Patterns For Tomorrow
A grandmother’s eyes beamed with pride Friday night at the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Northwest Detroit as she watched her grandson belt out a beautiful song. She bobbed her head along and silently clapped as she sat near the edge of her seat waiting to be the first to stand and clap after he finished. I smiled and admired her support. In a later scene when it came time for him to dance she nudged me and whispered, “Now my baby is a singer, not a dancer”, we both laughed. 
Fortunately, as I glanced around the room she wasn’t the only family member glowing with pride in the dark playhouse.
The previous week I accepted an invitation to attend the school play that was held on March 30th. The music director, Brandon Bateman, insisted that it was going to be a great performance. While he continued to talk about how great it would be I thought to myself hmmm a group of 5th graders “it would be more like cute”.
Bateman had not exaggerated. The scene within the gym doors was breathtaking. Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends flooded the seats and sat with anticipation for the curtain to roll back so that they could to support the hard work of their children.
I have one word to describe those children and that is dynamic. They exerted confidence that I seldom see in a lot of adults. The little young men walked around, heads held high in three piece suits, with their hats tilted to the side, and the young ladies pranced around in classy dresses and gowns. Not only were they dressed flawlessly, their performance was captivating. Not one line was forgotten or step noticeably lost. The music, lighting and scene changes flowed without fault. Parts were acted not recited. A piece of history had been taught to those kids and they were teaching it to many of us in the crowd who hadn’t heard the story of Paul R. Williams.
That night I contemplated on the event and asked myself why did I act so surprised to see black children doing such great jobs at speaking and acting? Maybe it is because we tend to only see images of black children not making strides and parents not supporting them. There was an aroma of unity in that place. It was within the pages of the program book that I realized that I had identified the aroma correctly. It was the ads that had been purchased by companies and families showing congratulatory support for the young actors and actresses.
Schools like this are great examples of the leadership and dignity that our kids need to be taught. The play was entitled “Patterns for Tomorrow”, ironically; I feel that The Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse could be a pattern for other
Detroit schools for tomorrow.
To read more about this school check out their web site www.ntsd.com
