I made the mistake of watching videos of the riots in Baltimore in my classroom this morning. For someone trying to maintain peace and equanimity within the context of the (now seemingly) minor chaos that is my school day, tuning into major chaos that has erupted just north of D.C. was unwise. It took more than a few deep breaths to bring myself back from the fear, sadness, and anger that filled me. As we exchanged official documents and computers for my students to test on, my assistant principal and I remarked how odd it felt to ask kids to test when there was so much heightened emotion from the last few days. But what was to be done?
The conversations started bubbling up organically even before testing began...the four boys in the back of the room, frequently jumping off the walls, huddled to share what they had seen on the news in homeroom...a couple of students passing in the hallway from lunch stopped, and we talked about our observations and concerns...
We needed to talk about it. To wonder and worry collectively about it. To make sense of it.
When it comes to talking about issues like the death of Freddie Gray, I try to find my students solid sources of information, ask them prompting questions, and then listen. I try to listen not just with my mind, but with my heart. As a Caucasian teacher who works with primarily African American students, I am keenly aware how little I understand their experiences of the world in the context of their racial identity. Furthermore, for those who come from single-parent homes and resource-deprived neighborhoods, my understanding is even more limited. Their perspectives on their own lives, as well as the events that impact our community, are valuable. So I listen.
When my crew, my small advisory group of eleven, came together, there was plenty to listen to. They all had watched videos, seen TV, and/or talked with their parents about the events that had occurred. Most were dismayed that Freddie Gray had died in the custody of police with so little information around his death. They acknowledged the anger of the young men destroying businesses and cars while chiding them for their violence. They recognized that there are bad police and good police. They called for mentorships and opportunities for deprived neighborhoods. They proposed some sort of racism sensitivity training. They spoke with all the nuance and courage you would hope from national news outlets, that instead insist on flattening the issue into click bait.
When one student had identified racism as a major issue, another responded, "We should make all the racist white people be slaves, and see how that feels." Many students attacked this notion as ludicrous ("slavery is so over," pointed out one young man). However, I thought there was something powerful in that statement. While slavery was an extreme example, the truth is that there is a need for people with racist beliefs to develop empathy for people of other races. In fact, there is a need for all of us to understand the experiences of others who have different perspectives of our own.
And to do that, we need to listen. We need to listen with our ego aside. With our defenses down. With our hearts open.
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