50 years ago, 4 students in Greensboro sat down at a lunch counter and helped spark a movement across North Carolina to end segregation in our state. Let us be inspired by their courage.
Students can make a difference.
But there are those today in our country who want to close the classroom door.
In North Carolina, we are trying to send a message to the sponsors of a bill that attempts to ban undocumented students from college, HB11: in 2011, do not shut the classroom door. Keep it open.
Keep it open for students, who came here not because of their own choice, but because their parents brought them here. Born somewhere else, they have made this state their home. They have grown up here. Graduated from our elementary schools, our middle and high schools. They want to continue their education.
Keep it open for students who work their way through school. Pay taxes with ID#’s given to them by our government. Tell me, why should there be taxation but no education?
Keep it open for students who want to be the future teachers, doctors, scientists, and workers in our community. Why can they not pursue their American dream? Please keep the door open.
Open for students who contribute to our state. The State Community College Board commissioned a $75,000 study that concluded that there was no negative effect from undocumented students enrolling at community colleges. So tell me, why stop education? Keep the door open.
Open for students who want to live the American dream, the dream that inspires people from all around this world to come here to make a better life, to contribute their talents to making America great. So, tell me, why stop education? Keep the classroom door open.
As a teacher, it saddens me that there are those who want to silence these dreams, that there are those who want to close the door on the learners of today that will become the leaders of tomorrow.
We must speak out.
50 years ago, 4 people in Greensboro sat down-in order to stand up-for civil rights.
And so today, let us stand beside the doorway to the American dream, for the students, for the dreamers of tomorrow, and keep it open. Say no to HB11 and other legislation that tries to ban undocumented students. And say yes to education!