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| Bryanna Rather (9th Grade) with her Parents Mr. & Mrs. Rathers |
Bryanna Rather gave a speech at the Celebrate Black History "We are All the Fabric of Our Heritage" Event in Glenarden. Mayor Gail Parker Carter hosted the event for Glenarden Residents. The title of Bryanna's speech was "Black History to Me". Below is an exerpt of her speech:
"When I was 6, that was the first time I realized that I was African American. This was because that was the first time someone had reallyt brough it to my attention. I was always the youngest in my class being a December baby and got picked on for being younger yet I could shut everyone up with my athletic skills. Sure I was the smallest and most definently the clumsiest but because I was so hyper and willing, any sport we had to play during P.E. or recess I was up for it. So one day my P.E. teacher decided he wanted us to play basketball. He told us to decide amongst ourselves on who was on whose team. Eager to play I didn't really care whose team I was on. Two people I knew very little of had deeped themeselves team captains and began to pick teams. Now befire I go on you must understand that I was...6 and I did not really know race and things of that nature. All I knew at the time was my ABC's and my 123's and I was good at that. But for the most part I was not aware of different ethnicities. I thought that whoever was nice was my friend and whosever was not nice was not my friend. The basics. Getting back to what I was saying, one of the team captains, named Payton, a white girl that was about 3 to 4 months older than me. And you know as kids your thinking "Ok I just want to be on the same team as my friends!" Or if you are anything like my brother, you just want to be on the same team as your potential crush. So because I knew Payton better than the other captain I told her I wanted to be on her team. She looks at me and smiles and says "Well I was thinking we could Whites Vs. Blacks. It takes my friends to tell you what my face looked like. All I can say is that from the mix of emotions I was feeling, I know that one of my eyebrows was at least touching my hair line because I honestly had no idea what she meant by that.
But my friend Kayla did, and she went off on her. Later on when I got home that afternoon I didn’t want to ask my parents about it because at the time I knew it would become one of those long lectures that never ends. But in the end after I asked my brother and then my dad, they explained to me about Racism. I later on asked my grandfather and that’s when I received the lecture I was not looking forward too. He told me about when he was growing up how people with dark skin did not get along with people with very light skin. That they were very different and that they did not like people like me and him. That was the first time I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and that Christmas my brother and I had received a bunch of Scholastic reading books that had names on them such as African American Inventors, and African American Heroes. But the one that really caught my eye was one named Ruby Bridges. I loved that book. To this day it is still one of my favorites. It was not the name that had drawn my attention but it was the picture on the cover. The book had a picture of a young girl that looked my age. She wore a red dress similar to the one I wore to my first Father Daughter Dance for Girl Scouts. And she was in front of a school building by herself. After reading that book I had felt like I had learned so much more about what my grandfather was telling me about Racism and the way people treated people like me and him. People that had our similar skin tone. I remember after several times of rereading the book I began to tell my sister about it. She was the lightest little thing and when I told her about the different shades of people their were and how they treated others she had thought that she was a bad person. I did not know what to tell her. So I simply responded to her by telling her that not all white people were bad. I gave her the book and told her about Ruby Bridges teacher that was white and helped Ruby. I don’t think she actually read the book but she got the point.
Remembering this story, helps me finally come up with an answer to all of my questions. Black History is the remembrance of my ancestors. Not just my ancestors but all African Americans whether they marched in the march in Montgomery led by Martin Luther King or they began sending their children to white schools. African Americans are people that stood up and voiced their opinion no matter how many times they tried to be silenced, and Black History is the review of all of their accomplishments and an opportunity for others to take in appreciation of all that they have done to make it possible for children like me to live the lives we have now". (Bryanna Rather, 9th Grade Center for Visual & Performing Arts Suitland High School)
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| Chanel Compton (PGAAMCC Education Coordinator) and Bryanna Rather |
