Fully ten days after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, Texas some residents, upon returning home indeed had no homes, structurally, to which they could return. Television coverage revealed that, after waiting until weather permitted, residents saw traffic backed up for ten miles along a particular highway, causing them to spend more time suffering the agony of what they lost and tolerating the time they had to wait.
I promise you, it is not hyperbole to observe the courage and determination of those who are, yet, recovering, eight years later from that devastating storm. It was covered on TV while it occured, and the cost continues to be counted, and (hopefully) covered, in 2020. Much time has passed. Much cost has accumulated.
There was something of a difference, technologically, between Ike and Abe; between Galveston, now, and Galveston, then.
When President Abraham Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation, setting slaves free, January 1, 1863, it was not Breaking News on local, or national TV; nor was it possible for freed slaves in Virginia to text relatives in Texas. Considering time and endurance, it is not fair to evaluate differences in perseverance relative to two totally different cases. I do, however, believe that it is interesting to consider how things have changed. A wait of 2 and a half weeks while watching the news, vs. 2 and a half years oblivious of the news. From January, 1863 until June, 1865, the most important news of the time traveled across America, not for ten miles, but more than ten hundred miles. This is not, just, worthy of celebration (some say Cel-Liberation), but it is worthy of motivation.We can endure! Our storms may be different, but, our hearts, when empathetic, can determine what observation is worthy and what action is appropriate. Thank you survivors of Hurricane Ike – and other disasters – for understanding survivors of the Emancipation journey.
Happy Juneteenth!
A Brief Glimpse: Carl R. Boyd, Advice Teacher, 2006 – 2019
2018 Joined Board of Directors, Crime Stoppers, USA, Kansas City Chapter
2017 Received SCLC’s Evelyn Wasserstrom (Justice for Minorities) Award
2016 Initiated “American Schools Soar by 2024!” Campaign.
2015 Received the Metropolitan Crime Commission Alvin Brooks Award
2014 Wrote the book, Academic Patriotism: students honoring troops by excelling
2013 Launched, “I Am Not A Snitch, I Am A Witness” Campaign.
2012 Contracted to conduct Familequation® Seminars for Kansas City School Dist.
-Taught Bible Based Family Schooling at Friendship Baptist Church
Wrote Bible-Based Family Schooling, for Christians with school-age children.
Wrote Teaching By THE BOOK, for Christians who teach in public schools.
2008 Composed, and sang, fund-raising song for Chengdu, China Earthquake Relief
Mayor Virginia DuPuy of Waco, TX proclaimed October 4th “Carl Boyd Day”
in recognition of his working with schools, honoring America’s troops.
2006 Completed third book: The 5th Front Campaign; Schools & the War On Terror
Highlights
1999: Inducted into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame in Kansas City, KS
1987 – 1999: Created, and hosted “The Generation Rap” radio talk show for teens
1998: Received Kansas City’s NAACP Lucile Bluford Lifetime Achievement Award
1997: Keynote Speaker: China-U.S. Conference on Education in Beijing, China
Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and Life Memberof The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE). His first book, Plain Teaching (1991), continues to be used by principals, for staff development, throughout the United States.
CARL R. BOYD PERFORMED FOR AMERICAN TROOPS IN VIETNAM, KOREA, JAPAN, THAILAND, GUAM AND THE PHILLIPINES, WITH AN R&B SINGING GROUP, IN 1970 AND 1971, THROUGH USO SHOWS’ HOLLYWOOD OFFICE.
