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Sunday, April 6, 2008
Judge Arrington, bravo for caring
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Mrs. Howard needs to see you.”
No kid at my middle school wanted to hear those words. Sometimes, having to see Mrs. Clifford Howard was worse than being sent to the principal’s office. It wasn’t what she did to you or made you do. It was what she’d talk to you about.
Mrs. Howard was an old-school, no-nonsense teacher who’d taught in segregated black schools. At my school, she was an English teacher and the school counselor, a sage.
Many teachers turned to her when students - particularly black ones - got off track and needed a stern “talkin’ to.” A chat with her, it was hoped, would correct behavior.
Her role was to rein kids in before they spiraled out of control. Before they found themselves in the principal’s office. Before they got suspended or expelled. Before girls got pregnant and boys got locked up.
Time with Mrs. Howard was meant to remind students - just in case they didn’t know - their roles as kids. Their job was to do well in school, go to college or get a good job, make parents and the black community in the hometown proud.
Not embarrass it.
Mrs. Howard came to mind the other day when I read a story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Marvin Arrington’s pickle. He’s a Fulton County Superior Court judge. One recent sentencing day, he asked all the white people to leave the courtroom. He wanted to talk to the 50 or so black defendants alone.
Arrington wanted to have a fireside chat, something he referred to in the newspaper article as his “Bill Cosby” moment. In a 10-minute talk, he admonished the defendants about bad behavior and how it crippled advancement. He talked about “babies having babies” and parents who don’t act like parents.
Be better, he told them in so many words. Do better. Stop carjacking, robbing, raping and stealing. Stay out of my courtroom.
Great heartfelt message.
The courthouse talk drew a standing ovation. It drew a few critics, too. The courtroom is a public facility, some said. Others took issue with the fact that whites were told to jet. They said the pioneer black lawyer should have been inclusive. After all, every race could benefit from such a message.
Valid points.
But with all due respect, there’s nothing wrong with the Howards and Arringtons of the world hosting fireside chats. There’s nothing inherently revolting or racist if role models and leaders of color emphasize and use the very color of their skin to drive home points about the unsavory roles some in that particular group embrace, even glorify.
It’s called caring.
Arrington didn’t shoo whites away so he could talk disparagingly about whites, to privately point the finger and make them scapegoats. He asked that they leave so he could speak from the heart, directly to a group who desperately need to hear his message.
“So help me, I don’t see what I did was wrong,” he told a TV reporter while offering an apology. “All I was trying to do is make a difference.”
Way to go, Mr. Arrington.
Mrs. Howard would have been proud.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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