School Doesn't Acknowledge MLK Day, So Student Takes Black History Ed. Into His Own Hands

[appalachiablue]

- Parents Catrina Tillman & Ezra Tillman Jr. share their pride in their 12-year old son Ezra's work to establish a Black history club at his Michigan school.
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-'When school doesn't acknowledge MLK Day, student takes Black history education into his own hands,' Daily Kos, Feb. 11, 2021.

A 12-year-old boy frustrated by his Michigan school's failure to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. Day could have ignored the blunder. Instead, Ezra Tillman III, a student at Grand Blanc East Middle School, started a Black History Club and created 12 posters to educate the school about the work and accomplishments of Black people, WNEM-TV reported.

“We raised our boys to take pride in who they are as a young African American boy who will soon be a young African American man, and just our culture and our history and the richness that comes with it. So, we're just extremely proud for him,” Catrina Tillman, Ezra’s mother, told the news station. Ezra’s dad, Pastor Ezra Tillman Jr., of First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, told WNEM he supports his son’s passion “because you can't make passion.” “It is something that is within,” he said.

“And so, we're proud to see that he's another extension that will make a great contribution to our world.”

The school in Grand Blanc Township is located about 10 miles southeast of Flint, and the Tillman family has dedicated itself to improving conditions for Black residents disproportionally affected by the Flint water crisis. Mayor Sheldon Neeley awarded Tillman Jr. a key to the city last May after he founded the Revive Community Health Center to address health disparities facing people of color, according to MLive.com.

The church also forged a partnership with 501CThree, a nonprofit founded by actor Jaden Smith, to equip the city with its first portable system to filter water, the news site reported. “This is a great honor. I am humbled by it and grateful,” Tillman Jr. told MLive.com. “It’s nice knowing your impact goes beyond what you think. I do anticipate doing greater things in the future, we are far from finished.”...

More, Video, + comments,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/11/2015430/-When-school-doesn-t-acknowledge-MLK-Day-student-takes-Black-history-education-into-his-own-hands

[iemitsu]

1. Wonderful story.

We need families like this in our communities.

[appalachiablue]

3. So true, what a great student and family

[AmyStrange]

2. Mark my words, that kid is gonna help change the world!!!

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I won't be around to see it, but it's kids like THIS that give me hope for the future...



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[appalachiablue]

4. Very inspiring, wonderful people