'We must love': Third installment of Black History Month includes song, activity
The Children's Theatre Company of Jackson "Kids with a Cause" performed on Friday hymns before an audience at City Hall, followed by an audience-engaging activity, demonstrating a component of black history, concluding with songs from a local singer.
Performing with purpose
A group of nearly two dozen children, ranging in age from four to 16-years-old, sang the classic tune "This Little Light of Mine" on the first floor of City Hall as audience members clapped along in unison throughout their performance.
Following the song, children proceeded forward to a microphone where they each recited a single quote from philosophers, activists, and humanitarians like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks.
An activity with a twist
Orchestrated by Nadia Beard, dance teacher for the Jackson-Madison County School District, audience members participated first-hand in a demonstration representative of the discrimination the black community has faced.
City Hall was divided into two sides, the larger group being "whites only." Participants chose a paper bag that contained a ping pong ball inside, labeled with different adjectives. After reading adjectives like patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, peace, and joy, Beard instructed participants to drop their ball in a bucket.
She proceeded to add spices to the bucket and mimic the cooking of a recipe, and at the end, asked the audience the question of what ingredient appeared to be missing. At which point, she turned the bucket around to reveal it had the word "love" written on it, establishing her point that all of the adjectives in the bucket were pointless without the inclusion of love.
"In order to heal, we must love," Beard said.
Beard based her activity on the famous experiment conducted by third-grade teacher Jane Elliott. On the day of MLK's assassination, Elliott took the opportunity to teach her students about racial prejudice. She separated the class between the brown-eyed and blue-eyed students and told the class, for experimentation purposes, that the brown-eyed children were superior to those with blue eyes.
In an effort to get the audience involved, Beard contemplated an effective means to educate those in attendance when she formulated a twist on Elliott's experiment. Her love for cooking paved the way for her demonstration in City Hall to come to fruition.
"So I just tweaked that idea and then, through out the week, I said I'm just going to allow the Lord to send it to me," Beard said. "I thought about 'what can I do that's going to be relevant, that's going to make it stick.'"
A powerful ballad lifts voices high
Praise and worship leader at Macedonia Baptist Church Clifton Smith concluded the day's event with a powerhouse performance, echoing throughout city hall.
A former drummer, he explained that singing is his way of expressing himself and recalls being told he had a gift from a young age. The now 31-year-old has been singing since he was seven, and without background music and through the power of his voice alone, Smith described himself as being "elated" to be given the opportunity to perform on Friday.
"It's just wonderful, probably what the city needed the most," Smith said. "So many have contributed, so this is a beautiful thing, but this is just is the beginning"
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Black history performance in Jackson features music, focus on love
