Thread by @michaelharriot

A thread

I was homeschooled until I was 12, so when I started going to school, I was one of the worst students.

For instance, I got a lot of zeroes for not turning in assignments. To be fair, I was TERRIBLE at math. And sometimes, I'd just get up and leave class without saying anything.

I was always running some kind of scam. I got in trouble for selling my lunch and selling contraband at school. Plus, I got in a lot of fights all the time.

My teacher finally gave up on me and asked the school to remove me from the classroom.

She was a fairly young teacher who was new to the school. She surmised that I was acting out because I couldn't keep up in class because the work was too advanced.

When Miss Sellers heard this, she said: "Put him in my class. I'll fix his bad ass."

Miss Sellers lived around the corner from me. She was about 193 years old and had literally taught everyone in my family. She wore stockings and smelled like Werthers Originals.

She had all the bad (mostly Black) students because everyone knew Miss Sellers DIDN'T PLAY.

Here is the thing: Miss Sellers was sweet AF. She had been teaching so long, she knew all the Black kids' parents & grandparents. If you acted up, she would SHOW UP AT YOUR HOUSE and tell on you.

In my neighborhood, you'd rather have the cops knock on your door than Miss Sellers

To us, she was a master teacher. But among her peers, she had a reputation for handing out high grades & giving out the answers on standardized tests

Although she eas considered a bad teacher, administrators kept her around to deal w/ unruly, slow Black kids.

Before they could put me in Miss Sellers' class, they needed to prove I was one of the "bad" students who needed help to get on my grade level.

Remember, this was my first year of school, so I'd never taken any of the standardized tests that determine your academic level.

During my first week in Miss Sellers' class, the school basically ran me through a battery of tests. Academic tests. IQ tests. etc.

A few weeks later, as all the kids went to recess, Miss Sellers told me I had to come to the office with her. I asked why, but she didn't know.

When I got to the principal's office, a LOT of white people were there. The guidance counselor. The principal. The vice principal. The assistant principal. The teacher who kicked me out of her class. My mom & Miss Sellers were the only Black people there.

They asked if Dr. Sellers helped me with the tests. I was confused. Was Miss Sellers husband a physician?

They asked Miss Sellers. She said no.

They asked MY MOM. She started giggling. She looked at Miss Sellers and Miss Sellers started laughing. They were LAUGHING HARD, yall

They were shaking like they had the Holy Ghost and had snot coming out of their noses like they had eaten the hottest hot sauce. The white people had no idea what was going on. Neither did I. But I started laughing, too.

Until my mom told them I would retake all those tests.

I was about to object until Miss Sellers said:

"No the hell he won't."

Y'all, this was the first time I had ever seen Miss Sellers raise her voice at ANYONE. If I had to bet, I'd wager that this was her first cuss word since they killed MLK. But she was mad.

The meeting was over.

I was still confused. So I asked what that was about & who is Dr. Sellers? Miss Sellers, NOT MY MOM, said:

"White people are stupid."

Here's another story:

After Brown vs. Board THOUSANDS of Black teachers lost their jobs

chalkbeat.org/2024/05/10/bla…

Many of these Black administrators were demoted and sent back into the classrooms. And because SO MANY Black teachers were competing for so few jobs, for the ENTIRETY of the 20th century, the average Black teacher was more educated & experienced than the average white teacher

To this day, K-12 teachers are 80% white and about 6% Black. This is why MOST Black teachers teach Black students.

Miss Sellers earned her PhD and served as principal of two schools for 30 years before being demoted.

The reason people called her "Miss Sellers" was that her husband also had a PhD. But Mr. Dr. Sellers refused to be demoted and got a job at a paper factory

Miss Sellers gave me a book that cured all my ills.

The school handbook.

It was usually reserved for teachers.

It was basically just the school conduct code But think about it:

How the hell was I supposed to know I had to ASK before I used the bathroom? If I was never taught to write my name on the top of an assignment, why would you give me zero as a way of TEACHING me to remember

If I get a math problem right, why would you subtract points because I didn't show you HOW I did it? To this day, I'm STILL not quite sure what teachers mean when they say: "show your work." Miss Sellers knew my family didn't eat pork. Plus, I can't eat cheese or drink mik

So OF COURSE I sold my lunch on pizza day. Extra pizza, ice cream or chocolate milk is the most valuable elementary school commodity.

MOST students are indoctrinated by the 6th grade & don't need a rule book. But Everything I knew about school came from after-school specials.

So teachers assumed something was wrong with me. Even when THEIR supposedly OBJECTIVE METRICS proved them wrong, their response was:
The teacher must've cheated
Or the student

IT CAN'T BE US!
WE HAVE A SYSTEM that works for everyone!
(Unless you count the Black kids)

Now, imagine if you dedicated your life to a profession and you were better educated and more experienced than all your white peers. And even when you get a job, you are relegated to handling Black stuff.

And what if your industry was failing at doing what it is SUPPOSED to do

And THE REASON it's failing is partly because the white people don't know what they're doing. But because everyone has already been indoctrinated, the white people assume something is wrong with everyone else

Even if THEIR OBJECTIVE metrics prove they're wrong

They have a system!
Their system works!
Unless, of course, you count the Black people

If you KNOW you're OBJECTIVELY BETTER
And you're objectively MORE CORRECT
And THE PEOPLE IN YOUR COMMUNITY know it.
But the white people ask you to prove it to them, while they're watching

Do you take the test in front of white people?
Do you think it will change the system?
Do you think you can convince them to change their behavior?
Or think about the internet bias in the system?

Ultimately, should you put in EXTRA LABOR to prove their value to white people?

Well, the demographics of the k-12 teachers almost exactly mirror the racial demographics of journalists.

But instead of pointing out the problems with the system...

Some people believe they can show their value by taking the test in front of white people.

To be fair, some people just want to survive. She didn't want to put a bullseye on her kid's back. But she also didn't know that the white people in the room had already made up their minds.

A lot of us truly believe that there's something BLACK PEOPLE can do that will change WHITE PEOPLE'S MINDS.

There isn't

Sometimes, "Hell no, I won't" is actually the correct answer.

Dr. Sellers taught me that.

This thread is about the NABJ