I Matter

Who I am matters. I had a father come into my office today. He was dropping off his daughters application for one of the summer programs I coordinate. I stepped out of the office for a second to grab something and while I was gone he scoped out my bookshelf. I love that he did that because the conversation that spun from that was amazing. Now let me just tell you the kind of books I have on my shelf; Critical Race Theory, Race Matters, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, The Mis-Education of the Negro, etc. not light reading by any means. He was impressed by those titles because he owns them as well and we were able to have an open dialogue about race and education and what I plan to do in the future. He was comfortable asking me about my ethnic/racial background and I was more than comfortable sharing. He thought my lineage came from the Caribbean Islands. He told me I had a warm presence (He initially thought it was because I was from the islands, but when I told him that as far as I know my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were born in the U.S. he said "must be a Black thing" and we laughed together). After a very warm, genuine, and enlightening conversation he left my office and told me to keep doing what I'm doing. I told him that I would and I intend to make good on that promise.