School District Takes 5th Grade Boys to See ‘Red Tails,’ But Leaves Girls Behind, Fair?
In honor of Black History Month, the Dallas school district took about 5,700 students to see the War World II film Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen, but there was one problem: they left half of the students behind.
Apparently, district officials decided to treat all of the fifth grade boys to a field trip to see the inspirational film, but left all of the female students behind.
A teacher with the Dallas schools told the Dallas News blog that the trip only included boys because school officials felt “the boys would be interested in because it was about African-American men.”
But girls wouldn’t? Hmph.
In an email to the Dallas News Blog, district spokesman Jon Dahlander tried to explain the reasoning behind the boys-only field trip.
“Approximately 5,000 fifth grade boys in the district are watching Red Tails,” he wrote in the email. “The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots whose acts of bravery during World War II earned them the President Unit Citation in honor of their achievements.
“There is only so much available space at the movie theater, so the decision was made for boys to attend the movie.”
While I’m sure the district could have worked out a schedule that would have allowed every fifth grade student to see the film, they didn’t even seem to consider it.
So what were the fifth grade girls doing while the boys were away enjoying the field trip? They stayed behind at school and watched the film “Akeelah and the Bee,” a film about a black middle school girl who wins the most prestigious spelling bee in the nation.
While I can appreciate the district’s willingness to inspire their male students, leaving out during a month geared toward celebrating equality seems just plain wrong.
What do you think? Was it unfair to not allow the girls to also see ‘Red Tails’?
*Photo via the Dallas News
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So girls can’t enjoy the planes too? We need to broaden our children’s minds, not limit them based on their sex. The boys and girls could have seen “Red Tails” and on another day they could all watch “Akeelah and the Bee”. Sigh.
Exactly or +1
Women complain too much. Everything isn’t about women. I don’t think the field trip had much to do with girl liking planes but more to do with inspiring young, black men. And to be honest, young black boys are neglected more in our community than the girls. Please look at this in a more “mature” way.
Having worked with the Houston Independent School District, I know that Boy & Girl Days are fairly common. And I think it is a good idea to show young men a positive image of African-American men, that we know is often lacking in the media and our communities. But, I do think that the story of Tuskegee Airmen has universal revelance and appeal, that the girls could have benefited from just as much. If this wasn’t an option, there should have been or should be a Girls Day of equal grandure.
How is that shocking news? I mean, after all, the entire movie left out Black women and girls, so the school district took the next logical step. Evil is at work in the Black community, with the help of white media tycoons who pretend to not be racist, when they really are. smdh.
Umm….the previous version of Red Tails and the all of the documentaries did not include any black women either. The film is about black male officers in the military, not black women in the military or their wives/gfs. This isn’t a big deal, but sistahs need to stop making it a big deal. I stand behind what Dallas did.
it scares me that some adult made this decision and thought it was the right thing to do…
As a african american female that has been in Aircraft Maintainence for the past 11 years (8 years military Air Force) I’m proof that girls like airplanes. Please let our kids decide what they want to do. DON’T LIMIT FUTURES…. EXPAND MINDS.
I understand what your saying but the movie was about black airmen, I think they would want to expose as many boys to this as possible. Its about who the film would have the bigger impact on.
…And the beat goes on! Like another poster stated, it’s just another day for far too many Black girls. I suppose when we get sick enough of it, things will get done…
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Dallas is a STRUGGLING school district with not much money to do practically anything. The boys went the girls didn’t so what. Its not like the girls had to stay and do school work while the boys went to the movies. They watched a film as well. There’s only one movie theatre in close proximity to Dallas and it isn’t very big so they had to decide on how to do it. Their choice may not seen right to ppl who do not live in the district or have children in the district but they felt like they made the correct choice.
don’t see what the big deal is.. i think it was a great idea.. most of our problems w/the youth is the boys.. i think them seeing a film in a positive light about ppl like them is great.. do something else w/the girls..
when there are field trips to places that don’t include other grades do you get upset about that.. noooo
Black women always want everything to be about them. They always find ways to interject themselves into something they doesn’t require them. So what these young men went on to see this movie alone? How many times have things of this nature been done for black boys? To be honest, black boys are more neglected in our community than black girls, and they need all the inspiration they can get. This movie was about Black “MEN”. Not to mention this movie had no black women in it, which shows that this definitely has nothing to do with them (no offense). Stop getting emotional about everything.
Please say SOME “Black Women” because not all of us have a problem with this.
I don’t see a problem with the boys day at the movies either. Young men and boys need positive bonding time.
Co-Sign…minus the generalization about Black Wome
Co-Sign…minus the generalization about Black Women
Based on the gender dynamics at schools, I’m sure the ones organizing, chaperoning, and supervising the students trip were mostly black women. The support role is always required of black women, who are there to rise to the challenge. This holds even when something is not “about” us. If the fathers and male teachers had organized this trip and made it about male empowerment (in the positive sense), this would be a different, even refreshing dynamic. As it stands, it’s just another case of both genders neglecting black girls while trying to build up the boys. Any female who questions this is “interjecting where they don’t belong” — but their support is still expected.
Did it ever occur to anyone that making black women the invisible support people for black men could actually be stifling black male development??
Are you kidding me? This male-centric attitude so many Black men have towards Black women is one of the causes of Black women’s suffering. To be quite honest I am tired of the Black Men are Endangered Special Snowflakes theme that has been pushed forcefully in the Black communities. It leaves our girls astray and it is sexist. How can Black men suffer more than Black women when they do not even face sexism? Black women are double minorities ,and it would have been nice to see or have double minorities in the movie Red Tails, to empower them as well. Also, last time I thought, there were some women -but they weren’t important enough to put in a movie. Stop getting all emotional about Black women’s opinions (see what I did there?)
For all the people who don’t think “it’s a big deal,” let me point out that Black women are also apart of the community too. We also need to see images of strong, capable men who are Black so that we can untangle all the crazy strings of stereotypes we see everyday. Little black girls need to know that Black men have contributed and still contribute greatly to our society. This would have been a wonderful opportunity to do that. After all, many Black women have fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins and other loved ones. Positive images are important for EVERYONE, not just boys.
Actually I see nothing wrong with this as it is girls, women are more successful that the black boys/men, so let them see positive role models. This is a non-issue
I don’t think that it’s fair. the girls could have benifited from the movie just as much as the boys, and why would the girls dislike the movie? Just because it doesn’t really have any women in it, doesn’t mean we wont like it! I think that there should have been an option. Those who wanted to see Red Tails could, and the rest could watch the movie at the school. That way, each student could see what interests them. Or, they choose half the students to go see Red Tails because there was “limited space”, and then the other half could watch it another time.
I believe that it’s unfair to leave the girls behind, espically when there is such a good history lesson to learn!
Look at the messages of the 2 films.
To the boys (Red Tails) – if a person dreams big this is what they can achieve. Of course, the education we give you does not allow you to achieve that particular dream. Racism is in-your face-blatant and you can overcome it by being “good enough”. Black women don’t exist in that world, not as equals, or even love interests, even though they make up 80 percent of your daily environment. This is an alternate universe set in another time. We’ll invest in you leaving your school environment to see others who left their environment. Somehow, in some vague way, you can be like them.
To the girls (Akeelah and the Bee) – Dram big but in smaller, more achievable ways. Do your homework, win a spelling bee. This can be done with our resources and within your environment. The character’s reality is similar to yours. You can do this.
And then we offer girls the chance to be well behaved students, hall monitors, spelling bee champs, and wonder why the boys aren’t going from saggy jeans to piot’s planes. We bet big on the boys without giving them the support to win big, while we give tasks to the girls and offer them rewards for achieving those tasks. This type of approach stifles boys in the long run, while molding girls into under-valued achievers.
*Dream
Wow ruggie. You really broke it down. Beautiful post. Time for this site to have a LIKE button for posts…