Some 2,000 public school teachers in Seattle donned Black Lives Matter shirts last Wednesday in a call for racial equality in education. Though not officially sponsored by the school district, the “Black Lives Matter At School” event was observed at several schools with rallies that took place in the morning prior to the opening bell. Teachers were joined in many cases by sympathetic parents and students, some of whom wore stickers and buttons to show their support.
The rallies were organized by Social Equality Educators, a subsidiary of the Seattle teachers union. Spokespeople for the group said they wanted to emphasize that “black lives matter in the public schools.” Organizers also expressed solidarity with the faculty at John Muir Elementary, where an earlier Black Lives Matter protest was canceled after a public outcry.
“A sixth grade class from nearby Denny International Middle School, whose teacher brought them to the [Chief Sealth High School] rally, wore Black Lives Matter stickers,” reported the Seattle Times. “Teacher Ben Evans said he wanted them to see how their voices can be heard. Many of his students are aware of racial inequities already, he added.”
Well, isn’t that wonderful? That’s just what we want to punch into our kids’ heads, right? Hey, you may not have noticed this yet, you guys, but you know how some of you are white and some of you are black? Well, here’s the thing: the white ones are “privileged” because they are taking advantage of the black ones! And killing them! And no one’s doing anything about it! Ok? Cool. Time for recess.
If we’re ever going to move past these divisions, we will have to break the color divide. We will have to stop making skin color an “identity.”
Unfortunately, we’re doing just the opposite. We’re putting up even stronger barriers. We’re making the dividing lines much more rigid. We’re associating black skin with this set of qualities and white skin with this other set of qualities, while simultaneously paying lip service to this whole “we’re all the same on the inside” idea. But if we really believed that, there would be no “Black Lives Matter” movement. We would stop talking about “black people” and “white people” altogether.
The Americans who buy into this movement, for the most part, mean well. They think this is the way to heal the racial divide.
But as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And make no mistake about it, that’s what we’re paving right now.
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