Unsurprised

Today we did an activity where we were to go around and ask randoms on the streets near 9th & Broadway in Arkansas if they knew what had happened there on the day of May 4, 1927 and if they knew who John Carter was. I was unsurprised to find out that no person that my partner and I had asked knew either answer, and they were all people around 25-35 years of age. To our avail, one man did actually know the answers, and much more. It was interesting to find out that the only person that we asked who knew the answers was an older white male. It made me wonder if the reason the younger people didn't know is because generations are becoming more ignorant, or if schools aren't paying enough attention to that area of study. Nevertheless, what this man (whose name is George Alexander Brown) said was extremely enlightening. There was a flood in Arkansas and he made the connection to the stress from that flood leading to out-lashes toward the black community. Afterwards we went the the Mosaic Templar site and Mr. Brown had said that that was created in order to manage the crime in the city by giving them something to see or do. This day made me realize that elders can learn from young folk just as easily as vice versa.

Leah Weinstein
Baltimore City College