I have been compelled to share the values and context of my Southern upbringing through my book, Fia and the Butterfly: 7 Stories for Character Education for many years, now. The urge is a teacher’s urge—I want to connect with children and youth in today’s complicated world in a way that will touch their hearts and minds and inspire them to want to get a good education, pursue worthwhile careers, give back to others, and demonstrate caring and respect for themselves, for others, for society, and for the earth which nurtures us all. Growing up in the segregated south of the fifties here in these United States of America, I was a part of a world that was in many ways reminiscent of the African village—families were close knit and homes were located in neighborhoods where the role models were all right there—the principal of the school, the doctor, and the teachers lived right down the street from the custodians and the street sweepers. Parents looked out for all of the children in the neighborhood and children knew that they were cared for. There were confusing and tremendously upsetting things about this world. We were growing up during the violent era of Jim Crow—the legalized separation of the races—but there was also a security, a feeling of being protected by those closest to us. Perhaps most importantly, there was a shared community mission of wanting to make things better for those coming on. There was hardly a gathering of any kind—formal or informal—that did not include some conversation about or reference to uplifting the Race, to making things better for us as Negroes, as we were then calling ourselves. And so, in the midst of these times, which included horrific acts—bombings, assassinations, lynchings—there was still hope and a blossoming of a movement—the Civil Rights Movement—that would ultimately change the laws that allowed and sanctioned those dreadful actions. Now—in the 21st century, we face another kind of enemy—an enemy within. An enemy of apathy that threatens to turn back the hard-won victories of this earlier era and move us into a new kind of slavery, a new kind of apartheid—an apartheid of the mind and training—a gulf between the have’s and have not’s that widens at each scientific and technological advance. But we can defeat this new enemy just as we defeated the old one—through connecting with a vision of possibilities for a world of prosperity, liberation, and peace for all, through awakening the energies and ideals of our youth to strive for something better, and through reconnecting with and acting on our faith in the Universal Good in the world. It is my belief that we can do all these things. When I was younger, I wanted to change the world. I still do. My book, Fia and the Butterfly: 7 Stories for Character Education is my current effort to make things better—for our children and youth here today, and for those coming on. Read my book! Share it with others! Let’s make this world a better place!
Lonnetta M. Taylor-Gaines
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