Jackson Free Press

Last Monday, the Children's Defense Fund dedicated the first of 14 Freedom Schools in New Orleans—taking the name from schools set up to help educate African Americans during Freedom Summer 1964. CDF founder Marian Wright Edlema; Jeanne Middleton-Hairston, national director of the Freedom Schools; other CDF staff and a delegation from CDF turned out for the dedication. The delegation is comprised of women who are prominent figures in Hollywood and Washington, D.C., like CDF board members Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, Cicely Tyson, Regina King, Holly Robinson-Peete and Deborah Santana.

The Children Defense Fund's Freedom Schools are important to New Orleans, because there are presently only four public schools open in the Crescent City. The schools' curriculum emphasizes literature whose authors and subjects are African American. The school seeks to create an environment for its students that not only makes them want to learn, but also empowers them personally.

"We are going to bring back the stability and hope (Hurricane) Katrina took away by dedicating this center of hope. (This is a place) for the children to find their place in the sun again," organizer Mary Joseph said during the ceremony. The schools are available to any student who fills out an application and is accepted. Then, grants and donations fund the students' education. This flagship school received a substantial donation from the CDF.

The first way that the school tries to cultivate community is with a harambe every morning. Harambe is Swahili and means "let's come together." This is an opportunity for students to prepare themselves for the day by forgetting whatever stress they might have suffered before coming to school. Calmness overtakes the high energy when students prepare to hear staffers read a book. This particular day, however, instead of a staff person, CDF delegate and actress Cicely Tyson read "Miss Tizzy" to the eager children.

After Tyson closed the book, the young students, dressed in identical forest-green Freedom School shirts, jumped up to continue on with the harambe. "G-O-O-D J-O-B, good job, good job," they shouted, hardly able to keep still. Students and teachers alike, filled with energy, were unfazed by the New Orleans humidity and paused only to wipe sweat from their brows. The exuberance was infectious as reporters and celebrities cheered. Despite their star-studded audience, the young people were the stars this day.

Afterward, delegates and parents moved to an unfinished room for a mom-to-mom session. Here, the tragedies of the storm were made real. Individuals who left their hometowns and needed medication were unable to get it because Medicaid doesn't transfer from one state to another. In one instance, a child didn't receive a desperately needed asthma machine until five months later.

Douglas Chambers, Sr., a single father who is originally from Jackson, explained that after moving back to his hometown of Jackson, he was disappointed by how Jackson Public School system staff members and students treated his son.

"He's been overlooked. The attitude has been 'he's from Louisiana, he must be bad,'" Chambers said.

Officials expect that even more New Orleans natives will return home. Hurricane season is just around the corner, though. Not only is that a physical danger, but it is also a mental hazard for people who endured the storms of 2005.

The children are a particular concern, as many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. "Every time it rains," one mother explained, "my son asks if there's going to be another hurricane."

While the winds were horrible and destroyed not only lives but livelihoods, the winds exposed much larger problems. The delays in response taught children that their lives do not matter.

As the folks from Children's Defense Fund work to restore children's lives, the theme song of the Freedom School speaks to their determination to succeed. "Something inside so strong … I know that I can make it though you're doing me wrong … thought all of my pride was gone, oh no … something inside so strong."