time will tell {baseball, bogues, and the board of education}

How was your Easter weekend, Magic City friends? Mine was full of joy and chocolate. And mexican. And, truth be told, a little anxiety, too.

I’ll start with the good…

{And you might want to get comfortable. This post feels like it might get lengthy.}

Early Saturday morning, I toted Butterbean and a blanket over a dew-covered field on our way to watch our first ever T-ball game. Thanks to Shindigs Catering (our little team’s sponsor), Butterbean’s older brother and his adorable friends are being introduced to the world of sports and team competition, via Southside Ball. He had some high moments. He had some dramatic moments. And when I heard him echo his father (who was standing just behind him at third base) by yelling “Good job!” to one of his teammates, I knew that everything was just as it should be, that all of our parenting hopes and dreams might turn out okay. The good in his heart, it’s growing. Whether or not he’ll be any good at baseball, time will tell.

Later in the morning, we pulled in for breakfast at Bogue’s. I’d not set foot in its new home on Clairmont Avenue and felt such a sense of hope when I walked in. I have an important connection to Bogue’s. You see, my {Magic City} community grew exponentially during the 2010 public outcry that resulted in saving Fire Station 22, the historic structure that was renovated and wherein Bogue’s now operates. So this breakfast was more than just hashbrowns. It symbolized the efforts of the many who love and uplift this great city and {successfully} stood up for something they believed in. And here’s one thing I know for sure – our breakfast at Bogue’s after the Cubs T-ball game was the beginning of a nice little tradition for our family, one that we’ll enjoy for years to come. How long it’ll take that greasy-spoon aroma to saturate and stick to the bright and airy {newly restored} walls, well, time will tell.

Still more important than that breakfast, though, was the mixture of faces inside the dining room. We ran in to one of our favorite families, The Barretts, who are fellow team parents and also lead cultivators of the South Avondale Community Garden, where our family has a plot. Their two children are adored by our boys and their commitment to Birmingham is inspiring.

We also spotted the Fleming family hogging a table after an entertaining morning of T-ball (they were on the opposing team). David didn’t mention the merger of Operation New Birmingham (which he leads) and Main Street Birmingham (which he helped create and most recently led), but news broke of it a day later. And, just like his wife Brooke’s fabulous Woodlawn-based arts boutique, it’s just the type of thing I get really excited about. The collaboration of these two entities (MSB & ONB) may just create some prosperous new development for Magic City entrepreneurs and the neighborhoods where they do business… Time will tell.

I made my rounds before the hashbrowns were served, shaking hands and pinching baseball caps, but there was one acquaintance in the room that I could not muster the courage to walk over and talk to. Dr. Craig Witherspoon and three sharply dressed young men and women were deep in conversation. The foursome’s faces were calm and intelligible, and it appeared as if no dark cloud hung over the table, even though I’m pretty sure there was one hanging over mine. The Superintendent of the Birmingham city school system is about to lose his job, and on this Saturday morning it was just business as usual in Birmingham, at Bogue’s, after T-ball, over orange juice and omelets…

My oldest son sat directly in my line of vision to Witherspoon, and with his shadow in plain view, I couldn’t help but predict a future without Witherspoon at the helm. We might decide to do private school, and then, maybe, we’ll move to {fill in the blank}. Should the school board press forward with buying out his contract (money better spent on textbooks and teacher salaries and arts integration, if you ask me), we’d be left with no other choice. The elected leadership of Birmingham would fail us, and we’d give up on winning the lottery. This would be a big blow to our family as we’ve put a great deal of faith in Witherspoon, his role critical to Birmingham’s future, in our opinion. If the board takes that away from us, we’re taking ourselves out of the conversation…and I’m going to be alot more attentive during the next election season.

Seeing Dr. Witherspoon – a man I typically run up to with my {trademark} Magic City Handshake - suddenly had me really, really disappointed. He was part of the puzzle. He was going to help Birmingham move forward. See?! I’m already talking in past-tense. The plagued leadership of this city has gotten the best of me…

Right now, as I sip my Finer Grind coffee and consider current events, my relationship with Birmingham is in a holding place. I realize that many of those individuals voted in to office have so little integrity or virtue, that they will put their egos in front of my child’s education and my city’s future. I’m having a hard time swallowing that. And I hope some of you are, too.

Allow me to backtrack a little…

Late in the afternoon on Good Friday, a healthy crowd of concerned citizens gathered across the street from the Board of Education one hour before a hastily scheduled meeting called by the school board to reportedly discuss the termination of Witherspoon’s contract. Due to the public outcry, that meeting was cancelled, although the threat lingers, and Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting may very well lead to yet another Birmingham Superintendent death-sentence. Which would be a shame. We’d lose a great city leader who brought his family to Birmingham to fight for organization and accountability in the public school system. We’d also be sealing the lock on progress. We’d be returning, yet again, to a time when the city had little hope.

Chuck Dean, reporter for the Birmingham News, approached me at said rally with questions about a confrontation that started as the majority pro-Witherspoon crowd began to disperse. I was thrilled to meet the guy, since he shares a name with my youngest (Charles Dean), and giggled at finding he perfectly fits the print newspaper reporter stereotype: baseball cap, furrowed brow, dense knowledge of Birmingham history and personalities, commitment to finding the skeptic in everyone… I love meeting other Magic City storytellers, of all mediums… But I digress.

Dean quoted me in this story that ran in Sunday’s paper, although I want to {finally get to the point of this post and} set the record straight. I was not offended by Barbara Moore Thompson’s comments. In fact, I didn’t really get to hear what she was fussing about because I was too busy talking with fellow supporters, neighbors, friends. When asked by Dean what my response was to her accusations that Witherspoon is “controlled by the white people” and that we were all there to “take over their school system”, I wasn’t shocked. My response to Dean was this: “I’d like to know if this woman is a native of Birmingham.” You see, Ms. Thompson was obviously of the age that would make her a young girl around the early 1960s. And something I have to keep in mind is that HER Birmingham looks a lot different from MY Birmingham. For all I  know, this woman may have been walking towards 16th Street Baptist Church with her family when it exploded that tragic morning in September, 1963. She may have scars that I cannot see, and that warrants respect.

However, the scars that plague Birmingham are no longer an excuse  for stalled progress. When an articulate, accomplished black man comes to Birmingham and makes friends with wealthy white people (in 2012), the result is *potential progress*. Period. I can’t speak for everyone, though I feel certain that the dynamics of black and white Birmingham are vastly improved than those fifty years ago. But I’m only considering the ones who want progress, who want change, who want better schools and real economic development and strong community relations.

Maybe Ms. Thompson and I don’t have the same opinion about Craig Witherspoon, but I could see that she has a passion for Birmingham, her city, her home. For that, we have something in common. And I wish I could understand why she feels the way she does, why the thought of blacks working (and learning) alongside whites disgusts her so. As long as rhetoric such as this permeates our community, the school system will continue to cave in. Our city will continue to crumble, as well.

Our family wants the opportunity to be a part of a great moment in Birmingham. We, along with other families, have committed our time and energy (and children’s education) to supporting our neighborhood school, where the student population is 93% black. Does it scare me that my child would be a minority in Birmingham city school? A little, but I’m an engaged parent and I love living in Birmingham. Perhaps I’m overly optimistic (and naive), but I tend to think that offering my children a racially and socioeconimcally diverse experience can be a postive thing. I also believe that investing in our city schools, whether it’s with rich white people’s money or middle class volunteer manpower, is a damn good idea.  However, my comfort level in doing so depends completely on Dr. Witherspoon’s position at the helm. If he goes, so too does our hope.

Time will tell…