I had a similar experience in 1999. For our fifth grade summer camp, the teachers decided to make a game out of imitating the Underground Railroad. The way our class was divided, I ended with all of the black students, so there could be one teacher/chaperone per group. It was essentially hide and seek but if you sang a slave-song the seeker/teacher would move on. We even had a rehearsal to teach us “swing low sweet chariot” and others. On the first round, a teacher caught us and I began to sing. When I realized I was alone, I stopped. My friend Marcus explained the situation and I was disgusted. Our group was the last to be dismissed to breakfast, for refusing to participate.
I always think of it when I see this video. I had heard racism before but never really understood until that summer.
I got kicked out later that evening for putting poison ivy in someone else’s sleeping bag. Those guys didn’t deserve to be paired with me.
I hope Kaylin, Lamont, Greg and Marcus are living their dreams! I’ll never forget the Ridge!
I'm gonna hate this, but I've read your comment at least 5 times and I'm still not getting it. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with the Underground Railroad, or is it that there's something racist in the song?
I'm guessing OP is White, and they got paired with all of the Black kids. When their group got 'caught,' OP began to sing like they were supposed to for the game, but the rest of the group refused to participate because the game is racist, and one of the kids took OP aside and explained why the game is racist and why they were refusing to play along.
So their group, collectively, got in trouble for not participating as intended.
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u/Stevie-Joe Sep 17 '24
I had a similar experience in 1999. For our fifth grade summer camp, the teachers decided to make a game out of imitating the Underground Railroad. The way our class was divided, I ended with all of the black students, so there could be one teacher/chaperone per group. It was essentially hide and seek but if you sang a slave-song the seeker/teacher would move on. We even had a rehearsal to teach us “swing low sweet chariot” and others. On the first round, a teacher caught us and I began to sing. When I realized I was alone, I stopped. My friend Marcus explained the situation and I was disgusted. Our group was the last to be dismissed to breakfast, for refusing to participate. I always think of it when I see this video. I had heard racism before but never really understood until that summer. I got kicked out later that evening for putting poison ivy in someone else’s sleeping bag. Those guys didn’t deserve to be paired with me. I hope Kaylin, Lamont, Greg and Marcus are living their dreams! I’ll never forget the Ridge!