Elementary school principal Joe Clark (played by Morgan Freeman) was contacted by his superintendent with a near improbable task. Clark was asked to return to Paterson, New Jersey’s Eastside High School, an inner city institution where he taught previously, and assume the role of its principal.
Eastside had crumbled under gang violence, a plague of drug use, and the ramifications of poverty. Its rebellious, frightened, and low self-esteem students were unable able to pass state mandated basic skills testing. If their pass rate did not improve above 75%, state administration would assume control of the scchool.
Clark believed in encouragement, but also had a controversial reputation for being an aggressive disciplinarian with students and their parents, a leadership personality the mayor did not agree with. However the superintendent managed to convince their mayor Clark was exactly what Eastside needed.
As high school principal, Clark, wielding a baseball bat for protection and symbolism, battled students, their parents, the teachers, gangs and drug dealers, the school board, and the community to turn around Eastside High School before it was too late. Speaking through his signature megaphone, he demanded students to have pride and express it by learning their “Fair Eastside” school song. This proved to have harmonious results in the end.
Based on real life Eastside principal, Joe Louis Clark, 1989’s Lean On Me brought his trials and triumphs to the big screen. Featured on the cover of Time in ’87, this hit biographical motion picture brought his story to an audience the news media may have missed.
Helmed by Rocky, The Karate Kid, and 8 Seconds director, John G. Avildsen, Freeman’s Clark was angry, offended, determined, and believable, so much so it won him the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture.
Several predominately Black communities across the country related to the issues Clark faced then, and many still do today. They watch this film wishing they had someone like him to make changes for the better. From the moment Clark held aloft his baseball bat and loudly proclaimed “They used to call me Crazy Joe, now they can call me Batman”, cheerful audiences knew they’d never forget him. |THIS.
[By Mr. Joe Walker]
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