Granby Elementary School Recital to Honor King

By Amy Jeter, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Jan. 15–NORFOLK — The fourth-graders stood in rows, shoulder to shoulder, and swayed as they sang to a mostly empty Granby Elementary School auditorium.

They held out their arms. They bowed their heads. They raised their hands up and hugged them to their chests.

Their little voices blended, with the occasional hint of a missing-baby-tooth lisp. They fought valiantly for the highest notes. “We shall overcooooome,” they sang. “We are not afraaaaaaid.”"Good,” teacher Cathy Swaim said from her perch behind the piano.

They had five days until the annual musical program honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday night. Every year, some 600 people — parents, teachers and children — pack the auditorium for this chorus performance, the school’s most highly attended.

For weeks, the students had been rehearsing “We Live the Dream” and “Down By the Riverside.” In class, they wrote compositions called “I Have a Dream.” In chorus, Swaim told them about segregated restaurants and water fountains reserved for whites.

“We even go as far back as Abraham Lincoln,” Swaim said. “What if Abraham Lincoln didn’t make the decision he did?”

The students, who have heard about King since kindergarten, talked excitedly about what their program means.

“One of the songs helps me to know what Dr. King has done for us,” said Thanh Nguyen, 10. “The one that says ‘free at last.’ He helps the black and white be together.”

Joshua Yeast eagerly waved his raised hand. “Without him, me and Tyshaun wouldn’t be here right now,” the 10-year-old boy observed triumphantly.

“We’d be in different schools,” agreed Tyshaun Wilson, 9.

Madison Holloway said he started to cry once while singing “Free at Last.”"I have a couple of best friends that are black,” the 9-year-old boy said soberly. “African American,” Joshua corrected. “African American,” Madison said. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have those friends.”

— Reach Amy Jeter at (757) 446-2730 or amy.jeter@pilotonline.com.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.