Too bad Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African-American to hold that position, didn’t contact either Faith Woodard or Tariq Sharrieff before giving his infamous “cowards” speech as his contribution to Black History Month. He could have used their perspective.
Both Hillsborough County teenagers showed refreshing maturity and insight in their recent presentations on the contemporary American black experience. They weren’t dealt grievance cards, so they weren’t playing any. They addressed reality as they saw it and lived it, whether it was politically correct – or racially safe – or not.
Woodard, a 14-year-old eight grader at Rogers Middle School in Riverview, spoke at the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast. She spoke of King and Rosa Parks and quoted Robert F. Kennedy, Aristotle and Maya Angelou. She faulted her contemporaries’ rebellious attitudes and challenged parents to do a better job of combating a popular culture that was a large part of the problem.
“With the advancement of technology, hip-hop, rap music and TV have paved the way for the African-American youth to pick up thuggery as a way of life,” said Woodard. “Rebellion is idolized, crime is glorified and education is criticized.”
Sharrieff, a 14-year-old ninth grader from Tampa’s Jesuit High, gave the keynote address at the Black History Month celebration at Middleton High School. He also called out adults to act like, well, adults.
“Believe it or not, I have some friends who tell their parents what they will do and what they won’t do, and basically run the home,” noted Sharrieff. “If you adults don’t see this as your responsibility, …then society as we know it will cease to exist.”
These certainly weren’t the voices of cowardice. They were the voices of a generation who see irresponsibility and dysfunction where others see ravages of slavery and historic grievance.
They are the real, audacious voices of hope.