Barack Obama Elementary School in Hempstead, N.Y
Posted on 11/06/2015 2:52:49 PM PST by TroutStalker
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Barack Obama started out as homework at Ludlum Elementary, an idea by teachers in 2008 to turn the upcoming election into a year-long lesson plan. But the school’s mostly black and Hispanic students quickly came to see themselves in Obama. His message of change became a rallying cry for their own lives in this town plagued by drugs, gangs and violence.
So after the election — before he could even be sworn in — the children persuaded officials here to make theirs the first school in America to be named after Obama.
“It was the best moment of my life. It was like we became linked,†said Teonte Jackson, who was then in the fifth grade. “Just as Obama was making history as the first black president, we were making history by becoming the first school named after him.â€
To the nation, Obama’s election was a historic and cultural milestone, an electrifying moment when the seemingly impossible became real. Over time, however, the intensity and promise of that moment has faded, giving way to a more nuanced reality.
For students at Barack Obama Elementary, the election cut especially deep. Obama reoriented their sense of race and mobility in complicated, and at times confusing, ways. He is the only president most of them have ever known. Growing up under the shadow of Obama’s name, some have worried whether they have adequately lived up to it. Others have puzzled over what it represents.
But its most lasting effect has been their struggle to reconcile the hope they once felt as children with the reality they now see around them as teenagers.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Where’s the Unicorn?
Do they graduate from BO Elementary and go on to More of Same High School?
Since its renaming, the school has seen four principals, with one fired under such contentious circumstances that it ended up in court. Betty Cross, the school board member who pushed for the new name, was removed last year amid allegations of voter fraud, which she disputes. Meanwhile, test scores have remained frustratingly low.
Fourth-grade teacher Rosetta Langlois said she thinks often about those students from 2008. She has tried to explain the symbolism of the school’s name to her new students, but she worries they don’t truly understand. She can imagine one day soon when Obama will be just another school name, like George Washington or John F. Kennedy.
Like I said when I watched his coronation, people that put their hopes in politicians are bound to be disappointed.
"And behind Door #1 we have a year's supply of Doritos. Cheez Whiz and Hostess Ho-Hos!"
I HOPE you like the CHANGE in your school lunch menu.
Guy in the picture looks well fed.
[But it] has been their struggle to reconcile the hope they once felt as children with the reality they now see around them as teenagers.
So how's that hopeandchange mirage working out for you? Do you understand now that you were lied to? That that faux putz could no more change your sad reality than he can administer foreign policy?
Thanks for inflicting your naivete on all the rest of us.
They seem worse than ever because his hero has purposefully made them worse. Maybe when he's older the kid will understand the concept of targeted political agitation so common among leftists.
Political agitation, otherwise known as community organizer.
Somebody is not eating their Michelle School Lunch.
I just want to hit LIKE for your reply!
“...she worries they don’t truly understand. She can imagine one day soon when Obama will be just another school name, like George Washington or John F. Kennedy.”
I understand. I have fond memories of attending Jeb Stuart school many years ago. Yes, I remember and understand.
“...That that faux putz could no more change your sad reality than he can administer foreign policy? ...”
Not a faux putz - a real one. Schlemiel. A real schmuck!
So now all the students are virulent hate-whitey racists, members of BLM, out to kill cops, are converting to islam, and shred the Constitution every chance they get.
What a legacy.
It was the best moment of my life. It was like we became linked, said Teonte Jackson, who was then in the fifth grade.
************************************************************************
And still is, in the fifth grade.
Teonte - Is this a male or female name? I have no clue.
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