No Safe Places in an Insane World for Our Students

When teachers decide to use past norms as teaching tools it is incumbent on them that the planning, modeling, and direction of all aspects of the lesson do not inadvertently give the impression that past wrongs are acceptable. I do not know what that North Carolina school was thinking when they allowed  Black students to be "sold" at a mock "slave auction" by their white classmates.  A student was “bought” for $350.00 and another was a slave master because he ‘knew how to handle them.'  This tells me that there was no control, no supervision, no plan, no thought, and no concern about repercussions. Why anyone would think a mock slave auction would be a good idea in 2022 really is beyond me but it does illustrate what I would call blatant racial behavior - that  is alive and well today in our schools. The consequences for these students? - One day suspension - that was all!

This is not an isolated incident. In 2017, in a New Jersey school, white students held a reenactment of a slave auction of a Black child during class. In 2019 in a NY school several incidents happened. One involved having all black students in a 5th grade social studies class room raise their hands and have them go into the hallway and line up, where imaginary shackles were placed on them, and a slave auctions was held in front of the rest of the class.

Romanticized Racism

Another case in point occurred today with a call from a Board-Certified Education Advocate about a Pennsylvania middle school. The students were encouraged to dress up as character of their choice, to do a read aloud of the book “Gone with the Wind”. So far so good? Sorry, no. This is an explicitly white supremacist lost cause piece of literature and should be taught within that context. By the way, conceptually, this is probably a tad above what most middle school students would be able to handle.

 From there the teacher managed to dissolve into passively demonstrating  Jim Crow and normalizing racist language by giving permission to use the ‘n…’ word for the class that day (which the students interpreted as use with no consequence).

The teacher did not intervene or reprimand a white student that chose to dress as a slave master, including bringing a whip to school. When a student read the N word louder and louder, the teacher actually laughed. When a white student called another student “slave”, when it wasn’t part of the text, nothing was done. And there has been no consequences for the privileged students and teacher for this grossly inappropriate racist behavior.

Are we then surprised to learn that the handful of minority students, including one with an IEP for “behavior”, began to protest? The veiled racist experiences were no longer so passive. I can't imagine how the other neuro-typical black students were feeling. This child’s disabilities compounded their vulnerability and reactivity, as they experienced being a target in a hostile racist climate.  They did not have the coping skills to handle this. In the course of the instructional day, this child began to emotionally escalate and verbally retaliate to the disrespect experienced from students and authority figures. Did the teachers or administrators have an awareness of the hostilities this child was enduring that day? Did they see the teaching errors as the antecedent to the child's behaviors?  Did they see their unequal responses?

This very same day on the way into school this disabled, mixed race student, was also taunted by other students with slurs, ‘Mexican beaner hop back over the border’ and ‘Go back to your own country!’

A Board Certified Education Advocate called the school to report the racial bias incident and expose the hostile school community environment to try to bring aide to this student -  Did every one stop and take notice to appropriately support this child?  Did anyone take the parental concerns seriously? Was the IEP appropriately followed - No!  Instead, backs went up in denial and efforts shifted to control of the student with “behaviors” by sending the student to the ”reflection room”  (a synonym for a seclusion room) for close to half the instructional day.

Obviously, teacher planning, role modeling, and awareness, while critical for successful teaching, again were sorely lacking. “Gone with the Wind” romanticizes an intentional racist society that is part of our history as were slave auctions. That history and its consequences need to and actually must be acknowledged and taught appropriately. It does not and should not ever be normalized on any level because there was nothing about it that was OK or even tolerable from a humane point of view at any point in time.

For those who may not be familiar with the actual movie, it is important to note that the Black Community has been protesting Gone With the Wind from the very beginning even though it seems that White America is not interested in hearing about it. The movie intentionally whitewashes the horrors of slavery, perpetuates painful stereotypes of people of color, justifies the existence of the KKK, and frequently uses racial slurs. The Chicago Defender called it a "weapon of terror" against Black America.

How does someone decide to use a slave auction or a 1930s movie about an intentionally racist society and not have planned exercises that use their position of power to influence appropriate education and behavior? How do you not role model compassion, inclusion, belonging, participation, and equity?

Lesson Planning is Critical

The truly scary part of all of this is how oblivious and unconscious the adult educators were to their part in perpetuating racism and diminishing children today.

No matter what material is available to the teacher, it can be used to teach and model appropriate behavior, inclusive respectful language, history, and its consequences as well as the alternatives available to us. Perhaps one of the lessons needed to be on why the “n…” word needs to be expunged from the classroom since well-educated people can surely find appropriate vocabulary and alternative narratives that make the point at hand.  Perhaps a lesson needed to be turning Jim Crow on the privileged in order to awaken some compassion and understanding by using the Jane Elliott blue eyes/ brown eyes experiment. Another option could have been to discuss Jim Crow Laws and how they still exist and affect us today.

No matter what material is available a responsibly educated teacher knows attitudes matter! They are responsible to teach and model appropriate behavior, use inclusive respectful language and equitably present history. This requires personal work to overcome implicit and explicit bias.

Unconscious and Oblivious or Consciously Racist

The truly scary part of all of this is how unconscious and oblivious or how consciously racist the adults in the room were.  In today’s world there really is no in-between and IGNORANCE IS NO LONGER AN EXCUSE. It is quite clear that these scenarios are going to have to be dealt with in particularly sensitive ways when they are so blatantly racist. With these obvious scenarios being handled so poorly, what chance is there for those who are marginalized in any way because they are different-cognitively, physically, sexually, or emotionally, to be accepted for who they are? When they are still confronted daily by such blatant racism? 

Part of obtuse thinking is an obsessive need to otherize. It is just that they are uncomfortable around people who are different, who are a different color, who do not have all the social graces that they may have, who are a different religion (especially if your name for God is not their name for God- like God really cares as long as it is said with respect),  who cannot agree with them politically, who are in a different socioeconomic class than them, who chooses sex partners that they could never choose, etc. …ad nauseam.

Safe Space Illusion

It seems to me, that it would be helpful if we could stop using the habit of otherizing so that we can create the illusion of safe spaces for ourselves. Some people seem to think that only those from 'Their Tribe" are trustworthy.  Yet, if they look hard enough they will find some in “Their Tribe” who are untrustworthy and a thousand outside "Their Tribe" who are trustworthy. Most people have a tribe that is quite small and they don't even know it.

However, when we expand our vision, we realize that we are all one tribe, each of us coming into this world in the exact same way no matter how rich or poor. When we allow our hearts to open, we can appreciate the gifts, talents, and unique genius that each person brings with them. Along the way to an expanded vision and open heart, we must focus on creating the inclusion, participation, respect, and support that is the very definition of a Safe Space for all.

PS: When the education advocate called about the Gone With The Wind lesson she asked us for material for the principal and the teacher that would be more inclusive and asked us how to handle the incident.

Marie’s (our clinical director) initial response was to say – as her head hit the desk, “ I have no material for stupidity!” Upon recovery, Marie wanted to know if there are any suggestions on how to handle this case.  She did say that only socially appropriate responses will be posted and that hers was not socially appropriate.

Please send your responses to: [email protected]   Subject: No Safe Places

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