Spike Lee is a visionary, I dont care what you say. Twenty-five years ago, in the wake of Jesse Jackson’s two major presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988, having a black president seemed an elusive goal, one that sank into the background so quickly, that even 10 years ago, the possibilities seemed unfathomable. Now, we have a black president, and a black family in the White House, disrupting if only briefly the totalizing racial signification of that designation. But we also face a moment in which 25 years from now the terms “inner-city” and “urban” may no longer be short hand for “black folks.” “Lean on Me” narrated in the context of urban schooling the same set of issues that shaped urban living. It showed the persisting segregation that marked the educational lives of urban black youth, even as “Do The Right Thing” marked the persisting segregation of black neighborhoods. The same year that these two films were released, Wendy Kopp wrote a senior thesis at Princeton proposing an innovative new program to help with the problem of failing urban schools. The next year she drafted and placed her first class of Teach for America recruits.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 17:37:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015