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NEW YORK - With the ease and style of a seasoned reverend addressing her congregation, seven-year-old Autum Ashante addressed the crowd at City Hall on March 14. The little girl has become the center of controversy after she said her poem was not for White people.
White parents and children in the Peekskill school system in Westchester were offended when she prefaced a reading of a poem she had written for Black History and Women's History months with the an aside that the poem was written specifically for Black and Hispanic children—not Whites. Administrators made apologetic phone calls to upset parents and there is talk of banning Autum from ever again speaking publicly in the school system.
When asked how she thought her poem was received, she said, "They responded well—except all the White children. Before I did the 'Black child's pledge'—you do know the ancestors take over when your about to say something, right? You know you can't stop them when you say anything? Well, I said this isn't for the white children—this is for all the Black and Spanish children. All the White children started walking out and all the Black and Spanish started screaming."
She said she knows it was hard for the White children to hear, but it was not said to be mean spirited.
At City Hall, Councilmember Charles Barron defended Autum's right to address her African peers exclusively. When one reporter pointed out that the White children probably felt excluded from the poem's message, Barron shot back, "They should feel left out, because she wasn't talking to them. She has a right and we have a right to address African people. She has a right to speak especially to African students. You should be glad she was talking to them to try and stop them from being violent and start doing something positive."
The day before Autum read her poem there had been a near riot between the black and Hispanic children in the school. Barron said that Autum's poem was speaking directly to this conflict.
"She was highlighting a specific problem—there was a near riot the day before—so this black angel comes and says 'let me deliver something to my young people to stop them from being violent.' What's the problem?" asked Barron.
Barron called on Attorney General Elliot Spitzer to step up to bat and defend Autum's right to free speech.
"This girl was traumatized by adults making a big deal out of a poem that came out of her heart, from her ancestors, to deliver a message to youth," he said.
The suggestion that Autum be banned from public speaking seemed to be especially offensive to Barron and other members of the African community.
"You're going to ban a seven-year-old from speaking in the school system, because during Women's History month, and just after Black History month, she has some poems of pride and of unity? You don't have to agree with everything we say, but we have a right to say it," said Barron. At the prompting of her father and the councilman, Autum performed the poem in question, as well as a traditional Black Panther pledge of allegiance and another original poem about Black people being exploited for their labor in prison.
Mr. Batin Ashante, Autum's father, was asked if school system officials had inquired of him how he had managed to home school such an amazingly gifted child. He replied, "no one has asked me my secret to raising an 'indigo child,' but I wish they would, because I have a secret that I'd like to share with the world."
Ashante said that though he spends many hours each day involved in his daughter's education, he gives most of the credit to the public library system. It seems that ever since Autum received her first library card she's been hooked.
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