Lesson on slavery
I was struck by the uproar about children participating in a reenactment of slavery marking the 350th anniversary of the founding of the city of Salem, N.J., which would have featured Hetty Reckless, an abolitionist who helped enslaved people escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
I will try to raise my voice above the din and hope my experience as a Philadelphia school music teacher who taught fifth graders a unit on the Underground Railroad will result in another way of looking at this collaboration.
Kim and Reggie Harris, musicians born and raised in Philadelphia, came to my school and presented us with their CD, Steal Away: Music From the Underground Railroad. The children were completely taken with it, learning all the songs, especially excited about “No More Auction Block for Me,” “Wade in the Water,” “Let Us Break Bread Together,” and “Now Let Me Fly.”
I asked the children if they would like to act out the songs, and every single student, a very diverse group, raised his or her hand.
I divided them into groups according to which song resonated with them, and they set to work on their presentations, which would be set to the particular song they chose. Movements only. All fifth-grade classes participated.
Most children did not know about the Underground Railroad movement, or the spirituals that expressed prayer and protest and pain.
I was so moved by what they created. One boy who took part in an auction block story told me he never knew families were separated.
They inhabited the roles and were able to really experience and feel what it must have been like for the people they were portraying.
Were the children in Salem asked whether or not they would like to participate?
Judy Rubin,Philadelphia
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“Fire her” was my initial thought when I read the first article in The Inquirer about how Betsy McBride asked a principal to find Black children to play enslaved people. After your follow-up article about her dismissal, I felt sorry for her.
The reenactment was to tell the story of Amy Hester “Hetty” Reckless, who appears to me to be the Harriet Tubman of Salem County, N.J. I imagine McBride believed Hetty had children who escaped with her and wanted to honor their courage.
McBride had a noble but half-baked idea. It’s unfortunate she didn’t know that nearly every Black church everywhere has a multigenerational mime ministry or drama group. Had she consulted with someone in our community instead of assuming, we together could have created something truly beautiful for Salem.
As a Black man, I would never simply ask a public school principal to select white children to play captors and overseers. True honor comes through collaboration and genuine appreciation of one another.
Rosamond Kay,Philadelphia
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I am surprised at the uproar over asking Black students to portray enslaved people. I agree that this woman should not have requested this on her own, without consulting her associates at Stand Up for Salem first. And if this is the real issue, I concur.
But to have the premise of having Black students portray enslaved people as demeaning or discriminatory is just wrong, because it shouldn’t be viewed as that.
We recently viewed a social uproar about removing past references to slavery as “bad history.” We should be pleased that we could represent our past, good or bad, with the most accuracy.
The school district should consider asking if any students would like to represent their ancestors, so history can be properly displayed.
I think they may get some takers.
Jeff Campbell, Folsom
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Maybe Betsy McBride should have had her white students play the role of enslaved people, and the Black students play the role of the overseers in her reenactment exercise. Or at least take turns.
Tiffany Long, Philadelphia
Facts matter
In the late 1940s, there were approximately a thousand polio deaths each year. I am old enough to remember the iron lung respirator, helping polio patients breathe. One of my childhood friends had polio. We had a president — Franklin D. Roosevelt — with polio.
In the 1950s, vaccine development moved forward. During a nationwide vaccine campaign, I remember receiving the Salk vaccine. The vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk, greatly diminished the polio virus.
In the 1970s, the combined MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) significantly reduced those childhood diseases. Recently, the COVID-19 vaccine prevented 3.2 million deaths.
Times have changed. The recent decisions by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are unacceptable.
Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, believes in the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.
With no scientific evidence, he claims that children between 6 months and 23 months do not need the COVID vaccine. In the meantime, cases of measles and other diseases are slowly increasing.
Kennedy recently removed all members of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, a group that sets vaccine policy. He replaced the committee with anti-vaxxers. Kennedy plans to reduce the supply of vaccines nationwide, generating a resurgence of dangerous infectious diseases.
Vaccines are trustworthy, safe, and effective. Kennedy is going backward.
Ed Vreeswyk,Yardville
Dems need a Charlie Kirk
I was deeply saddened by the senseless murder of Charlie Kirk.
I watched him in recent years transform from a conservative organizer to a man blending his views with a deeper Christian faith and reaching out to young men. He was really becoming an evangelist and uniter.
Just as disturbing as Kirk’s murder was the vile reaction from many liberals and Democrats lying about him, and even celebrating his death.
It’s caused me, after 52 years, to walk away from the Democratic Party.
The greatest problem our country faces is not simply crime or bad policies. It is the moral rot at the heart of our culture — and it is why our problems never get solved. Charlie Kirk spoke to that.
Kirk urged young men to be good husbands and fathers. To love the country, speak freely, and live responsibly, biblically. It’s a message that should be in every school, but somehow, it has been canceled.
I would urge any decent Democrat to examine how their party has gone from supporting working-class values to celebrating criminals, defunding police, and mocking Christians.
It’s time for Democrats to clean house, get back to basic family values, support the law, and show some common decency toward your fellow Americans. You need new moral leadership.
Richard Iaconelli, Philadelphia, post_rich@yahoo.com
Climate of hate
Forgive me if you already know this, but it is impossible to blame anyone for the appalling state of this country’s public discourse and behavior but President Donald Trump and the sycophants in the Republican Party who continually enable him. Never has an American leader used immature insults to attack anyone he perceives as having slighted him in any way. Never has anyone as infantile as our current president used every lever and agency of government to attack and harass his political opponents. He threatens them using language not suited for a fifth-grade schoolyard spat. He unleashes government agencies to persecute them in ways heretofore unimaginable by a U.S. president. He encourages his minions to attack anyone or any organization that refuses to bow before his every erratic whim. And after creating this climate of hate and violence, he bemoans that it has encouraged his opponents to call him out and try to contradict or blame him for this corrosive atmosphere. As we approach the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding, the democratic values on which it depends have never been more at risk. Who knows in what condition we’ll be after three and a half more years of Donald Trump?
Ben Zuckerman,Philadelphia