Hi everyone, the past few weeks at the Boys and Girls club for me have been pretty awesome. I have gotten comfortable at the club and have established great relationships with my coworkers and the kids.
Since I last posted I have made two new food items with all the children. We have made banana pancakes with a really easy recipe. It is just 2 eggs and 1 whole banana, and this makes 4 banana pancakes. Then we have also made peanut butter granola bars. This recipe involved oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips and honey. I have gotten great feedback from the kids and these seem to be new items that they are trying. I am hoping to not only introduce new healthy foods to the kids, but also provide affordable recipes that they could easily make at home. Some of the kids have come up to me and have told me they have made the pizza or the quesadilla with their parents at home. I love hearing that.
I have had an experience recently that angered me while on a field trip with the teenagers. I already posted this story in one of the comments I made but I think I should share it again. When another coworker and I took the teenagers to Rhodes for a college tour, we went to get food afterwards. Then we had to wait about 20 minutes until our van came to pick us up. We thought we could shop around Old Navy for a bit while we wait. So we brought 15 black teenagers into the store and right away you could see the security guard was unhappy about this. He kept following our black males especially and he made it fairly obvious. He finally came up to my coworker and I and told us that we needed to take the group out of the store. He said it was not a hangout place even though a vast majority of the kids were looking at clothes and some were trying them on. We protested a bit to the man but took our group out of the store. One of the male teenagers was very upset about all of this and said something like "why do people always think I am stealing stuff?" It was a disheartening moment for me and I felt bad for the teenagers. I think it would have been a totally different reaction if I brought 15 white teenagers into the store.
I know I told that story before in one of the comments but thought I should say it again just to make sure that people saw it.
WOW that's so terrible! I hadn't read that comment of yours so I'm glad you posted the story again. I would call the manager and their corporate headquarters and explain what happened because that is so unacceptable. That security guard isn't a bouncer it's not his responsibility to deny access to a store to anyone, especially if it's on the basis of their race. It's so disheartening to know how pervasive the racism is in Memphis - I know how much teenage black males are discriminated against once they get in the juvenile system so I'm not surprised they face the same thing in their general lives, but I'm shocked it was that outright. I'm sorry yall had that experience!!
ReplyDeleteAt least it sounds like you had a great time last week inspiring the younger kids to cook - keep up the good work!!
^ Just read the comments on my post and saw the story there - sorry!
ReplyDelete^ Just read the comments on my post and saw the story there - sorry!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go ahead and echo what Megan said here -- I'm glad you shared that story again, because that truly is disheartening, but I think that it is a story that should be shared. It's interesting to think about in the context of last week's theme, education, and our tour of Freedom Prep, which is a school that is run with the intentional target of the same demographic that you're helping serve this summer, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that many students at schools like Freedom Prep have had a similar experience, and a similar reaction. It's really sad to hear the comments from that one individual. It's just a perpetuation of stereotypes, and it makes me think about how easy it would be to live into that, if it's what is expected of you from a common stranger in an Old Navy. I'm just glad that you and the other volunteer were there to at least stand up for them a little bit, and to reinforce that you didn't think of them in that way. And it also sounds like you're doing great work with the healthy cooking classes, so keep that up!!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, congratulations on your health/wellness lessons! It seems like the students are really enjoying it. Teaching the participants how to live a healthier lifestyle is invaluable; it would be one thing if you were only providing healthy food for them, but you are teaching them how to make it in their own home in a really affordable way. I think if more programs followed that model, there would be greater results. You are using affordable ingredients to make pretty substantial foods. Good for you and keep it up! I can't wait to hear about other lessons.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I had talked with you in a car ride about your Old Navy experience. I agree with what Megan and Hannah said. I would be lying to say I am not surprised. Explicit racism is so prevalent in our community; it's sickening. On the forefront of this issue is the hiring of Professor Robinson. I am still reading into the story more, but I feel that it is exposing a significant amount of racism at Rhodes and in the Memphis community.
I'm so glad that you shared that story, and I will also echo what everyone else has already said. I can't believe that something this blatantly racist and prejudiced happened to your students. It's such a great reminder, though, about the things that others face every single day, that people like you and I do not usually encounter. Thanks for sharing the story as a reminder to us all.
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