My first year teaching was going ok. I was one day away from surviving my first month when I had one of those days they don't prepare you for in school. About 10am a loud siren screamed down the street. Soon another, then another after that. For about 30 minutes (no exaggeration) my room filled with the sounds of Police cars screaming past. Teaching became impossible. Normally sirens won't even make a kid blink but when the entire city's police force drives past your window, everyone is intrigued. I stopped trying to teach because really, it was just becoming impossible. The 22 of us sat by the window and just watched the parade of Police cars come flying up the road.
The following is the conversation that happened when the kids stopped just watching the cars...
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Student "N" - (out loud to no one in particular) It had to have been a black guy. No way a white guy would get this much attention.
Me: You don't even know what happened N. I don't think it's fair to assume that.
N: Come on Mr. R. How long you lived in the city. A black guys shot someone. I bet it was a cop.
At this point I decided that I wasn't going to argue something I knew nothing about. I logged onto my computer and checked local news.... "Police Officer Shot. Manhunt on For Suspect...Police believe an African American male, about 6'2" entered a Dunkin Donuts and attempted to rob the store when a police officer entered the store. The man turned and shot the police officer in the face and fled the scene...."
Internal thought at this point... "F---."
Me: "Ok guys here is that news story." I proceeded to read the story to the kids and N, the student that actually had guess what happened spot on was beside himself.
N: "I told you Mr. R. This is crap. Every time a black man does something to a white guy like this the entire city shows up. A black guy on my block gets shot last week, no one cares."
Me: "I think this maybe had something to do with the fact that it was a police officer being shot not about what color he is"
N: "Whatever. Whoever shot that cop better disappear forever. If he gets caught, ain't nobody going to save him from the beating he's gonna catch. I bet he never sees a judge. " (looking angry at this point).
Me: " Look N, not everything is Black vs. White. Just because some people do dumb things and feel a certain way doesn't mean that everyone does. I'm a white guy. What do you think I see when I look at you?"
N- "I don't know. You're a teacher, teachers are different. And you aren't white, I thought you were Italian..."
Me: "Wait what? White is a color. Italian is a heritage. You know the difference right? You're black but that doesn't mean you come from a country called "Black". You are African American. D (another student in the class) is Black, but her family is from Jamaica. Shes Jamaican."
N: "I never understood that color thing anyway. I'm more brown than black and you aren't white. When your mad you turn bright red. When your sick you turn green. When you stay out in the sun you turn brown and most of the time you are just pink. Mr. R you're like a crayola box."
Me: (laughing hysterically) Nice! See, I'm glad you understand how stupid the color thing really is. Now lets get back to class and talk about this some more at lunch...''
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From this moment on, I had a much better relationship with my students and they felt very comfortable talking to me about race issues and things that were happening in their neighborhood.
i SWEAR i remember this day!
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