There was a Black History Month assembly today. I don't need to say much about it; you were all probably forced to go and then were subjected to the same religion-heavy assembly we had a month ago on MLK Day. The same songs were sung. The same dances were performed. The same songs were played by the jazz band, except without Jenny Herzog or Tim Van Riper singing, which was the best part about the MLK assembly (the jazz band did, however, drown Mr. Hudson out when he was trying to make an announcement. Nice work). The controversy about religion was seemingly nearly acknowledged by those involved, with some of the speakers saying "whether you believe in the Bible or evolution" (because those are mutually exclusive) and "by celebrating one culture, we celebrate our diversity. However, they still went on and played a bunch of completely unnecessary religious songs. Yes, religion was a big part of Martin Luther King's life; he was a minister. How are they going to tie it in now? Just because religion is an aspect of the history does not mean it should be made the focus. It doesn't mean you can't say "God" in a song. But when every song is about how The Lord Your Savior is A-Comin' Down From High, and every dance is exactly the same, it starts to get annoying.
Why did we need to have this assembly? And why do they constantly overbook these things? We had 25 minutes of third hour, and I had to take a test that second hour students got a full hour for.
It's also worth mentioning that Mr. White was nowhere to be seen at the second assembly. I hear he was at the first, but what, was he packing for his vacation or what?
Anyways, point is, I liked this assembly better the first time I saw it. In 2005.
10 comments:
1. Mr. Hudson cannot hold a microphone normally to save his life.
2. I fell asleep.
Yeah, seriously, was anyone else wondering what the hell Mr. Hudson was doing with the mic?
I mean I think your right the stuff is getting old. I dont like gospel because alot of it sings praise Jesus when it should be prasie to God. but anyways thats what I believe.So I dont like gospel. However the assemblies are the only time they get to preform, the dont preform at choir concerts or anything eles. The interepritive dance was boring too but I mean I try to be optimistic and say that they worked hard on it. Furthermore DORTHY WAS GREAT at the assmebly. I dont know if it was just m, but I was at second assmebly and dont get mme wrong I like Mr. Hudson but I felt he was trying to act like Mr. White who I dont like. I like Black History Month because I'm black but I dont appreciate the dullness of the assmeblies and the reapeat and re-runs. They can do better
It really bothered me that the assembly was so religion-centric. There's african-american muslims, and people of all different religions! The choirs and groups could've done some research on that and presented it to us as well. Instead, I felt like we were all being subjected to church. In a public school, I don't think this is ok.
Yeah "girl," that's a good point. Immediately after (or before, I don't remember) the Malcolm X slideshow, they sang two or three Christian songs...
If you don't want to be forced to go to services during school, send an email to General White (whitemi@aaps.k12.mi.us) and let him know.
I have to say, that while I understand how it could be important to people that we celebrate Black culture and history, but I disagree with requiring the whole school to show up to the assemblies.
If you look at history and figure out which group has been discriminated against the most, it's not even difficult to guess who'd come out on top. The Jews. But where is their culture and history month? Hell, Jews don't even get a single day. 6 Million of them were killed just because they were Jewish and we can't have a single day to give them some recognition?
And besides, the religion in the assembly really bothered me. I happen to be Agnostic and while I know that religion must be a part of Black culture and history, are these groups really incapable of finding a single piece of music that does not praise god?
Yes, that is mainly what gospel is about, but I'm sure that there is at least one gospel song out there that keeps it to a minimum.
And that poem as well. I appreciate the sentiment,
but that was more Religious than it was African-American culture.
That poem just as easily could have been written by a Caucasian, an Asian, a European, a Latino, anybody. I didn't hear anything in it that directly related to African-Americans.
I'm sorry about this rant, I just really think that these assemblies should either have minimum religion in them, or should not be required at all.
I honestly think that you guys are making to much of a big deal about it. Come on, it's just an assembly, it's not like a little bit of religion is going to hurt you, I don't believe in god, but I still could appreciate all the hard work that was put into the assembly.
what work? it was exactly the same as the martin luther king assembly.
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