From teachers to their students

Support, perspective, and guidance

I begin this post with a long, audible sigh.

You do it, too. A good cleansing breath.

We have finally come to the finish line—almost all of us—of this quite awful school year. We began the year in CPS with a 14-day strike in October (a distant, blurry memory) and finished up with school via awkward google meet since March.

[Vast, silver lining side note: I think most arguments for “personalized learning,” “computer-based learning,” “e-learning” and every other fool name for this process will no longer be persuasive to 95% of actual parents. Because 95% of actual parents know now with certainty that learning this way is…let me just say, in order to be polite and professional about it, “suboptimal.” Going forward, grifter huckster con men selling expensive garbage to our districts will have far less sway.]

Along the way, many of us staggered through job loss or extended unemployment, loss of health insurance, our children’s anxiety and depression, high school seniors missing every single ritual and ceremony and party that high school seniors have enjoyed from time immemorial, high school juniors missing their SATs, botched AP testing, technology that didn’t work or that households didn’t even own, food insecurity, confusion about grades, report cards full of unprecedented Fs (your family really isn’t the only one, I promise), and watching our neighborhoods be decimated by a global pandemic.

All of this is to say nothing of the recent social unrest in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. That’s proven to be a catalyst of a whole nother set of events with a global reach. We are overdue for this day of reckoning. White folks have long needed to come face to face with the depth and breadth and ferocity of the daily lived anguish and inequity experienced by our Black brothers and sisters. Even good white liberals among us have long lived and breathed in a bubble of ignorance that is so impenetrable we’ve been unable and unwilling to see even the shadow of our own complicity with the deeply racist systems we live in.

But that safe serene bubble has popped. And in terms of this cursed school year, the experience was one more thing that—in the best case scenario—distracted and derailed our kids. Many of them have been out on the streets in recent days, marching for justice and equity, marching to get cops out of our schools, marching for peace. Others had to witness days of looting and gang fights that basically went unpoliced because of the apparent need to guard Trump Tower and the rest of downtown, gunfire so close it was audible out of home windows, explosions, fires, critically necessary stores closed. Still others had to navigate awkwardly between exhaustion and vulnerability as what seemed like the whole world finally opened its eyes and noticed racial disparity—the woolly mammoth filling up the entire damn room—for the first time.

Can you imagine trying to finish your finals in such a situation? Can you?

You know who can imagine it, who had to imagine it?

Teachers.

Teachers all over the country did what they do, what they live to do, what they have to do: enter into the experience of their students and try to communicate.

I was privileged to see some of these communications. Teachers rose to the occasion with empathy, history, encouragement, honesty. Herewith I share a few of these communications, so you too can be encouraged, and shaken up.

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First is a message from a high school teacher in the midwest, sent early on when tensions had just exploded and before they settled down. I love the perspective here—no fear, but calm calls for justice. This teacher situates what had to look quite terrifying to many young people in a broad historical context. The message speaks volumes in its solidarity with students and gives a blunt honest appraisal of what is incumbent on white students in particular in order to advance justice.

I'm at a loss for words at the moment and have been throughout the weekend. At the heart of all this craziness, there is an extremely important cause to fight for and it is one that I have actively fought for and continue to fight for until justice is served. I know you all must have experienced a wide array of emotions these past few days. I want you to know that I have always been and will always be a shoulder to lean on, a person to vent to, and an ally to march with. You all are my number one priority, ever since you stepped foot in my classroom on the first day of school, and that will not change. 

For those of you who would like to participate in the peaceful protests, here are some things I've learned from my many years walking with Black Lives Matter, amongst other causes:

[Here follow several common sense steps to take when protesting as well as stern teacherly admonishment to stay safe and keep out of trouble. The teacher continues:]

For those of you who do not feel comfortable marching, but want to make a positive impact, here are some at-home resources and things to do:

1. Donate to local bail bonds to help post bail for protestors who were arrested. 

2. If you are a white student, educate yourselves on the issues at hand. Do not rely on classmates or friends of color to do the educating for you. If you have any questions or want to have a conversation about these issues, you can always reach out to me. 

3. If you are a white student, engage people who do not understand these issues in a conversation, and educate them. If you don't know how or feel uncomfortable doing so, send them my way. Again, do not rely on your classmates or friends of color to do the educating for you. 

4. Stay up to date on events around the city and country by following organizations like Black Lives Matter. 

You all are young, but you have voices that need to be heard and a positive impact that should be felt by those in your communities. Be smart about the choices you are making if you are choosing to march alongside those who are fighting for justice. There is work to be done by all of us and it is our responsibility to create change. 

As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything.

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Next, a few days into the week that followed, another midwestern high school teacher gives students more historical context, brutal honesty, outside reading, and encouragement for student self-care.

Good morning. I am not just going to post the [normal assignments] and pretend that we are not going through a lot as a world, a country, and a city. I recognize that this week sucks. I also recognize that this week is just a bigger reflection of the policies and practices that this country was built on, on the backs of enslaved people. Unfortunately this is nothing new and I hope people (especially "woke white people") don't act brand new about all of this. We have a lot of work to do together to change the systems that allow the disproportionate deaths of Black and Latinx people in our city due to Covid. I read a good article in the New York Times last week entitled "It's Not Obesity. It's Slavery." I wish that more media outlets would report on the fact that Covid is killing more people in our minority communities not because of their own actions but because of white supremacy's intentional goals to uplift white communities and keep black and brown communities under-resourced and under-served.

I am sad and mad and trying to do my best to call out the white people in my life who need it and continuing to educate myself so I can be a better person, a better advocate and a better teacher. I am with you, and thinking of you and your families, and hoping you are staying safe…. If you need to take some time this week to meditate, veg out, stare up at the sky, listen to music, cry, dance, talk to friends, I get it. …. I miss you all and wish we could process this together because you know we would not be having a "normal" class in my room today. We would be talking about what really matters because that is what school should be about.

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One Chicago high school teacher wrote to students in the midst of ongoing racial tensions in the neighborhoods, offering comfort but also pointing toward the real work necessary right now.

I am working on grades this morning, and I will post an update about that later. Right now, though, I want to express my hope that you do whatever you need to support your own mental and physical safety.

If you have energy beyond that, I encourage you to turn your relationships…into a force for positive change. For those of you who are not Black, I especially and respectfully urge you to embrace publicly (and help your family and friends embrace) the essential truth that BLACK LIVES MATTER. This, I believe, is the bedrock truth that will allow us to move forward and achieve unity. There can be no compromising that commitment.

This truth is also the key to stopping an emerging conflict between Black and Latino communities in Chicago. If this conflict intensifies, then the only winner, frankly, is white supremacy. And that’s a loss for everyone. ….

Standing up for Black lives is a particular and urgent and historically specific commitment to human rights. It does *not* deny that other people and groups have their own struggles and that they have been harmed by white supremacy. But anti-Blackness is *THE* original sin of this country, and until we eradicate it, none of us will be truly free.

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Here are the words of a Los Angeles history professor to her students who, surreally, were already studying U.S. racial tension in 20th century.

I just wanted to check in today and make sure everyone is doing okay. I know things are really rough right now, especially for those of you living in areas affected most by the current unrest in our country. As students of history…you know that the fight against racial injustice is nothing new; there have been similar periods of unrest throughout our history, including most recently in our own county in 1992 following the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King on camera. Protesting is central to the American definition of freedom we’ve been probing the entire semester and even the concomitant destruction of property was present at its founding with the Boston Tea Party. As a white American, I cannot pretend to fully comprehend the anguish people of color face seeing their potential selves in the senseless murders of individuals like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. But I can point to parallels and precedent, I can listen, and I can unequivocally condemn the structural factors at the roots of so much American inequality and suffering as well as casual indifference to it, or worse, denial of it.

We are beginning the last week of this course which covers the racial tensions of the past 60 years. It’s absolutely surreal to think about as we sit through a chapter that will absolutely be included in…every American History survey class in the future.

[With regard to final assignments,] whatever you need to do I support you right now, and I’m sorry you’re all facing such difficult times with the pandemic and civil unrest.

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And finally, here is a video made by the teachers of Whitney Young high school for their students—nearly 20 minutes of encouragement, perspective, and hope.

We’ve heard from only a handful, but thousands of teachers all over the country are helping their students through absurdly difficult times, upholding them, challenging them, and with compassion and honesty, showing the way forward toward a better nation. Let’s follow.