Slaves weren’t allowed to learn how to read because slave owners feared that if slaves were educated then they would have the knowledge to rebel and fight back. gaining the ability to read was like a weapon for slaves. Although in that example slaves used the ability to read as a way to create new tactics and plans to fight against and put an end to the inhumane act of slavery , reading is still valuable and important for people today. Reading is a skill that we have to use everyday so we don’t get screwed over in life. Being able to read something while also breaking down and processing the information within seconds is really cool. It’s kind of like an underrated super power or a sixth sense. Our brain is multitasking , we should really give it some credit. My personal experience with reading was influenced and formed by my Dad’s experience with learning how to read. My Dad not knowing how to read taught me that reading is important when it comes to succeeding in life because not only was he reliant on other people to help him when it came to reading bills and instructions , but it also impacted me as a kid as I was unable to keep up in class and had no one to help me with my homework which almost led me to failing.
I was born in Staten Island but I lived in a really bad neighborhood. It was filled with really bad people , people were doing drugs and sometimes you would hear shots ring out and I would have to duck under the bed and stay away from the windows and “mind my own business”. The reason I am telling you the reader , is because my Dad was unable to get good paying jobs because he was unable to read. This led us to live to in low income neighborhoods where violence was prevalent. Growing up I learned the impact that reading had on me when I was in school. Reading is an important skill because without it you won’t be able to succeed in school. The reason you won’t be able to succeed in school without reading is because you just won’t be able to follow along in class or complete homework and assignments. When I was in second grade I needed help with my homework because I couldn’t read or understand the questions. I remember walking up to my Dad and asking him to read the questions to me but he just waved his hand off at me, signaling me to go away. He told me couldn’t help me because he couldn’t read it. I began to get zeroes on my homework grades because of both our inability to read. One day the teacher called my parents asking why I wasn’t doing my homework. My Dad had to explain to the teacher that he couldn’t read and couldn’t help me. It was embarrassing for him and I could tell it hurt him emotionally because he didn’t like showing up to my school after the phone calls. I also was couldn’t participate in class because I couldn’t read. The teacher would bring out children’s books, (not Dr Seuss of course because he just made up words and people ate out of his palm for it.) and tell us all to follow along. I couldn’t follow along because I didn’t know what they were reading and I didn’t know wether they had finished a page or not. One time the teacher called on me to read a page out of the book and I froze in terror and said nothing and just stared at the page. One of the assistants came over and told me I was even on the right page and she flipped it for me but it didn’t matter because I just couldn’t understand what the hell any of the words said. Some of the classmates laughed at me and one of them called me a pejorative word ( it’s the word that’s very disrespectful towards people with mental disabilities and it begins with an R, now that I’m thinking about it , I don’t know how he had knowledge of that word in the second grade.) I came home frustrated and very upset that day. These experiences taught me that reading is important to learn when it comes to school because without the ability to read, there will be learning barriers and you’ll fall behind in class like me 🙂 .
Watching my Dad struggle with things that he could easily resolve on his own if he knew how to read taught me that lacking the ability to read will make you reliant and dependent on people. Relying on people can be a bad thing because you’ll never be able do things on your own and trusting complete random strangers can lead to obtaining false information or missing information. When I was older my Dad would drive us around ( in case you’re wondering , he had to have a scribe read the questions to him in order to pass his test) but he would always need me or my mom to read what parking signs would say. For example the sign would say Tuesday and Friday 8:30-10am. My Dad was reliant on us, he always would ask one of us to stay in the car so that he can find parking and know which side to park on. One time we weren’t there to help read the sign to him and he parked on the wrong side and got a ticket, yea that’s how bad the dependency was . The one time he tried to do something on his own he got screwed over . My Dad would also struggle when it came to understanding important papers. When my Dad would get letters , he would always wait until my Mom came home since he couldn’t read them. He would also have to bring my Mom with him to meetings with insurance companies to make sure the people at the insurance company weren’t leaving out important information and taking advantage of him. My Dad also couldn’t do paperwork on his own , he had trouble filling out job applications on his own( as I said earlier , he got jobs that didn’t require reading, like working at a park). He struggled with everything in life because everything requires reading and understanding. The lesson is that without the ability to read you will struggle in life and will have a hard time making a living for not only yourself but for your family.
Reading is important because you will struggle in life and will always have to rely on people if you can’t read. My Dad is a perfect example of the , he can’t read important papers , he can’t fill out job applications and he has a hard time parking. His inability to read also impacted me because I struggled in school when it came to my grades since no one was there to help read the homework questions to me and I couldn’t keep up in class. In history reading and writing has helped people of color. It helped break the chains of slavery , it helped us learn about our history , we learn to tell stories of oppression through literature, poem, text. “I can’t pay no doctor bill (but whitey’s on the moon), Ten years from now i’ll be payin still (while whitey’s on the moon.) The man jus upped my rent las night (cause whitey’s on the moon).”- Gil Scott Heron. I’m glad I gained the skill the read because I get to read beautiful poems like that which express the the impact that the space race had on blacks in the 1960s. Reading is powerful and people should utilize it and take advantage of it.
