Rediscovery of the Mysterious Hittites "Zi 41M'a
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S June, 1969 500 REDISCOVERY OF THE MYSTERIOUS HITTITES "ZI 41M'A. 't2k4th £103 Ghetto Alicbrenture What's it like to bring the gospel of Christ to residents of an inner-city ghetto? A seminarian from Michigan's Andrews University gives his impressions of a summer's work in the nation's capital. By Jonathan Butler AYNE, a four-year-old black boy, simple triangle, upside down, without lines for a spends most of his days at the Logan Elementary face or arms or legs. School playground in Washington, D.C. His family "Are you finished, Wayne?" is among the city's poorest. He seems virtually He nodded his head Yes. He then began sketch- homeless. He eats his meals at the playground. He ing his family in a similar way, as a row of faceless is a troublemaker unless he receives attention from triangles. those around him. If that had been all, we would have simply Wayne wrapped himself around our pants legs declared him a bad artist. But his white tutor the moment we arrived at Logan School last sum- asked, "Can you draw me?" mer, and he never seemed to let go for the entire Wayne thought a moment and then began ten weeks our Andrews University Experimental drawing, this time no shapeless doodles. He formed Field School team worked in his neighborhood to a man with arms, legs, and a carefully shaped face gain practical experience in communicating the with eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth. gospel of Christ to the hundreds of thousands of Psychologists say this kind of self-depreciating poor who are flocking to the nation's largest cities. artwork is characteristic of many ghetto children Our fourteen-member team expanded com- who have exalted concepts of white suburbanites. munity-service projects developed and staffed by Though Wayne was only one of two hundred the Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church and Co- children we worked with during the summer, his lumbia Union College, both of Takoma Park, face seemed to reflect, to some degree, in all their Maryland, and the interdenominational Concern faces. How can we communicate the gospel of for Neighborhoods, Inc. Christ to these children? we asked ourselves. How "Can you draw a picture of yourself?" a staffer can we tell them the "good news" that they are asked young Wayne. unique and important in the eyes of God? How "No." He shook his head. can we help their self-concept grow from vague "Can you draw a picture of your family?" abstractions, upside-down triangles, to that of "No." robust, self-respecting sons and daughters of God? "Why don't you try, Wayne?" "Much more than mere sermonizing is in- Reluctantly Wayne took a pencil and piece of cluded in preaching the gospel," one concerned paper and began sketching. He drew himself as a religious writer wrote. "The ignorant are to be en- JUNE, 1969 3 Continued thirteen women graduated, and each trains. We joined visitors at the Fed- lightened; the discouraged are to be immediately found work in a local eral Bureau of Investigation building uplifted; the sick are to be healed." hospital as a nurse's aide. and saw exhibits showing crime doesn't That was the way Christ worked. He In addition to tutoring in reading and pay. The aquarium in the basement of appealed to the whole man, not just a mathematics, our Andrews University the Commerce Department building, part. He was Teacher and Physician, team did other kinds of teaching, too. with scores of kinds of local water life, as well as Preacher. As young semi- Since children often do not like to fascinated the children. And we didn't narians, we wanted to imitate Christ's come to school, we went to them. We dare miss Capitol Hill, where the ministry. Our Jerusalem was Washing- borrowed shopping baskets from a youngsters seemed to enjoy the Senate ton, D.C. Our Jordan River was the neighborhood supermarket, decorated and House subways more than watch- Potomac. them with bright crepe paper and bal- ing representatives debate. Our ministry was varied. Each morn- loons, then wheeled them down the After each field trip, the children re- ing we tutored children in mathematics sidewalks, two seminary students to a turned to Logan School to discuss what and reading at Logan School. The edu- cart. they had seen. Usually we soon moved cational statistics startled us. In spite Our parade had a Pied Piper effect, from the sight-seeing discussion to more of the disadvantages he already had and children swarmed around us. Then personal topics. suffered as a poor black in the inner we took crafts and books from the cart The youngsters told us, in their city, Wayne would enter first grade and set up shop on a nearby front candid way, what it is like to live in the with only slightly less reading and porch. Soon the children were learning inner city. They spoke of riots, looting, other elementary skills than the more to mold clay and paint pictures. and the police. They talked as most privileged white American first graders. Some of their work was remarkable. other ten-to-fourteen-year-old Ameri- But by the time Wayne finishes sixth One boy molded an entire pop band in can youth talk. They feared riots. They grade, he will be 1.6 years behind clay. He carefully shaped the drums thought looting wrong. They wanted to white American children of his age. and cymbals, the electric guitars plugged be policemen when they grew up. When he finishes twelfth grade, he will into amplifiers, along with a vocal One ghetto child, however, com- be 3.3 grades in ability behind other quartet. He created such a masterpiece mented, "I would like my neighbor- young people his age. In addition, that we persuaded him to take it home hood to be clean and beautiful, and I Wayne is three times as likely to drop to show his family. He returned the would like to have a swimming pool. I out of high school when he is sixteen next day with his clay band painted. would like to have a playground with or seventeen years old. Soon he was teaching other children. every kind of toy. I don't want to live One of the many reasons for these Some children sketched amazingly in a dirty neighborhood. I want to live dismal statistics about the hundreds of recognizable likenesses of their friends. in a house that has fifteen rooms." thousands of Waynes living in large Of course most drew the usual childish We worked among teen-age youths cities is substandard schools. In a re- artwork of stickmen and stick trees. too, and they were more of a chal- cent year in one metropolitan area, We also read them children's stories lenge. the tension between us usually twenty-five suburbs spent $500 more from books we had brought along, could be eased with a game of basket- on each student than was spent on taught them songs, and led them in ball on the Logan School playground. each student in inner-city schools. group sings. Sometimes the children And the basketball games served as A successful educational program turned teacher and taught us their own wedges, making other activities pos- that we observed in the Washington, favorites. sible. D.C., ghetto was the training of nurs- In the afternoons we often took chil- One seminarian obtained an old ing assistants. Several schools of nurs- dren from the Logan School area on Ford sedan that didn't run, and he ing and hospitals in the metropolitan field trips around the nation's capital. taught the teen-age boys auto mechan- Washington area contributed a nursing We visited the Smithsonian Institution ics. Many of these teen-agers want to faculty for night classes for area moth- and watched their eyes widen with be mechanics, but most companies re- ers. After a yearlong training program, wonder as they learned the history of quire their mechanics to read well 4 THESE TIMES enough to understand an auto repair with the black community occurred As they sat across from us, they looked manual. In our informal class the boys, some distance from Logan School. The too big for us to play in tackle football. all high-school dropouts, averaged a mothers on one block of 12th Place, But they broke into easy smiles and third-grade reading level. We hoped Northwest, formed an association to chatted about a good playing field not our tutoring was beneficial. plan summer activities for their chil- too far away. Before we knew it, we Perhaps our cooking classes high- dren. They invited us to help, and three were scheduled to have our bones lighted the summer. Through the cook- of our group suddenly found they had broken in a football game. ing classes we taught principles of a new assignment. By the time Sunday came, we were health and meal planning. Girls learned The imagination of these mothers happy to learn the boys had lost some how to be household helpers for their was remarkable. With the city play- of their equipment. We agreed, not working mothers. Boys dreamed of be- ground too far away for their children reluctantly, to play touch football in- coming chefs. Two boys declared they to walk to, the women arranged for stead. someday plan to open a restaurant. the city to rope off their entire block "I've never played football with But the children weren't the only ones and to prohibit parking of vehicles preachers before," one youth said.