I love Oakland’s energy. We are a city of hustlers coming from far and wide for something better. But there are times I just shake my head.
Case and point, really adorable video of Steph Curry doing an event with school kids encouraging them to drink water rather than sugary drinks.
You can’t help but smile when you watch it, and for these kids this is an unforgettable moment. Seriously, nobody is going to remember the math worksheet they completed that day, but they will remember meeting Steph. And schools should create a collection of good experiences and memories for kids.
So what could possibly be wrong with this? According to an ABC news story,
The Oakland Education Association objected because Brita sponsored this implying that Steph and the school should not have participated. Even though, “Curry never once endorsed the Brita products to these students.”
And the principal and kids welcomed him, ”The school principal didn’t mind all the freebies, she says as long as someone is validating her work. “It meant there is someone else who believes in the work that we’re doing in this community,” said the school’s principal Roma Groves.”
Further, “The Warriors basketball star came to Martin Luther King Elementary School in Oakland to pitch water instead of sugary drinks. Students seem to be getting the message.
“Because it will keep you healthy,” one student said.”
And what did the critics say, ‘”It is selling our children, it’s creating our children as products for these companies,” said Trish Gorham of the Oakland Education Association.’
So let me get this straight, local hero comes to school, school gets free healthy items, kids have a great time, principal welcomes it, hero never even mentions the contested sponsor—and that is “selling our children.”
Sigh, deep breath, sigh, we got real problems in Oakland. Not a single foster child completed the A-G requirements last year, we have whole classes of kids who have less than a 50% chance of graduating, and I could go on and on.
Oakland has real problems, and this is not one of them, and I want someone to explain to me how those kids, or that school would have been better off if Steph didn’t come.
Let’s protest the lack of services for our most challenged kids, the lack of results in our weakest schools, and the lack of quality options in our most impacted neighborhoods. Those seem like protests worth their time.
Just shaking my head at this one.