Activism II: 10-Year Old Activist
A series of statistical charts illustrating the condition of the descendants of former African slaves now in residence in the United States of America] Crime among American Negroes. Via getarchive.net
As a little girl growing up, I didn’t know I would one day be an activist. Though looking back, I remember a particular defining moment… The Boston Tea Party.
My 5th/6th-grade combination class teacher had organized a special lesson to teach us about "no taxation without representation."
A letter went home to our parents the night before explaining the assignment, so they sent us to school the next morning with a bag full of pennies. But we students had no idea what was going on. The next morning, when it was time for us to take our scheduled history test, we opened our desks to get out our paper and pencils, only to find that they had been removed from our desks. The teacher then explained that we would need to use the pennies we had to purchase back our paper and pencils.
While all the other students in my class began to count their pennies to purchase back their items that had disappeared from our desks overnight, I sat at my desk, crossed my arms, and refused to participate in what I considered to be completely unfair.
I would not be purchasing items that already belonged to me. It mattered not that I had the pennies to buy them. For 5th-grade me, it was the principle (colonialism and exploitation anyone?). Somebody stole my paper and pencil, and that was the injustice.
Her attempt to teach this particular lesson failed when it came to me, one of only two Black students in a classroom full of white students. I was 10 years old and not having it.
Maybe it was then that I knew I was a little different from other kids. I wasn’t going to just go along to get along. I made a conscious decision to disrupt, resist, and stand on business for what I believed in, especially as it was related to injustice.
Every other student in my class bought back their paper and pencils and proceeded to take the history test. I refused to take the test until my paper and pencils were returned to me, damn the pennies. Suffice it to say, I was punished for this rebellion and had to miss recess while my parents were called to explain my defiance.
Today, as a queer, Black, 46 years old American, I don’t pay taxes to the terrorist, criminal corporation that is the United States of America. No taxation without representation, right?
I guess I was always destined to be an activist.
Tina Strawn (she/they) is a joy and liberation activist, racial and social justice advocate, and author of "Are We Free Yet? The Black, Queer Guide to Divorcing America." Tina is also the owner and host of the Speaking of Racism podcast, and she is the co-founder of Here4TheKids, an abolitionist movement to ban guns and fossil fuels. The heart of Tina's work is founding and leading Legacy Trips, which are immersive, 3-day antiracism weekends where participants visit historic locations such as Montgomery and Selma, AL, and utilize spiritual practices and other mindfulness-based resources as tools to affect personal and collective change. Tina recently gave a TedX Talk entitled," Blaxit: The New Underground Railroad" that you can find on YouTube. Tina has three adult children, an ex-husband, an ex-wife, and an ex-country and she has been a full-time minimalist nomad since February 2020 and currently lives in Costa Rica.