Class Notes

Rushing to Judgment: MLK DayRep. Byron RushingState Rep. Byron Rushing, a longtimesocial justice advocate, kicked off ConcordAcademy’s 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr.Day celebration with a powerful and provocativespeech, asking the community, “Can we commemorateourselves? Where do we fit in thelegacy of Martin Luther King?”Rushing read from King’s 1963 March onWashington speech, then warned that the “brilliantand profound” words of “I Have a Dream”Photos by Tara Bradleynot be used to freeze the civil rights leader in thatmoment. He referred to King’s reflection on hisown speech four years later: “I tried to talk to thenation about a dream that I had had, and I mustconfess . . . that not long after talking about thatdream, I started seeing it turn into a nightmare.”Scenes from the nightmare included the killing offour black girls in Birmingham, Alabama; raceriots in American cities; and the escalation of theVietnam War.Rushing, a state representative in Massachusettssince 1982 and former president ofBoston’s Museum of Afro-American History,also quoted a letter from William C. Sullivan, formerhead of intelligence for the FBI, to FBIDirector J. Edgar Hoover, describing Dr. King as“the most dangerous Negro in this nation . . .”Rushing then urged CA students to become“dangerous Negros,” that is, to continue fightingfor change even when their viewpoints areunpopular or met with suspicion.The speaker pondered aloud the irony thata man dedicated to nonviolence could be deemedso dangerous. “He was serious about nonviolence.He believed we could solve emotional,violent problems by not being violent ourselves,”Rushing said of King, adding, “We need tobelieve that killing people is not the only solutionwhen people kill us.”One of four service trips on MLK DayRushing urged students to incorporateinto their daily lives what they learn aboutDr. King. “The moral arc of the universe is longbut it bends toward justice,” he said. “But it neverbends without us.”After the keynote address, students andfaculty attended a full day of workshops on topicsranging from interracial marriage and genderstereotypes to civil disobedience and Title IX.CA also offered four service trips off-campus: toa Habitat for Humanity site, the Cor UnumMeal Center, the Greater Boston Food Bank, andthe Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hardof Hearing. The day ended with a clip of the“I Have a Dream” speech, followed by students’works of self-expression at the fall-semesterart show.MLK SERVICE TRIP: Manual LaborPhotos by Henry Kim ’11Two minivans dispatcheda handful of CA studentsto a workplace of hope. Armedwith heavy-duty gloves andfervor, we arrived to a half-builtblue house in Bedford, Massachusetts.We were welcomedwith hot chocolate and munchkinsinto a cozy basement.“I’ve been working withHabitat for Humanity for overtwenty years, and every dayI am making a difference inthe world,” said Jim Comeau,construction manager for theLowell, Massachusetts, divisionof Habitat for Humanity.We marveled as he describedthe wave of love that Habitatfor Humanity sends throughoutthe globe.We split into groups andstarted off on our day. A coupleof us dug a hole to installelectrical wires, and othersleveled the basement floor.Dense flakes of snowbegan falling, but we weretoo occupied with the workto whine about the weather.Although we didn’t speakmuch, we shared a pride in thefact that we were creating awarm shelter for a family tosnug into the next time thesnow strikes.“Are we ever going tofinish leveling this floor?” Igrumbled, staring down at theuneven basement surface ofgravel and sand. Tonhu Hoang,a French teacher and ConcordAcademy Service Activists(CASA) advisor, answered,beaming: “You think we can’tdo it?” That is when I wasonce again astounded by thepower of a small group of dedicatedpeople. I respondedwith a huge grin: “Of coursewe can!”— Scarlett Kim ’1131C O N C O R D A C A D E M Y. O R G S P R I N G 2 0 1 0