Transcript Document

The PEN OR PENCIL B.U.S. Boycotts
A National Service-Learning Movement
of the
PEN OR PENCIL Initiative
© 2006. National Alliance of Faith and Justice
The principles upon which PEN OR PENCIL:
FREEDOM OF CHOICE and the B.U.S. Boycott are
based could be viewed as two different and welldocumented case studies. Case studies are practical
examples or uses of information that have been learned
and can now be analyzed. Case studies can be used for
team building activities and use of analytical skills, both
of which and more will be used in this program. More
importantly, it is imperative through this and other
constructive reflections, that we find ways that each
generation will remember and apply any case which has
the quality to transform long after it occurs.
“The world does not want and will never have the
heroes and heroines of the past. What this age needs
is an enlightened youth not to undertake the tasks like
theirs, but to imbibe the spirit of great men and answer
the present call to duty with nobleness of soul.”
Dr. Carter G. Woodson
During the mid-1950’s – 1960’s, students and others were heavily
engaged in boycotting and sit-ins across the country; however, of
those and others who refused to relinquish their seats, the December
1, 1955 act of Mrs. Rosa Parks provided just the right variables to
launch the most visible and successful campaign for change.
For PEN OR PENCIL, although there have been many
courageous stories which have proceeded and followed the
Carters’ of Drew, Mississippi, their story provided the right set
of variables to represent the day to day difficulties many youth
will encounter along life’s journey to productivity or positive
changes:
Courage to face retaliation
Family experiencing severe financial challenges and heavy debt
Family facing eviction
Children having to work to support the family’s needs
Cramped living environment
Never enough to make ends meet
They chose not to agree just to be like everyone else
Whether the Carter children in Drew, Mississippi
Public Schools or African American and other
youth forty years later facing the juvenile court
system, all children deserve to be treated fairly,
regardless of race of ethnicity.
• The PEN OR PENCIL Curriculum is offered as a oneto-one academic mentoring course, a 10-week
alternative to detention or suspension course, or as a
2-hour classroom or special presentation.
• It translates history’s lessons and the civic
responsibility of little and well-known persons and
deeds into today’s realities and offers a service
learning component called the B.U.S. Boycott,
Prevention – mentoring
initiatives, after school programs,
family support services, youth
leadership development – is the
most constructive way to build
safe communities
• The goal of PEN OR PENCIL is to help youth more
clearly dissect and analyze the components of choices
and help them hold themselves accountable for their
outcomes.
• Youth who apply the lessons learned can increase their
chances in life and deflect unnecessary risks to
themselves, their family, and the public safety of their
communities - cultivating the resilience to avoid school
failure, juvenile delinquency, and behavior which leads to
disproportionate minority contact.
• The PEN OR PENCIL Program helps to shape complex
cognitive skills, knowledge acquisition, intrapersonal
development, civic responsibility, and academic
achievement.
• The story of the Carter family, depicted during the civil rights
era, forms the basis for PEN OR PENCIL: Freedom of Choice.
• Their story, in text, has been told by Constance Curry in Silver
Rights, and as a film documentary in The Intolerable Burden.
• The hard times and severe struggles they endured describe the
road less chosen, but one which must be selected by many
students and their families today.
• Through the Carters’ example, students can learn the meaning
of freedom, choices, consequences, influences then and now,
and the role education plays in minimizing the cradle to
jailhouse peril.
• The success of the Montgomery bus boycott, the Carters,
and acts of men and women who were well-known and
others less mentioned will be used as cases to spark
curiosity for participants to go beyond the pages of
textbooks to apply and not just read history.
• For example, criminal behavior and materialism are now
drivers which demand the seats of students from their
classrooms.
• These two drivers are responsible for driving many youth
and their future to a slow death down a dead-end road to
incarceration.
• Analyzing the case of the Carters and the Montgomery bus
boycott now becomes the challenge to youth to declare their
unwillingness to give up their freedom and seats in class
and to instead engage in civic leadership, responsibility, and
community service to help tackle the adverse strongholds of
this present age.
More on the Approach
• Although clear in our opportunities, for many who barely
reflect upon these advantages, participants have a new
way to answer, “What does what happened then have to do
with me now?”
• Attaching today’s problems, they learn to collectively
abstain from counterproductive activities which could
interrupt their learning and growth potential or prompt a ride
on a bus to a jail or prison.
• They learn to associate poor behavior and arrests with
more confinement centers and how they even play a role in
building an ethnically unbalanced criminal justice system.
• Regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, gradepoint average, or other divides, the program is clear in its
outreach to encourage all youth to choose freedom and to
use the PENCIL (Education) as opposed to the
PEN(itentiary) as a life choice.
• In the PEN OR PENCIL
Initiative, the acronym, B.U.S.
stands for building
unbalanced systems and
behavior (which) underscores
stereotypes.
• In epidemic proportions,
public safety, education, and
the seats gained in the front of
classrooms, on school buses,
on other modes of
transportation and public
accommodation are at risk,
tremendously threatened by
the cradle to jailhouse trek.
• In locations across the country:
– senior citizens and residents are tired of giving up
their seats on the front porches of their homes to
random gun violence;
– teachers and youth are tired of giving up their seats in
for the disruption of bullies and the drugs;
– parents, brothers, and sisters are tired of giving up
their seats in the comforts of their homes for stray
bullets;
• In locations across the country:
– motorists are tired of giving up their
seats as drivers and passengers to the
demands of carjackers and joy riders;
– persons of faith are tired of giving up
their seats in places of worship prior to
dark for unsafe neighborhoods;
– commuters are tired of giving up their
seats to robbers and muggers . . .
• Clearly, all of these injustices represent the
fact that the time to take action has long
been upon us.
• Stated in context with variables
faced by today’s youth, the
success of the Montgomery bus
boycott proved that:
– taking a stand to make a positive
choice, even in the face of extreme
pressure to give in, can begin a
world of change . . .
Stated in context with variables faced by today’s
youth, the Montgomery bus boycott proved that:
– With strong leadership +
selfless service + individual
and collective commitment +
hard work + determination, an
immeasurable difference can
be made and resolutions can
begin for real community
problems, bit by bit, to include
unraveling unbalanced
systems and beliefs.
CIVIL RIGHTS ERA . . .
Across the country, and particularly in communities
throughout the south, history recorded bus and other
boycotts staged to oppose unfair conditions to which
only some were subjected. Many wanted change but
were intimidated, complacent, or understandably
paralyzed by fear. Others, like Mae Bertha Carter and
her family, realized that freedom of choice was costly
but well worth the price which they would have to pay
whether others around them did or not.
PEN OR PENCIL MOVEMENT. . .
In cities and communities across the country, gangs, bullies,
peer-pressure, self-doubt, street hustlers, violence, and
drugs heavily extort youth populations, disproportionately
committing them into unequal conditions where others dictate
their daily lives while they watch freedom stroll by every
minute on the other side of the fence. Many are intimidated
and paralyzed by fear, so they remain complacent and afraid
to stand up, giving way to dominant influences. For the
thousands of youth who long for change, we hope to remind
them that freedom was not purchased at a bargain for those
who paid but keeping the gift or giving it away for something
of no long term value is clearly a choice.
The joyride is over and the word must be passed
to boycott the b.u.s. (building unbalanced systems)
PEN OR PENCIL B.U.S. Boycotts
• Per the American Heritage
Dictionary, the term boycott
means:
– TRANSITIVE VERB:
boy·cott·ed , boy·cott·ing ,
boy·cotts
• To abstain from or act together in
abstaining from using, buying, or
dealing with as an expression of
protest or disfavor or as a means of
coercion.
Applying the definition
• Using that definition while replicating
the discipline and sacrifice exemplified
by those who participated in historic
boycotts, willing students can act
together to turn textbook history into a
reality and a common goal.
• Examples of groups working together
might be:
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An individual classroom
Social studies or history class
A grade in any school
An entire school
A community organization
A youth ministry
Compelling Community Concerns
• Service-learning is a
teaching and learning
strategy that integrates
meaningful community
service with instruction and
reflection to enrich the
learning experience, teach
civic responsibility, and
strengthen communities.
Compelling Community Concerns
• What does it mean to a community to
know that one out of three boys growing
up will spend time in prison?
• What does it do to the fabric of the family
and community to have such a substantial
proportion of its young men enmeshed in
the criminal justice system?
Compelling Community Concerns
• What images and values
are communicated to
young people who see
the prospect of becoming
an inmate or glorifying
someone who has
served time in jail or
prison as the most
pervasive role model in
the community?
Compelling Community Concerns
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T
R
A
G
E
D
(Truancy)
(Race and retaliation)
(Attitudes)
(Guns)
(Expectations)
(Drop Out (school) &
DMC)
• Y (Yesterday)
PEN OR PENCIL B.U.S. Boycotts
• Service learning is a form of experiential
education where learning occurs through a cycle
of action and reflection.
• B.U.S Boycott staged in cities around the
country will allow students to work with others
through a process of applying what they are
learning to community problems and, at the
same time, seek to achieve real objectives for
the community and more skills for themselves.
Role for all
• If you are among those who would like to educate and
stir to action a larger American culture about the
historical importance of Dr. King, his social
philosophies, Mrs. Parks, those whose efforts are
least to unrecorded, and a national move for
volunteerism, adopt this program. Visit www.nafj.org
and www.cns.gov.
• Here are some historic dates which occur during the
school academic year which might be symbolically used
to begin your program or to establish dates for
benchmarks
– September 3:
– October 21:
– October 24:
– December 1:
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December 2:
December 5:
January 6:
January 15:
January 31:
February 4:
March 2:
April 4:
April 28:
Seven of the Carters’ 13 children enter
Sunflower, Mississippi schools
Mary Louise Smith refused to relinquish her seat
Date on which Mrs. Rosa L. Parks died
Date on which Mrs. Parks refused to relinquish
her seat
Jo Ann Robinson begins to mimeograph notices
Montgomery bus boycott begins
Date on which Matthew Carter died
Birthdate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Date on which Mrs. Coretta Scott King died
Birthdate of Mrs. Rosa L. Parks
Claudette Colvin refused to relinquish her seat
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated
Date on which Mae Bertha Carter died
• A PEN OR PENCIL B.U.S.
Boycott can become an
innovative approach to
strengthen both education
and the local community by
– Building effective collaborative
partnerships between schools
and other institutions or
organizations
– Engaging parents and other
adults in supporting student
learning
– Addressing the community’s
public safety needs
PEN OR PENCIL Activity Booklets
• Each student should obtain a copy
of the PEN OR PENCIL Activity
booklet. The booklet will:
– Find a list of compatible community
service options
– Offer group or individual exercises
to connect challenges of their lives
with historic parallels and establish
the parameters of their boycott
– Offer exercises which align with the
National Social Studies Standards
– Help them understand DMC
– Offer character education,
leadership and life skills exercises
– Offer team building and retention
exercises
Making it happen
• Partners are needed and must be
recruited by participants to serve
variety of historically compatible and
contemporary acts of support.
• The pages to follow are not exclusive
in suggesting roles for:
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Business/Corporate partners
Criminal justice partners
Civic/municipal partners
Educators
Faith partners
Parental partners
Transit/transportation partners
Role for Business/Corporate Partners
• Taxpayers save $2 million for each child
who is prevented from building a life of
crime. (Source: The Coalition for Juvenile Justice, Vanderbilt University, the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and American Youth Policy Forum)
so . . .
– Adopt a school or youth group who
chooses to participate in the PEN OR
PENCIL Movement.
– Serve as a sponsor to provide Activity
booklets and other products for all
participated students.
– Serve as a host and local sponsor for a
six-hour facilitators’ training
– Provide copies of “Silver Rights” to all
youth to enhance their ability to complete
the Activity booklet.
– Provide incentives to youth who
participate.
Role of Criminal Justice Partners
– Help youth identify neighborhoods or
facilities or “hot spots” within the
communities in which juvenile crime
most frequently occurs.
– Help youth determine the most
common causes of disproportionate
minority contact in applicable
communities.
– Serve as coaches in helping youth to
determine realistic parameters for
their boycott.
– Identify productive community service
opportunities.
To decrease the likelihood of
delinquency, children need
communities that provide opportunities
and social controls.
Role of Civic/Municipal Partners
– Become a King Day of Service PEN OR
PENCIL Movement city to honor the
late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
– Establish/appoint a B.U.S. boycott
committee which could serve as a
youth council on crime prevention.
– Help youth to obtain the media
recognition they deserve to help
encourage the merits of their efforts.
– Issue a MLK Day of Service/Justice
Sunday National Continuum Initiative
proclamation in which the merits and
implementation of the PEN OR PENCIL
Movement is acknowledged.
Role of Educators
– Become a PEN OR PENCIL school or
special project site.
– Help youth determine the number of
suspensions, expulsions, and juvenile
arrests within their school to help youth
set goals to measurably reduce these
issues.
– Provide a way for students to
customize this program for use as an
in-school, after-school, and an extra
credit activity.
– Provide oversight in helping youth
determine criteria to select/appoint their
project leadership.
Role of Faith Partners
• Work with school or other authorized
groups to be trained, screened, and
become mentors
• Host a mentor recruitment event
during the Justice Sunday National
Recruitment Initiative, January 12-15,
2007.
• Sponsor Activity booklets and other
supplies for the program
• Host a facilitators’ training
• Host PEN OR PENCIL Initiative for
youth constituents of your ministry.
Role of Parental Partners
• Whether Matthew and Mae Bertha
Carter or parents today, to decrease the
likelihood of delinquency, children need
protective factors in the family, including
parents who demonstrate love and care
for their children and supervise their
children’s behavior.
– Get into the spirit of the program and
find ways to support it.
– During the B.U.S. boycott, provide lots
of encouragement by helping your son
or daughter to remain focused on the
goals and avoid anything which might
tempt them to do otherwise.
Transit/Transportation Partners
• Adopt this project as an on-going official
commemorative education program and
part of your crime prevention efforts for
older elementary, middle, and high
school youth.
• Work with the schools or organizations
in your local area who are PEN OR
PENCIL partners.
• Contact the National Alliance of Faith
and Justice to sponsor Activity booklets
customized to include promotional
materials from your transit system.
What’s next?
Contact us to get started
National Alliance of Faith and Justice
P.O. Box 77075
Washington, DC 20013
(703) 765-4459 Phone
www.nafj.org
[email protected]