day I find myself asking, what else can we do? How many people does it take to make a difference? Can you teach a child to dream?
I don’t know the answer, but I’m going to keep trying with Michael; the last thing I will ever do is give up on him. I can be a consistent, determined face he sees each week. I will keep shoving books under his nose until I find something he wants to read. I’ll keep asking about school, and encouraging him to find productive ways to channel his anger and frustration. And I’ll keep praying that somehow, we can make a difference for these kids.
