Education: The Weapon to Drive Out Racial Injustice, Even if it’s Within Ourselves
I will never forget my experiences as a public school teacher. I probably learned just as much from my students as they learned from me. Racial tension was always in the air. If you are honest with yourself, it is that way almost everywhere. But as a young teaching professional, I did what most do and just ignored it and tried to focus on the assigned curriculum that I was told I had to teach.
I remember one day my class and I were at lunch. One of my students, John (not his real name of course) was honestly one of the best students I had. He made good grades, he was always well-behaved, willing to help out in the classroom, paid attention in class, and yes…he was black. Anyway, in the lunchroom my class would always sit at a very long table, all the students eating in a row. John was passing by his fellow classmates with his lunch tray to find his seat. When all of a sudden John drops his tray, pulls another kid from the table by his collar, and starts wailing on him. I mean literally punching him in the back of the head. A fight ensues between both of them, and as I am sure you can guess the student John attacked was white. I jump up from my seat and rush over to break them up, pulling each of them apart and screaming at the top of my lungs, “Stop! What is going on here?!”
Giving you a little context, this class was AG, or Academically Gifted. This group of students had been in the same classroom together since the third grade. So John and this particular boy had known each other for years. I was able to pull John into my classroom so that I could question him and better understand what was going through his head! At this point, he was angry-crying and completely enraged. It was so out of character for him to have lost it like that. So I asked, “John, what happened? Why did you attack him? What is going on with you?”
John replied, “He called me a N*%!#R Ms. T!”
“He did what??”
“He called me a N*%!#R! He’s been calling me that for months! No, for years!”
I was stunned at what he was saying. “What do you mean, he has been calling you that for years?”
“Ms. T, every time I walk by him, the playground, lunch, in every class, he whispers under his breath, ‘You F*#&king N*%!#R! You F*#&king N*%!#R! And then he just laughs at me!”
My first reaction was anger and distress, “John, why didn’t you tell me?!? I could have done something about this months ago!”
And John looked at me intensely, tears forming at the corners of his eyes and said something I will never forget, “Ms. T, I have been telling teachers for years and they do nothing about it. Nothing! You guys don’t care! I am done, Ms. T… I am just done!”
That was 12 years ago and that incident still haunts me to this day, even more so now as I look out into the world on this my 38th birthday. And if you are reading this and do not understand the violent history of the N-word or what it means when a white person uses it towards a black person please take the time to educate yourself by reading Brando Simeo Starky’s article entitled, “If you truly knew what the N-word meant to our ancestors, you’d NEVER use it.”
I often think of John and how he had completely lost faith in our little system at that school. How he had lost faith in any authority figure to stand with him or stand up for him. It broke my heart then and it breaks my heart now.
I see a lot of commentary out there about the looting and the rioting from people on social media. And to set the record straight, no one in their right mind condones violence of any kind. We should not take away from the cause of this movement because of the violent behavior of a small minority. But in the same breath… as my student John once said, “I am done, Ms. T… I am just done!”
The ignorance towards systemic racial injustice and the refusal to acknowledge what is so vehemently in front of our faces has brought us to this boiling point. We are all accountable.
World-renowned therapist, David Kessler, explains that anger is a symptom of grief. As a public, watching the high numbers of black people being targeted, shot, beaten, and/or murdered there is no doubt that we are grieving as a society.
I’ve thought about that incident in the lunchroom quite a bit. That day I learned that it was critical for all my students to know that I see them, I value them, and I may not always understand their pain but I stand with them. I also realized that the boy who was calling John a N*%!#R, didn’t even know what it meant. It was just some word that he heard his cousin use and so he mimicked him. Like many, he lacked the knowledge to empathize with someone else’s pain.
That event along with many others changed my way of teaching. I became a voracious reader on all things dealing with racial injustice. I went back to school and got a graduate degree in Multiculturalism, to learn how to implement books and literature that includes experiences of all cultures and ethnicities. My goal was not only to learn all I could for myself but to create a dialogue in my classroom where these issues could be spoken about in a healthy way.
My hope was that my marginalized students felt seen/heard and my majorital students learned empathy for someone else’s experience other than their own.
Now I write this to implore you to do the same. After watching the events taken place over the last several days, it is easy to fall into the anger of it all. But instead, why don’t we do some self-reflection and self-education.
America is a beautiful idea, the land of the free with equal opportunities for all. But as of now, that is all it is… an idea. We need to level up and not just talk the talk but walk the walk. In order to be a free country, it behooves us to see the world from one another’s eyes and fight injustice in whatever dark corner it lies.
Below are some amazing documentaries to help get you started on the road to understanding racial injustice and how it has affected our country.
Now take it a step further and read these books that can shed some light on social injustices that you may have missed in the last several decades.
- Race Matters written by Cornell West
- White Fragility written by Robin J. DeAngelo
- Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America written by Ibram X. Kendi
- How to Be Less Stupid About Race written by Crystal M. Fleming
- Between the World and Me written by Ta-Nehisi Coates
What about your kids? How can you ensure that they grow into adults who understand that there is no room for racial injustice? Take a look at some of the books below and I implore you to read them with your family. Many of these books I read with my own students.
- The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
- Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
- Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
- Teach Your Dragon About Diversity: Train Your Dragon to Respect Diversity written by Steve Herman
- Bedtime Inspirational Stories of 50 Amazing Black People Who Changed the World written by L.A. Amber
As the world keeps turning we have some decisions to make as a society over the coming months. And I believe that education is the only weapon we can use to drive out racial injustice, even if it means driving out those demons within ourselves.
I wish all of you peace, love, and unity.
(Note: I am not affiliated with the books, blogs, authors, or documentaries above nor do I benefit financially from their subsequent promotion.)
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Maria Topliff, CEO and Founder
Maria has had more than 10 years of experience teaching online and creating eLearning Curriculum Design. As the 2014 North Carolina Online Teacher of the Year, she has traveled across the country for consultant work as well as public speaking seminars on how to create engaging online learning. Maria has created and revised more than 60 online courses and she has held numerous professional development training seminars both virtually and in person. With a dual Master’s in Multicultural Literature and Educational Leadership, she believes that Optimal Learning can only occur with instruction that includes real-world and application-based activities. As her professional experience grew, Maria has been able to see the critical need for engaging online learning across all industries. Her mission has always been to create exciting interactive eLearning, leading to increased productivity and success for all learners.
