- Image by megabeth via Flickr
We’re told that as teachers you have to connect; you need to start where the students are at. This came home to me yesterday after the inauguration. My 16 year old students weren’t nearly as taken with events as I was. Curious, I asked them why?
One student said, “Why do they make such a big deal about a Black president? He’s just like everyone else.”
Another said, “I understand Black people being proud and all that. But why is everyone else so excited?”
My wanabee Marine said, “You liberals, why are you always living in the past?”
And finally I heard “Look, I’m just not racist. I am glad and everything, but I was never raised to be a racist and this just doesn’t do anything for me.”
Instead of going off on a jag about the legacy of institutional racism and how shallow kids are, I asked myself—if they are telling me how they really feel, then how can I help them. They saw the inauguration as one more heavy handed lesson from a bunch of adults about racism.
All I could think is that wasn’t it at all. If anything President Obama said was moving us right where these kids are, it was when he said
“…the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply”
And
“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled.”
My students hadn’t framed the inauguration as a celebration—but as some civics lesson. Shame on us.
And so I asked them what would happen when they finished all their high school coursework?
They answered “that they would get a diploma.”
“Where?
“At graduation”
“Oh, there would be a celebration? Why? You have all your credits. Why not just move on and go to college?”
“It’s a ceremony.” one of them said. And another said, “But it’s for the recognition…” and then there was a pause and he said “Oh, I get it. The inauguration is like a recognition that there isn’t racism.”
And now I could say.. Yes, sort of. We are celebrating and commemorating all the progress that’s been made. You were all telling me in the beginning of this discussion exactly that. It’s a really big deal for people who have lived through these changes, fought and hoped for these changes. And just like you are going to college after high school, there is still work to be done. There is still racism but still, today is a day to celebrate what has been accomplished.
The atmosphere in my classroom lightened up. After all, today was a national party for the 44th president of the United States.
