Education Week - September 30, 2020 - 24

OPINION

INSIDE

As Schools Recover After
COVID-19, Look to New
Orleans

How to Make Science
Education Relevant

Letters to
the Editor

An Open Letter
To a Parent Afraid of
Anti-Racist Education
iStock / Getty Images Plus

Yes, the statement 'Black Lives Matter' belongs in the classroom
Editor's Note: This month, Rick Hess invited
Julie Gunlock, the director of the Independent
Women's Forum's center for progress and innovation, to guest blog on his Education Week opinion
blog, Rick Hess Straight Up. In the second of her
three guest opinion posts, Gunlock decried the
"No Family Separation, Black Lives Matter, Pro
Civil Liberties, Climate Change is Real" Zoom
background of her son's school administrator,
characterizing it as an incursion of politics into
the public schoolhouse. This post, in particular,
provoked strong reader reactions both in the comments section and on social media. The debate on
Twitter grew especially charged as Gunlock personally disparaged her critics. Education Week
reached out to Christina Torres, a teacher and
former Education Week blogger who received some
of that derision, inviting her to respond.

By Christina Torres
TORRES is an 8th grade
English teacher at Punahou
School in Honolulu.

ear Julie,
When I tweeted a critique of your blog post on a
sunny morning, I didn't think much about it. While
I vehemently disagree with you, nothing you wrote
was that original. Many teachers have had to defend
why our classrooms engage in critical conversation
about social justice for years.
I do think your post did one thing well: It captured the powerful fear
of anti-racist, anti-bias, or culturally responsive education that some
people have.
I imagine you might tell me that you're not afraid. Your actions show
otherwise. Discussing feedback about our own ideas is the part of
writing that requires the most bravery. Yet, when someone disagreed
with you on Twitter, you called her "hostile." When I questioned you,
you said (in now-deleted tweets) that I was a "racist and a bad teacher."
You may have wanted to scare me, but unlike you, I'm not afraid of
talking about race. Like many other BIPOC-Black, Indigenous, and
people of color-folks, I come from a family where we had to discuss it
when I was a kid. I come from ancestors who were able to thrive in spite
of other people's fears and the systemic racism those fears wrought. I
don't scare easy.
I also live in a world where discussing race is no longer "a necessary
evil," as it may have felt when my parents wanted to prepare me
for the world. Instead, it has resulted in difficult, beautiful, and rich
conversations with some of the best people you'll ever meet: my 8th
grade students. I have students who disagree with me about politics,
and we all survive! We talk about it and we all grow together.
That's the thing: Teachers don't just teach "content." We never have.
For generations, we have also taught our students to listen, share,
and be empathetic. Teachers don't just help students understand
themselves and the world around them, we also model how to have
constructive discussions with one another.
And because race plays a role in everything from housing issues to the
environment to the books we read, we can't teach students about the
world without including race. The idea that in doing so, we're pushing
what you called "social-justice crap" in your tweets just isn't true.
I can understand your fears, unfounded as they are. You're scared
schools are trying to supplant families and teach morality. That's a
discussion you don't need to have in a vacuum. It doesn't seem like you
had teachers to help you face tough topics head-on. It doesn't seem like
you have space in your life to engage in these essential conversations.
I'm sad you live in a world run by your own fear and the only defenses
you have to discomfort are mockery and snarky tweets.
But I don't want that empathy to overshadow the real crux of
this discussion: your discomfort with a sign that read, "No Family

24 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 30, 2020 | www.edweek.org/go/opinion

Separation. Black Lives Matter. Pro Civil Liberties. Climate Change is
Real." You equated these sentiments to your own "universal truths,"
including that "owning a gun is [your] constitutional right," that "public
school unions need to be dismantled," that you "love tax cuts, dogs, red
lipstick, and good French bread."
Here's the problem with your false equivalence: Gun control, school
choice, and unions are nuanced policy issues with arguments to be
made both pro and con.
What exactly is the other side of the position that "Black Lives
Matter"? That Black lives ... don't matter? The statements you oppose
aren't policy positions. The statements you oppose recognize the
humanity of Black people, affirm that families shouldn't be forcibly
separated, validate that climate change is scientific fact, and remind us
that our Constitutional civil liberties are important.
None of those statements should be politically partisan issues; they
are merely factual, compassionate understandings of the world around
us. (In fact, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel ruled that using the
phrase "Black Lives Matter" isn't inherently political.)
Yet, you politicized these issues. Why? What right do any of us have to
debate the worthiness of the Black community? It is racist against Black
people to suggest that a display of "Black Lives Matter" is equivalent
to a display of your thoughts on union policy or your feelings on bread.
Neither you nor I can imagine the pain of having to watch people online
debate whether our lives matter.
Here's the kicker: You could be part of the solution. You could listen to
Black voices and learn. Discussing my curriculum with families has led to
awesome moments for all of us-in my classroom and their homes.
Also, despite your claim that I'm racist, I have many white friends! I
even have a white husband! All joking aside, one of the many things I
love about all my friends, regardless of race, is that we're not afraid to
have meaningful conversations with each other, including about race.
Whether I'm teaching or writing for places like Education Week, I
think a lot about legacy. What will people see when they remember me
as a teacher or look at my writing? Right now, when people search your
name, they'll see the words of a woman who was too scared to answer
tough questions and who then deleted her personal attacks without
apology.
It doesn't have to be that way, though. One of the beautiful things
I've learned as a teacher is that we never stop learning and evolving.
There's still a chance for you to be brave and join us in having some
important discussions about race in our country.
When you're ready to have those conversations, I'll be here, ready to
listen.
With aloha,
Christina Torres n

http://www.edweek.org/go/opinion

Education Week - September 30, 2020

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