More Quinta Brunsons

All things moved in alignment yesterday to put me standing across from Quinta Brunson, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and Superintendent Dr. Watlington (among others). None of my kids in my after school program showed up, so I left school in time to cross the street with our crossing guard who asked me if I was going to see Quinta and the Mayor at Hamilton Elementary nearby. He said it was open to the public, which turned out to be not exactly true. I was barred from entry by two women who told me I needed to sign up in advance. I held up my school ID, and they told me I could wait and see if space opened up. After about 15 minutes, I asked them if there was space for me and they told me no. I held up my ID again and said, "Not even for a real West Philadelphia teacher?" One tried to insist on turning me away again, while the other said, "Let me go check inside again." At that moment, I knew I was getting in.

I listened to a number of speeches while my 8-month-old slept on my chest, not even stirring when the crowd clapped for each speaker. Finally, Quinta got up, the last one to speak. She mostly shouted out important educators and friends in her life that led her to create "Abbott Elementary," including a man named Gregory, whom the character Gregory Eddie was named for. She talked about the mural that was being unveiled, painted on Hamilton itself, originally designed to depict the actors of the show until Quinta insisted it reflect the real people here, not fictional characters.

There was one line of her speech that stuck with me all throughout the night as I had dinner with my family, gave my son a bath, and knocked out asleep at 7 pm. She said (paraphrased, as I didn't want to take myself out of the moment by recording), we need teachers in order to create "more Quinta Brunsons in the world." I think she heard herself after she said it, because she followed up with, "Plenty of people don't want more Quinta Brunsons," but the attempt at self-deprication didn't do too much to neutralize the previous statement.

Now, I think this woman is wonderful and a genius, and should she want to lift herself up and celebrate herself, by all means she should. But I was left wondering, can't one be a Quinta Brunson and an educator at the same time? What is "a Quinta Brunson"? A famous person? Or an influential and impactful person? Is an educator not that? And did we not also have educators to make us who we are? She also mentioned "making it out of the city." Is that what makes a Quinta Brunson? Is it going beyond Philadelphia, or just wherever you came from? Because to me, I "made it out" too. I made it out of a tiny, conservative town where I looked around and saw a different kind of violence than we see here in Philly. I saw intolerance and prejudice. Racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia. I saw swastikas drawn on notebooks and not a pride flag in sight. Does my place here exclude me from being a Quinta Brunson, or does it make me one?

All that is to say, my fellow teachers, we may have a role in which we inspire greatness. But we are great ourselves too. I don't think Quinta meant to insinuate otherwise exactly. But her comment highlighted how people forget that we are people who can create too, not just those shadowy figures in the background of other creators.