Video Transcript:
LouAnne: “Hey, listen. Nobody’s forcing you to be here. You have a choice. You can stay, or you can leave.”
Male Student: “Lady, why are you playing this game? We don’t have a choice.”
LouAnne: “You don’t have a choice? You don’t have a choice on whether or not you’re here?”
Male Student:” No. lf we leave, we don’t get to graduate. lf we stay, we got to put up with you.”
LouAnne: “Well, that’s a choice, isn’t it? You have a choice. You either don’t graduate or you have to put up with me. lt may not be a choice you like, but it is a choice.”
Female Student: “Man, you don’t understand nothing. I mean, you don’t come from where we live. You’re not bussed here.”
LouAnne: “Do you have a choice to get on that bus?”
Female Student: “Man, you come and live in my neighbourhood for one week and then you tell me if you got a choice.”
LouAnne: “There are a lot of people who live in your neighbourhood who choose NOT to get on that bus. What do they choose to do? They choose to go out and sell drugs. They choose to go out and kill people. They choose to do a lot of other things. But they choose not to get on that bus.
The people who choose to get on that bus, which are YOU, are the people who are saying, “I will not carry myself down to die. When I go to my grave, my head will be high.” That is a choice!
There are no VICTIMS in this classroom!”
Female Student: “Why do you care anyway? You just here for the money.”
LouAnne: “Because I make a choice to care. And honey, the money ain’t that good.”
Female Student: “Whatever.”
Note: I miss my school days…
