February 9, 2023 | Jeffrey Good
At Acceleration Academies across the nation, educators and graduation candidates are taking time to reflect and learn during Black History Month. At Acceleration Academies of Ector County in Odessa, Texas, a Black police officer urged young learners to make history by being courageous enough to push for change and make hard choices.
“Black history is American history. When you think about black history, I want you to think about change,” said Ja’Vaun Johnson, a policeman invited by EAA life coach Maya Cotton. “Black history is American history that invokes change.”
The conference room where Johnson spoke quickly filled with young learners of all racial hues. He challenged them to call out people and events that represent Black history. They spoke right up:
“Martin Luther King.”
“Rosa Parks.”
“The month slavery ended.”
Excellent answers, Johnson said — ones that illustrate the kind of change that required Black Americans to stand up for justice even in the face of racism and, sometimes, violence.
It’s also the kind of change that requires individuals to make hard choices in their own lives, Johnson said.
He spoke from experience.
“I come from the slums of a south side of Chicago. You name it, I’ve seen it, I’ve been through it,” he said, explaining that he grew up among youths and adults who too often chose crime over work, violence over peace, dropping out of school instead of working hard to earn their high school diplomas and college degrees.
People warned him, “You’re going to end up dead or in jail,” but he decided to chart another course. Even though school didn’t come easily, he knew he needed it to build his future. Even though some questioned his ambition to become a police officer, he decided it was a way for him to embody positive change.
The choices weren’t easy, but Johnson said he’s glad he made them — and he urged the graduation candidates to do the same.
“Change ain’t easy. I want to challenge you on this,” Johnson said. “If it’s easy, don’t do it.”
It wasn’t easy for Rosa Parks to refuse a bus driver’s order to give up her seat to a White passenger in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, he said. But the courage she showed played a pivotal role in the struggle for civil rights and earned her the title of “Mother of the Freedom Movement.”
He asked the young people to take pencil and paper and jot down some thoughts about how they might make positive change in their own lives, their families and communities. He then asked for volunteers to stand with him in front of the group and share those dreams.
Chylazia Johnson, a young Black woman, said she wants to go to college to become a social worker. She explained that she had been in and out of Child Protective Services as a young child. “I want to make sure no child has to go through what I went through.”
Alex Wells, a young White man, said he wants to spread the example of positive self-esteem and action through his YouTube channel and his life. “I want to grow and change. You really have to have a lot of love for yourself. You gotta step out of your comfort zone and do good.”
Ja’Vion Bars, a young Black man, said he wanted to follow the wisdom and example of parents, teachers and role models like Officer Johnson. “I want to do better for myself and my family.”
Johnson applauded their ambitions, saying every person in the room had an opportunity to write their own histories — and the history of the nation — in a way that raises themselves and others up.
Some of that history involves the next generation, he said, nodding to his 10-month-old daughter Kaydence, who was just waking up from a nap in her stroller. “Every day I wake up and try to be the best possible father to my daughter.”
He encouraged the GCs to shape their own histories — and the nation’s.
“From this day forward, do the hard thing,” he said. “The hard things invoke the change. The hard things make history.”
Acceleration Academies of Ector County accepts new students on a rolling basis. For more information, check out the academy web page and fill out an online enrollment form.
Ja’Vion Bars (left) and Chylazia Johnson said they want to write positive chapters in American Black history. Chylazia wants to help children as a social worker. Ja’Vion says, “I want to do better for myself and my family.”