Comments on: NIGHT FIRES by George E. Stanley: "A person needs to hear how horrible these words are…"

By: Otto Tysdal

Otto Tysdal — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:23:44 +0000

You will not be loved if you care for none but yourself. – Spanish Proverb

By: movies episodes

movies episodes — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:11:14 +0000

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[...]NIGHT FIRES by George E. Stanley: "A person needs to hear how horrible these words are…" « Bowllan's Blog[...]…

By: Amy Bowllan

Amy Bowllan — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:45:36 +0000

Thanks, Mom! As you know, George was a great mentor and educator to me. I’m hopeful that he’s onto his next big project ‘upstairs’. I promised him that we would make it to The White House to meet the AG and speak on a national platform. He knows I tried.

By: camille bodden

camille bodden — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:20:14 +0000

Any I’m so impressed that these messages are & will be preserved forever!!God bless you for your pursuit of WISDOM & for being so spontaneous!! love ya Mom

By: Kakie

Kakie — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Amy, thanks for interviewing this author. You are right, it needs to be part of history teaching, just as slavery, just as the holocaust. I have always said, and taught that silence condones approval. We have a duty to speak up. We have to tell the truth so we can heal. We have to also look around and see where some of it is still being exemplified in today’s society, because it is. Gangs of all races, white supremesists are out there. They can lure others in through friendship and building “trust” in those who are vulnerable in one way or another. Hate is not the answer, it only creates ignorance.

By: B Herrera

B Herrera — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:04:22 +0000

I grew up around Lawton and remember the pool and the segregated schools. In the eighties I coached and fell in love with many of the players, most of whom were black. They teased me about my white legs, asking me if I were wearing socks all the way up, and I teased them about being jeoulous of their ‘permanent tan.’ They and their families took me in, inviting me to meals and clinging to me when their family members died. We laughed and learned from each other. We did not hide that we had differences in skin color – it wasn’t important enough for us to give it that much power. As one of my kids said, “If there’s a race war, I’m in trouble. My mother is white and my father black. So I’m just going to enjoy the best of both.” Much could be learned if we learned from our mistakes and began enjoying the best of all worlds.

By: George Edward Stanley

George Edward Stanley — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:22:36 +0000

Mary Ann: I just ordered YANKEE GIRL, and I’m looking forward to reading it. Great, great reviews. It does make you wonder, doesn’t it, why a teacher would talk about how wonderful a book is and then proceed to make oral changes of the things that were responsible for what made the book so successful in first place: showing readers how awful the period really was. We all need to feel uncomfortable, young people included. Nothing is going to be achieved by sanitizing history. And we all need to start speaking up as a block against this. In addition to some of the things I’m already planning, I’m thinking about asking some national writer’s organizations I belong to to join in. We’ll see.

Melissa: I really appreciated your Lawton remembrances. I was aware of much of that, having been told it, but you experienced it. I agree that Lawton is now one of the most integrated cities in the United States. I felt the same way you felt when you saw those pictures of the mother dressing her daughter in Klan “finery” when I saw that sign on the tree in Kansas in 1970: I was absolutely astonished.

And Amy, wonderful Amy, thank you for all your wonderful blogs and all your incredible support!

By: Melissa E.

Melissa E. — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:05:37 +0000

I have a rather different perspective, I grew up in Lawton and I vividly remember when my school was integrated. I also remember a private local swimming pool & park that was closed because the owners refused to admit Blacks. There was a group of influential local people who made integration as dignified as possible. I agree with Dr. Stanley, much has changed in Lawton, it is considered one of the most integrated cities in the U.S.
I was astonished to see a picture of a mother (dressed in klan “finery”) dressing her young child in klan costume in a local newspaper in east Texas in 1975. I couldn’t believe that kind of nonsense was still happening.
We still have work to change hearts and attitudes.

By: mary ann rodman

mary ann rodman — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:36:38 +0000

George,
I know exactly what you are talking about when it comes to the
“names issue.” I have had exactly the same problem with my book YANKEE GIRL, which involves the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in the 1960′s. I have had teachers “love” the book, then proceed to substitute the word “Negro” for “nigger”. I had a major library system announce that my book should not be read, and that it was offensive. This was followed by their state reading association nominating YANKEE GIRL for a state book award. Go figure!
There is a reason I made the word choices I did, and rest assured it was not for shock value…it was to remind people that this is the way people talked in my childhood, and that it was demeaning and hurtful. It seems that we are on the same page. I can’t wait to read NIGHT FIRES…and I am also taking notes on your ways of dealing with the “gatekeepers of reading.”

By: George Edward Stanley

George Edward Stanley — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:10:18 +0000

Onward and upward! We won’t stop! We need all the voices we can get. And you are so right: We really have failed our young people in this matter! We’re guilty of letting a small number of individuals ban books from libraries. And we’re guilty of letting a small number of individuals set educational policies which stifle or ban altogether healthy discussions of subjects they deem “inappropriate.” This has to stop.