The pride left. People did not see the hope that Roosevelt once projected

Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils

A picture of the Roosevelt track has alumni sick to their hearts. It looks nothing like the smooth oval, glistening with the early morning dew of a summer morning when my youngest would wander from me to follow a butterfly, pluck an errant clover bloom that magically appeared when the sun was “just right,” or pick up a stick that promised more interest than his mother. Neither did it stir up memories of the excitement from fans as the last “leg” took off, his hand reaching back, ready to grab the baton and “bring it home’’ for the roaring crowd leaning toward the field, hearts beating almost as fast as the blur of feet meeting asphalt!

No. The picture was almost unrecognizable, like a joke of some cruel monster from another world, like someone had laid black tarpaper and a demon had ripped it up like cheap linoleum, leaving lighter, jagged spots.

This had to be a hoax, I thought. Someone had doctored up a photo to get attention, like so many do. So I went to see. It was not “fake news.”
Roosevelt's track

Why, I wondered, did a picture of a “dishonored” track field wreak such an outcry? Why did it hurt? Why did it “hurt so bad”?

I remember San Bonita Slaughter. She was there my first few years at Roosevelt, a music teacher, and penned the school song. Built for Blacks, Roosevelt was revered by those who taught there, the students who were taught there, and the parents whose children were taught there. Roosevelt (was) dearly loved, even before the stadium, before the gymnasium, dearly loved when Memorial Auditorium was “home” for basketball tournaments, and Gilroy was “the stadium.” Roosevelt was dearly loved for one reason: It was the one place Black children could learn, and that’s what mattered.

Most people are familiar with the word prior, but “priorities” sometimes stumps them. It’s a tricky word and they don’t quite get the hang of it. The school was in crisis long before the track. It was in trouble years ago when grades and egos were inflated; when humanities was eased out of the curriculum, leaving children with no appreciation for that which separates people from beasts of burden; when teachers were chastened for “too many low grades” for “students” who reported to the classroom expecting to be “served” a portion of knowledge just by sharing the same space as the teacher.

Schools are a lot like trees. They provide “oxygen” for a community so that it grows, but, just as chopping a tree decreases the oxygen level, anything that reduces a school’s ability to draw people kills the community. The pride left. People did not see the hope that Roosevelt once projected; and there are so many reasons for that, reasons that go beyond the school itself.

I don’t know where our schools here in Gary – or in places all over – will go from here. America’s schools are “dumbing down,” following instead of leading, and that is a problem. We’re Education is not so very important anymore. We don’t respect learning. We don’t respect knowledge. We don’t respect humanity, or decency, or honesty, or values… It’s all about appearance – and you can buy that…

Story Posted:04/23/2017