There Is No Neutral

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd last year is bringing back many painful and traumatic memories for people, not just in Minneapolis, but around the country and the world. Students, especially, are watching and reading about the trial and wondering what it means.

In some places, teachers are tackling the issue head on, but in many places staff are telling students that this is not a pertinent topic for math class, or whichever grade level or subject they happen to be in. These teachers are essentially trying to remain neutral in what is legitimately a volatile topic.

The problem with trying to remain neutral on this topic, though, is very different than trying to remain neutral on many other topical issues. In most states, there is a law that directs school districts to remain neutral and not exhort the public to vote in a particular way on school budgets. This is a reasonable example of when neutrality makes sense and is appropriate.

However, when the fundamental human and civil rights of a group of people are under attack, this is no longer the debate of a topical issue. Being neutral in the face of a modern day lynching is analogous to endorsement of that behavior. Being neutral is an act of empowering oppressors while trying to escape the capability of doing so.

Black and brown students are watching the trial in a very different way than other students. The graphic and damning video evidence make this trial one in which students are watching to see just how much their lives matter, just how egregious an act someone can take against them, with impunity. Further, they are ten looking to their own systems to see if it looks anything like what they see in Minneapolis.

These students are looking to staff to help them identify what their school system and community are like and to make sense of it. Is the school system a place where Black and brown children are disproportionately disciplined? Do white staff violate rules in disciplining students with impunity? Is the school system built with students of color in mind or do these students feel like guests in a system built for white students?

For staff to think that being silent on these questions, that these questions have no relevance in math class is a fallacy. At the core of this discussion, Black and brown students need to know from their teachers if they will protect the dignity of students of color if someone tries to make them feel like an “other” in the classroom, the curriculum, the hallways, or outside on the sidewalk. Students are asking teachers around the country “Do I matter to you?”

Unfortunately, too many teachers are answering with silence… which is a resounding response in itself.

Teachers must recognize that this moment in time is traumatic for the children in their charge and they have a responsibility and obligation to care for them. If you don’t know how, too bad. Learn. Pleading ignorance cannot be an excuse to allow this dynamic to fester.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

— Martin Luther King Jr.

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