Robert A GeorgeKonto zweryfikowane

They settled upon a "slave auction" -- seniors would be "auctioned" to odd jobs for the winning bidders. Yeah, yeah, already, you're thinking, "What the hell?" In fairness, this was a school where which studies Greek and Latin classics. So, it's theoretically possible to do 6/

a "Greek" or "Roman"-style slave auction. Even so, I approached the planners and said tread carefully. I didn't hear about it anymore, so I assumed it got dropped. Instead, I awoke to find posters declaring, "Welcome to 1865: It's a real live slave auction!" Um, WHAT? 7/

I, well, got upset. But, here's the thing. There were quite of few other, white friends -- including other seniors -- who were stunned. There was an African-American underclassman who I'd become friends with who came up to me with whatever the 1985 version of "WTF?" was. 8/

I put together a strongly-worded letter (no, seriously, it was an "open letter" to the student body), got it co-signed with a couple dozen other people infuriated, stuffed copies in mailboxes. A day or so later, the fundraiser was cancelled. Yes, there were bruised feelings. 9/

My African American pal and I had a tense discussion with the organizers. We cleared the air. And, it should be noted, I'm friendly with them to this day. I don't consider them racist then or now. It was an insensitive action -- but an ultimately learning moment. 10/

In the days that followed, I felt out of sorts. Even though I had many friends who had my back and immediately supported me and whatever I wanted to do in response, I was still feeling alone, wondering if I did the right thing. Then, something happened. 11/

The auditorium attendant (African American, like the entire grounds crew). Jimmy, came up to me. I had chatted with him over the years as I had a work-study job in the dining hall. He said to me, "Thank you for speaking up about that. These kids, they just don't know." 12/

It had quite the impact. "These kids just don't know." In truth, *I* was a "kid" myself. I didn't know. Irritated as I was with the class leaders who ignored my cautionary heads-up, in fact, this was bigger than me -- bigger than them. Other eyes were watching. 13/