If You Don’t Want Them To Know Something, Put In A Book, They’ll Never Read It! :: Personal Narrative Writing

â€Å"If You Don’t Want Them To Know Something, Put In A Book, They’ll Never Read It!† â€Å"If you don’t want them to know something, put it in a book, they’ll never read it.† This was a saying that was widely during and after desegregation of the schools, and as I know is still being used today, to display the ignorance and lack of knowledge of African-Americans. The sad fact is that it is true. If it doesn’t come across the television or radio, then most people don’t know what is going on. Most people that I know watches television rather than go to school. As an African-American, it was very important for me to learn to read, write, and obtain a quality education. It’s amazing to see the carelessness that many people take toward getting a good education. Many of my ancestors lost their lives for just wanting to read and write, but now that African-Americans have the opportunity to do these things, hardly anyone takes advantage of it. For me, as an African-American, education is extremely important because many affluent peop le like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McCloud Bethune, and Linda Brown, fought â€Å"tooth and nail† and lost much of their blood, sweat, and tears to ensure that we were properly educated. Over the years I have adopted a slogan, â€Å"If it’s free, it’s for me†. Although public education is free today, someone no doubt lost his or her life for me to sit in a classroom to learn. I try to take advantage of every opportunity I get to read and write because I can never learn too much. I was raised in the north end of Hartford, Connecticut. I wouldn’t say that the city was impoverished, but it was far from perfect. It was similar to most northern big cities, rampant with drugs, violence, and crime. In just one week there could have been anywhere from 10-15 burglaries, which probably accounted for the degree to which owners were protective of their businesses. When I passed most stores at night or after their closing times, I saw that they were guarded with security doors and steel bars on the windows. But for as long as I can remember, I’ve never seen any bars or security doors protecting the libraries, which goes to prove the point that â€Å"If you don’t want them to know something, put it in a book, they’ll never read it.