My Reflection...

My Exploration

            After learning the demographics, history and issues in the African American community, I was afraid my journey was going to focus on negative aspects of the culture.  Most of my group’s research somehow related to racism, underrepresentation in higher education, over representation in the streets and various struggles.  When beginning my journey, I told my self to keep in mind that there are a lot of great ideas, food, music, stories, clothing, history, famous figures and successful people all from the African American community and not to get caught up in the negative aspects.  Throughout my journey I experienced an ongoing positive theme of accepting who you are and recognizing that your skin color does not limit or define you.

As I began planning my journey I told myself I was going to push myself out of my comfort zone and become acquainted with people I have never met.   I am from San Francisco where different cultures are represented in distinct communities.  However, this is not the case for African Americans in San Jose.  I began my journey at the African American Community Service Agency (AACSA), in hopes of being guided in the right direction.  After meeting with the Intern Executive Director, I realized this was not only the starting point of my journey, but also home base.  Milan Balinton, Intern Executive Director of the AACSA, was gracious enough to sit down with me on a couple of different occasions and explain the role of this organization in the San Jose African American Community.  This is where I learned about the Antioch Baptist Church, which is directly across the street from the AACSA.  I was lucky enough to meet Henry Gage Sr., member of the Antioch Baptist Church, and founder of the AACSA.  Through the AACSA website I also learned about and was able to attend a play, “Through the Eyes of Mary McLeod Bethune”, which portrayed several Civil Rights leaders and their role in African American freedom.   Meeting Milan really opened my eyes and got me thinking outside the perspective of a college student.  He was motivational in the sense that he is such a young man with so many projects, responsibilities and hopes for the community, not limited to the African American community.  He never thought he would attend college, let alone survive his suicidal thoughts growing up.  Now, he is a successful, African American, college graduate making differences in the lives of many people.  Becoming a multicultural teacher means you are willing to shift your perspectives as you gather information. My talks with Milan were not only inspiring, but made me think of how I am going to continue to learn new information and change my perspectives, only to better myself as a multicultural teacher.  This was just one of my first steps in the door, and I was happy about it.

One educator I met on my journey, Henry Gage Sr., also believed that multicultural teachers change their perspectives and should address inequalities in schooling.  Mr. Gage Sr. is a veteran Buffalo Solider, as well as a founder of the AACSA and had a wealth of knowledge to share.  His life in San Jose began because of the educational institutions Santa Clara County had to offer.  After living here and seeing very low numbers of graduates, he felt the need to become involved in the school system.  He attended fourteen years of board meetings and made changes to programs within East Side Union High School District’s schools.  He felt that inequalities and graduation rates needed to be addressed, to better the students and the entire community.  Tyrone C. Howard made me think of Mr. Gage Sr. and Jaime Escalante when he said, “Culturally responsive pedagogy embodies a professional, political, cultural, ethical, and ideological...teaching acts; it is centers in fundamental beliefs about teaching, learning, students, their families, and their communities, and an unyielding commitment to see students success becomes less rhetoric and more of a reality.”

Another person who was mentioned throughout my journey and given immense amounts of respect was Ms. Inez Jackson.  She left the segregated South and moved to California to be free of discrimination.  It wasn’t until she applied for a teaching position in San Jose, and was denied because she was a “Negro”, that she realized she has not escaped any kind of discrimination.  She said here in California segregation was not the issue; instead blacks were treated as though they did not exist.  She fought and fought until her voice was heard at school board meeting. She became the first black postal clerk in San Jose, and eventually founded the AACSA alongside Mr. Henry Gage Sr.  She created a library in the AACSA to give African Americans an equal opportunity at education and literacy.  Other libraries were still segregated or did not have books that African American students could identify with.  This is one of Milan’s biggest projects right now.  He wants to keep the Inez Jackson library and vision alive. He is in the process of partnering with the Martin Luther King Jr. library in hopes to reopen the Inez Jackson library. 

I am thankful that on this journey of mine I was able to meet and learn about successful and influential African American community members of San Jose.  This journey opened my eyes and inspired me to venture out into other communities.  I felt honored that I could meet with Milan and see what he truly does everyday.  His job is not easy, and his journey at the AACSA is filled with projects and tasks.  However, he takes it day by day and showed me that a small difference goes a long way.  That is something I am going to take with me as I become a teacher.  Even just being a resource or an open minded listener can help students more than it may seem.  There are also those who make huge differences in the community, like Ms. Jackson and Mr. Gage Sr.  These people have changed the community and allowed many to believe they too can be successful.  As a future multicultural teacher I will continue to be a life long learner and will not cut my journey short here.