The Entreaty of Melissa McCoy 2017--- A Demand to Superintendent Ed Graff and the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education

The Entreaty of Melissa McCoy 2017---

A Demand to Superintendent Ed Graff and the
Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education

 

By Gary Marvin Davison

Note: 

Melissa McCoy is a composite, fictional character whose lament and entreaty is drawn from the experiences of the many young people with whom I have worked and whom I have loved in the course of a more than 40-year journey.

 

I’m just wantin’ y’all to know

that I’m hurtin’ so bad

hurtin’ so bad

hurtin’ so bad 

hurtin’ so bad

cause I’m beginnin’ to understand

how long it’s been

long it’s been

long it’s been.

 

Four hunn’ed years ago

years ago

years ago

you ripped my

great-great-great-great granny

mine

mine

mine

my

my

my

great-great-great-great-granny

from the depths of the

Bight of Benin.

 

You locked her in a cage

until the ship came

and took her away

‘cross that long, lonely ocean

lonely ocean

lonely ocean

lonely ocean

and then took joy that she survived

the sweat

stench

urine

feces

chains

fever

blood.

You took joy ‘cause you could

set her on the block

and open her mouth

to show that her teeth

had somehow not rotted.

You pointed to her skin

and put her naked young body

on display in evidence

that she likely could produce

more free labor to get
yo' cotton

yo' tobacco

yo' rice

whatever you needed

you needed

you needed

‘cause you 'course

had no regard

at all

for

her needs. 

 

And you kept her there and

kept me there
kept us there
and
millions with her

me
us
unda the hot sun

hot sun

hot sun

but took care to place her

in the evenin’ where she could

have mo’ babies

mo’ babies

mo’ babies

and give you pleasure

you pleasure

you pleasure

not her

pleasure

not her

pleasure

your pleasure

‘cause

that’s all that ev’a matt’ed

was your

pleasure

what you

needed

you needed

you needed

that’s all that ev’a matt’ed

to you.

 

And you kept us there

kept me there
kept us there
until war broke out

for yo’ own purposes

own purposes

own purposes

but promisin’

us freedom

that was supposed to be

as simple

as 13, 14, 15.

 

But then you

Compromised in 1877

and you separated us

in unequal equality

in 1896

till we scrambled

Northward on an Migration

to freedom

but found none.

 

‘Cause y’all said,

“No, not here,

you can’t live

here

here

here.

But you can live there,

there

there

there,

cause you got lots in common with

da Jews and Polacks and Wops and all.

 

So we waited

waited

waited

and worked

hard

hard

hard

‘til just as things seemed to be

gettin’ betta

betta

betta

the many

still-frustrated

still-frustrated

still-frustrated

didn’t wanna wait no more

wait no more

wait no mo’

no mo’

no mo’

no mo’.

 

So there went the stones

bricks

bats

clubs

anything

handy

and the glass cracked

and the store owners

departed

and mostly just us

poorest

poorest

poorest

stayed behind.

 

So you put us here,

And we have stayed

here

stayed here

stayed here

stayed here

and even though

you never understood us

and never believed in us

you promised us an education

that never came.

 

But the time has come,

Ed,

Rebecca, Kim, Jenny, Rebecca, Kerryjo, Don, Nelson, Bob, Ira---

time has come,

come,

come.

The time came a long time ago,

but the education didn’t,

so now is the time

that it’s got to

come.

 

‘Cause you know that they still don’t care,

those folks who came up from the

plantation

to live on

Lowry Hill

and

Linden Hills

 ‘cause they got Blake and Breck and all those,

for what good they are,

or aren’t,

but that’s where

their kids go now

while we wait for ya’ll to

do the right thing.

 

Ed, I don’t have much faith in you:

You say I need social and emotional

learning, but that just means that

you gonna be treatin’ me like

you shoulda all along.

 

So, yeah, treat me right,

and I’ll do right by others,

but when all that’s done

 

What I’ll need most of all is to

learn new things about all the

things yo’ lousy schools nevah

taught me---

 

‘bout our great-great-great-great-grannies

and about the

Great Wall

Iroquois

Laws of Motion

Relativity

Operant conditioning

Cognitive dissonance

Id

Ego

Superego

Oedipus

Electra

Troy Maxson

Hamlet

Ma Rainey

King Lear

Joe Turner

Macbeth

Achilles

Hector

Beowolf

Caged birds

Dreams deferred.

 

So, please, Ed,  

show me you can

do what I don’t think you

can, ‘cause you don’t

seem likely to be the one

to do what no one’s evah

done before.

 

But know that one way or anotha,

I’m gonna get my education,

gonna demand that you give

me what’s mine---

 

‘cause we want

our dreams deferred no more

deferred no more

deferred no more

no more

no more

no more,

deferred no more,

no mo’,

no mo’

no mo’.

 

We want to know about

Hindus

Muslims

Black Muslims

Nation of Islam

Jains

Buddhists

Confucianists

Shintoists

Daoists

Animists

 

‘cause alla these is people,

all of these are people,

alla these is people,

all of these are people,

and if we understood each other

maybe we wouldn’t kill each other,

maybe my little brotha wouldn’ta taken

that bullet,

my big brotha wouldn’t be in prison,

and big sista gotten pregnant

with a baby

while she was still a baby,

and there wouldn’t be all that fightin’

any more---

no mo’

no mo’

no mo’.

 

We want to know all there is to know.

I gotta a mighty fine brain.

I’m ready for you to teach me.

So show me that you can.

Now.

This school year, in 2017 and

then in 2018 and on and on.

 

Now.

We have waited a long time

for the education that you promised

and we ain’t gonna wait no more.

We aren’t going to wait any more.

We ain’t gonna wait no mo’.

We aren’t going to wait any more.

We ain’t gonna wait no mo’.

We aren’t going to wait any more.

 

You gonna give me my education---

so I can face my

great-great-great-great-granny

and tell her what you would nevah
tell her:

“I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry.

“I am so, so, sorry.”

 

But now you and I both could,
if you had the
'bility, conviction, courage,
sweep away all that

stench

urine

feces

chains

fever

blood.

We could look at that

hot sun

in a whole

new way.

 

‘Cause my future is gonna

be bright.

And I ain’t gonna be no

baby havin’ a baby.

I’m waitin’ to be a woman

with a family of my own,

and then my family will have that

education,

just like I’m gonna have mine,

now,

now,

now.

 

Now.


‘Cause there’s so much I

wanna know

want to know

wanna know

want to know,

and I will be what I want to be

what I wanna be

what Melissa want to be

wanna be

want to be

 

and will be

because

at long last

I will have my

Melissa will have

her

my

our

long deferred---

EDUCATION.