By NEA President Lily Eskelsen García and NEA Executive Director John Stocks
Today’s grand jury’s decision in the case of the death of Eric Garner sends some very real lessons to our nation’s students, particularly our students of color.
Families watched the news last night and are now grappling with the messages that have been conveyed to their children by these cases. We owe it to our students to help them understand.
There are powerful and unequivocal lessons in the Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner decisions. They are lessons about race, trust, authority and justice.
We should acknowledge our students’ legitimate anger and confusion and address their likely questions about why they should have faith in the ideals of our criminal justice system when they see graphic examples that our ideals are neither reality, nor do they appear attainable for men of color in this country.
They have observed an unsettling double standard.
We teach them about police officers, prosecutors, judges and juries as guardians of our safety and protectors of our constitutional rights. Yet once again we see painful instances of excessive force, racial profiling, and a justice system in our states that appears to turn a blind eye to it all.
The overarching sentiment about these cases for so many people—especially many, many of our students and their families—is that the lives and the dignity of men of color in the United States do not carry the same importance as others.
Teachers and education support staff who serve America’s students -- we ask you to join us in recommitting ourselves.
Let’s focus our energies on ensuring that every classroom in America is a safe place for students to air their frustration, ask tough questions, and to learn about the great historical movements for change that have occurred in our country.
As leaders of the National Education Association—an organization that has a proud legacy of being on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement and many other movements for justice—we call upon you to once again walk side by side with our students, their families, and our communities to demand change.
While we understand and respect the difficult jobs of police officers who have to keep our communities safe, this decision chips away at our community’s faith in their public safety officers, prosecutors, and the criminal justice system as a whole.
Let’s consider the lessons the nightly news is teaching our students and take this opportunity to help them understand the world we live in – and how we can make it better.
Resources:
Racial Profiling Curriculum and Resources