I
joined a TNKR class yesterday with a refugee who has gone from putting her head
on her desk so she could avoid interacting with me to now initiating a
conversation with me.
One of the key main things we are hearing from refugees is
that they gain confidence from talking with TNKR tutors 1 to 1. In classroom
situations they get lost in the shuffle, they lack the confidence to try to
speak.
She and Christine Kim are now studying together twice a week.
Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on...