Quotes

              OVERHEARD AT THE SUMMIT….

“This is about confidence, commitment, caring, culpability, and courage.” Alfred Tatum

“I’ve always been one to take every negative thing that has been said about me and turn it into a positive.  I like proving people wrong.  I get a thrill out of that. So just being in college, getting ready to graduate, getting ready to start applying to law school…the people back home would have never thought this possible.” Student Panelist

“Those of us who work in higher education or libraries, or wherever we work, we don’t use our voices as we should use our voices to tell that story …that the reason we allow these statistics to exist in one of the wealthiest countries in the world [is] because we do not have the will.” Charlie Nelms.

“If we don’t think wide enough and broad enough and deep enough, we’ll continue to miss the mark with many
of our African American boys.” Alfred Tatum 

“Incentivize, envelop, and reward.” Charlie Nelms.

“It’s not enough to expect more from our students. We need to expect more from our principals, our teachers, our friends, our leaders. And ourselves!!!” Summit Participant

“Every text in the library belonged to me.” Alfred Tatum

“Challenging African American males = giving them permission to succeed.” Summit Participant

“I appreciate Dr. Tatum’s emphasis on using powerful, complex texts in small pieces.  Don’t dumb it down; make it a size they can  chew on.” Summit Participant

“We need to redefine the scope of the library – we’re not just about books, not even about information. We’re about EMPOWERMENT.” Summit Participant

“I want books for my bookfair that reflect my students or I don’t want a bookfair at all.” Summit Participant

“Is a library revolution emerging in this room?  BOOKS! LIBROS! In search of a library manifesto.” Alfred Tatum

“We WANT loitering!” Summit Participant 

“These young men are the most telling part of the summit…I appreciate their honesty.” Summit Participant

“These are the types of text that I put in front of young men…it gives them permission to fight back with their own words and their own ideas.” Alfred Tatum.

“Agency..is using literacy to do powerful things right now for the people that you care about.
Using literacy to tell yourself better stories about yourself, and you can share those stories with others as a different, more self-actualized, seriously literate human being.  That’s the power of voice.  And that’s where … programs need to start.”  Ernest Morrell

“Students can be successful if we want them to be successful.” Kevin Rome

“We know that students meet the expecations you set.” Kevin Rome

“This is what a young boy told me recently.  I said, “Who are you?”  And he simply said, “I am a lost soul.”  What implications do these words have for us as educators?  You can’t give this young boy a pep talk, particularly if he struggles with reading and writing.  We have to give these young males prep talks, so that reading and writing become tools of protection for them and their offspring. “ Alfred Tatum

“It’s in my nature to just pick up a book and read. ” Student Panelist

“And somebody needs to say at this point…tutors because especially, like, African American males have an issue…when they don’t know something, they don’t really reach out to get the help that they need.  And when you have people there that want to help you out, you have people there that are excited about helping you out, that excites you, that encourages you to do better and work harder.”  Student Panelist