| that Braun's sister accused him of hitting her and Snoddy wanted Braun's side of the story. Braun tells Snoddy he's teaching a class and can't deal with him. The scene escalates while the students and mentors watch. Finally, Braun is handcuffed and led out of the door. I'm taking photos of the incident and watch as the students try to figure out if it was for real. One student is very angry, but he can't take his anger out on the police, so he looks around for what he perceives to be the weakest link in the class. I'm taking photos and he settles on me. He approaches me with a burning anger in his eyes and confronts me. He's escalating and then he stops. It's like a light bulb went on and something clicked. He sat back down. He was still upset, but he was in control. Eventually, Braun and Snoddy came back into the classroom. It had been a skit because the class was entering a new section, the Black Man and the community. The class is trying to teach the students how to deal with things. "It's my hope that it gets the kids to think about what they are doing if they are approached by an officer," Snoddy said. "I hope it';s not only just an officer. I hope it's any adult that's right in the community because they know how to conduct themselves and not get upset and act out of control, or say or do something that they regret later on. But also, if it is an officer because of the actions we can take, they think about the actions when coming in contact with an officer." Chuck Billings is one of the mentors who volunteered this day to discuss things with the young men. He watched the young men as they reacted to the confrontation and arrest. "My impression was that they were happy it was not them and it was a White male rather than an African American male who had been arrested," Billings said. He discussed the incident in more detail with the students who were at his table. It is hard for young African American men to grow up in Madison and form a positive identity that helps them succeed in life. And they receive conflicting messages and don't know who to listen to and have hope for the future. That's where mentors like Billings play a role. In growing up, he was facing the same kind of predicaments as the young men in the class are currently experiencing. "I feel as though I'm giving back that which has been given to me," Billings said. "I feel happy about that. It's not only gratifying for me, but it's also good for them to get this information. I'm just passing on to them what I've learned and this is what we are supposed to do to make it a better community." Tenia Jenkins will not give up on young African American men. Jenkins retired from Shabazz High School last May. She came to West High School to teach this class because of the support that Ed Holmes, West's principal, would give the program. "We know of the suspension rates, the expulsion rates, and the lack of graduation," Jenkins said. "Mr. Holmes is really trying to reverse that trend and cause these young men to be uplifted and cause them to be really positive contributing members of the community by putting together this whole academic achievement project for them here at West High School." Currently, Jenkins has 16 students enrolled in the class and 22 mentors help out. They meet every day and devote several weeks to topics that directly affect the young men such as the Black man and his church and the Black man and his heritage. The course will also deal with relationships with women and other things that can dramatically and negatively impact their lives and take them out of the educational stream. The course has a curriculum and assigned reading materials. If they pass, they will get one credit for the course. After Jenkins and Braun have given the students the information, the mentors come in and help the students sort the materials out and evaluate them. Information is power and the class helps the students to develop self-control and ways to deal with the situations that confront them. The student and I get together at the end of the class. He kind of meanders into an apology. I tell him that he had a right not to be photographed, but he escalated the situation too readily. It turns out we both thought something else was going on and that by talking, we can get all the facts we needed. The student apologizes again. I can see that the class has had an impact on him for he did something that is difficult for teenagers to do; let their guard down and apologize. While he isn't where he needs to be, he's on the way to developing the skills that will help him cope and succeed in life. The light bulb continues to click on. |
| Volunteer Mentor African American Man Class True empowerment By Jonathan Gramling |
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| (Above, l-r) Student teacher Matthew Braun, student Trendell Johnson, and Tenia Jenkins |
| The Volunteer Mentor African American Man (VMAAM) class at West High School is proceeding as usual one Thursday morning. Student teacher Matthew Braun is discussing the Michael Richards incident with a class of 13 young African American men and three mentors. Teacher Tenia Jenkins looks on. There's a knock on the door and Ken Snoddy, the school's educational research officer, enters the room and starts to confront Braun. Snoddy tells Braun |
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