Farewell Wanderlust 🏡 on Nostr: As I entered school today, admin was handing out Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day ...
As I entered school today, admin was handing out Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day swag. One of my students asked me what it was all about. I ducked into my library, checked the 92s, found Ruby’s book Through My Eyes. (A great text, with really evocative photos.) I chucked my plans and spent the day talking with k-5s about Ruby, segregation, integration, racism, bullying, anything they wanted to discuss. I figured yeah this is bonkers racist Arizona, so fine, fire me. But first I’m going to be real with the students.
Bottom line, kids: yes, racism & haters still exist, but we can be brave like Ruby and every day scrape scrape scrape at it by choosing diverse friends and calling racism by its name when we see it. Kids know. They see that police search black folks’ bags but not white folks’. They get The Talk about how to act around police. They see that most of their teachers are white ladies. I hope they felt heard and seen today. I’ll be back at it tomorrow, giving everyone words to speak for themselves.
Bottom line, kids: yes, racism & haters still exist, but we can be brave like Ruby and every day scrape scrape scrape at it by choosing diverse friends and calling racism by its name when we see it. Kids know. They see that police search black folks’ bags but not white folks’. They get The Talk about how to act around police. They see that most of their teachers are white ladies. I hope they felt heard and seen today. I’ll be back at it tomorrow, giving everyone words to speak for themselves.