DISCIPLINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The most serious challenge to discipline occurred in the public schools. Ralph recalls that "corporal punishment was a reality during his school years." Ralph was not a disciplinary problem and he remembers that Mr. George Key the principal at Orchard Knob School never had to whip him. There were a few instances when Ralph did cause a problem. One Sunday when he was about 12 years old, he, and some of his friends chose to play football instead of going to church. He cut his knee really badly and lost a great amount of blood Ms. Bessie thought she was going to lose her baby that day but he survived. Ralph recalls that he was severely disciplined for this infraction. Eventually the laws were changed. Integration became the law of the land with the Supreme Court decision of 1954 that outlawed segregated schools. The law regarding school desegregation was slow to take affect. When the law did take affect, corporal punishment was a relic. Black and white schools, had used corporal punishment as a means to discipline kids in school. With integration on the scene white parents were very concerned about a Black teacher physically whipping their child. Blacks felt their children would also be abused by white teachers if they were allowed to use corporal punishment. So laws changed, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. There were negatives, and positives about new laws. Here discipline began to reach a never ending low in 1954 with the move to desegregate the public schools in America. Corporal punishment was done away with and chaos and confusion set in to play havoc with and misdirect the learning process and seriously undermine the public school system. Organized recreational activities were also an impacting experience on Ralph at a young age.

During these so-called "old-fashioned days" the basic institutions in society were distinct. Ralph's home life was steeped in the basic tenets of home rearing that drew the distinct line between elders and children. Respect for this age difference was ever present. Besides the home, the church is also an established institution. Thus many thinkers argue that the church has historically been a refuge for the Black man and woman in North America. Kids were taught the value of religion and church attendance was usually mandatory . Ralph was very seldom disciplined in school. The school is also a basic institution in our society; consequently, it plays a vital role. Education was and is very important because the need for knowledge for Black people still has an everlasting appeal. This appeal can be described as man's great thirst for water, the fluid of life. I use knowledge in the past tense because during the present time Black people (our youth) do not consider education as a vital part of their life. Even before the school experiences there were other organized institutions in the community. Bushtown was not unique to any other section of Chattanooga when it came to organized athletics. During this time Chattanooga had a highly organized citywide recreational program. Ralph reflects on the great experiences he had at Carver Community Center and in retrospect the quiet dedication of the various center directors. Carver Center is still located on Orchard Knob Avenue on the golf course. The center Director at Carver when Ralph was growing up was Mrs. Pearl Vaughn. Mrs.Vaughn was not the only strong Center Director. All the Centers had outstanding Directors who took pride in their work and were filled with the competitive spirit. In every distinct Black neighborhood or community there was a community center. Carver Center was the Center that served Blacks in Bushtown, and Churchville. (At this time Blacks had not moved into the Avondale area that was farther east and an all white neighborhood). Lincoln Park Community Center was right over the viaduct going west on Third Street from where Ralph lived in Bushtown. This Center was also within walking distance. Mrs. Bea Scrgggs and Mrs. Pearl Vaughn were the Center Directors and this center served the Fortwood community. College Hill Courts on the westside was most likely the most famous Community Center in town if I might say so. The westside at this time still housed most of the Black people that lived in Chattanooga. Many Black people that lived elsewhere in Chattanooga had been born on the westside, so many Blacks had roots in the westside and College Hill Courts. The westside Center was very competitive and the center was very successful in many city wide tournaments because the most gifted athletes in the history of Black Chattanooga came from the westside. Alton Park is south, past Howard School a mile on South Market Street. Alton Park is a community of homewoners and has the largest public housing unit for Blacks. When Ralph was growing up, College Hill Courts on the westside and Alton Park Projects were the public housing units assigned to Blacks. Now since the days of segregation are over, no public housing units are segregated but very few, if any, white people now live in public housing in Chattanooga. Blacks now live in the public housing units in the city that once were reserved for white people. The Bethlehem Center, with a day care and recreational facilities, is located across from Alton Park projects on 38th street. The city recreation department also operates a center located inside the projects. North Chattanooga is a community across the Tennessee river going north. To get to the historic Black community you go north across the Market Street bridge out North Market Street. At the crossing of North Market and Dallas Road bear left back to North Market Street, then North Market resumes being a two-way street and you are taken directly into the Hollow. The Hollow sometimes called "Blue Goose Hollow" is where Black people lived in those days. In those days the old Spears Avenue School was the Black grammar school in North Chattanooga. Spears Avenue School was at the north end of Spears Avenue where the street came to a dead end. In the basement was the community center that was probably the smallest Black community center in town. Mrs. Georgia Hairston ran the center back then and she fit the mold of her city-wide counterparts, with dedication and commitment toward the youth of her community. Most likely Chattanooga was a unique southern city during Jim Crow. Black establishments were definitely not on the same level with white establishments, but they were not as inferior as facilities in most other southern cities. For example most southern cities in the southeast and throughout the south did not have segregated swimming pools for Blacks. Most southern cities had no swimming facilities for Blacks at all. So the southern cities that provided a small Black park did not also provide a swimming pool during the days of segregation. Chattanooga had Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park also had a big swimming pool. So Blacks although restricted to a segregated park, still had facilities. During the summer season Black tourists came to Lincoln Park by the busloads from Birmingham, Huntsville, Knoxville, Atlanta, Nashville and all around the southeast. None of these cities had a Black park that came anywhere close to matching the facilities at Lincoln Park. Along with the pool, which had two diving boards and a diving platform, there was a small zoo. A Ferris Wheel, merry-go-round and at least two other rides made the park a fun place with a carnival atmosphere. The park had a tennis court, fields for baseball and softball that could be played at night, a large concession stand, dance hall and ample picnic grounds. Ralph eventually became an accomplished swimmer. As a youngster he started taking swimming lessons at Lincoln Park. During the summer season swimming classes were taught every Tuesday. Ralph's elders told him to take swimming lessons and in those days you did what your elders told you. Also, there was another special incentive. On the days that swimming classes were taught you were able to get in free for the rest of the day. With his tall frame and long legs Ralph became an excellent swimmer and thought little about it. Yes, swimming was just another athletic and fun thing to do as a kid. As Ralph grew up he would interact with other Blacks from different environments and come to realize distinct differences. First, most Blacks even those in the medium to large southern cities were not exposed to a swimming pool when they were young. It must be noted that poor Black kids raised in the country did learn to swim in the ponds and lakes where they lived. Blacks in the urban areas usually had no ponds or lakes and had very little opportunity to learn how to swim. Ralph had a natural appittude toward table games and swimming. He became a champion at various table games. Catherine remembers that even later in life Ralph could play almost any table game like an expert. Richard Newson and George Haslerigh were also excellent swimmers during this time. Ralph remembers that swimming with his friends at Lincoln Park was some of the greatest fun he had as a kid. By 1943 Ralph would attend school. Hilda, Ralph's older sister had taken Ralph to school for an entire year, when he was only five and not yet old enough to enroll in first grade. In those days many older children brought their younger siblings to school when no one was available to babysit. Ralph was left in a first grade room while his sister attended her classes. This was not an unusual practice in those days. Here Ralph got a first hand look at the public schools at an early age.

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Carl A. Patton the author of Big Ralph is a banned and censored writer. His work is censored and banned by Black and White racists, Black Colleges and Universities, Black politicians, Civil Rights organizations, Black Preachers, Mainstream Bookstores, Black Bookstores, Media that includes radio, TV, mainstream newspapers and the Black press, First Amendment organizations like the ACLU and their supporters and a vast assortment of people and organizations on the right and left.

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the FreedomJournal reminds the Hustlers in the church of the written Word of God. But we do not come with the indictment. The Church (that has gone astray) has already been indicted by Almighty God.

In the 13th Chapter of Ezekiel we see the judgment against False Prophets. The warning revealed in Ezekiel 13 is directed against False Prophets whose messages were not from God.