Category: News

Facebook and, I imagine, Twitter exploded today with the news of Robin Williams’ death. I found myself touched more than with other celebrity deaths. Rumours, still rumours, say that it was at his own hand. That depression was a factor. It’s public knowledge that he had problems with drugs.

I did not know the man other than through his brilliant performances. But all of that – possible depression, struggles with addiction, and constant performance – make me think of some of the students I have had the great pleasure of meeting over the years. Students who always seem to take up too much space in a room. There’s a reason for it. The more space you take up, the farther you can keep people away.

It’s easier to build strong children than rebuild broken men, or something like that.

As teachers, as people, we are humanely obligated to build strong children. It’s part of a continual process of creating hope for the future.

I hold on to that hope.

The other night, while so much of the world was busy counting medals a man was not convicted of murder for killing a 17-yr old boy who was listening to loud music in his car with his friends in front of a convenience store in Florida.

That boy could have been any one of my students.
Jordan Davis could have been my son. He could have been yours.

What angers me so much was that this was not a tragic accident.

His 47 year old killer shot 10 shots at a parked car because he felt threatened by the boys who were listening to loud “thug” music inside.

What?

Yeah. And a jury could not reach a verdict. They could not unanimously decide that when a white man shoots a black teenaged boy that it is murder.

What?

Think about this and be angry. And be sad. (If you are a teacher or in any other position of influence, I hope you do more than just think)

Be Angry. Be Sad. The sadness keeps us human and connected. The anger may drive that sadness to do something.

(Just don’t play any loud music on that drive. Especially not if you are a young man of colour.)

Yesterday, a student asked me this question: “Are Jews and white people the same thing?”

I started with a no, because there are black Jews, there are brown Jews. But there are a lot of white Jews.

“So, is it just their religion that makes them different from white people?”

I thought…and said, maybe. A lot of people don’t like what is different from them. There is actually a word for when people really don’t like Jews, it’s called Anti-Semitism.

He summed up our conversation with, “Racism sucks”.

And then this morning, I read this article in the New York Times:
Swastikas, Slurs and Torment in Town’s Schools: Pine Bush, N.Y., School District Faces Accusations of Anti-Semitism

A high school graduate remembers:

“He recalled that around the time of the Jewish holidays, teachers would ask if there were Jewish students in the class. “I learned very, very quickly not to raise my hand,” he said.”

—
I have a vivid memory from my own childhood of a friend, in a burst of anger, telling me that us dirty Jews were all alike. We must have been 9 or 10.

Just as vividly, I remember glimpses of indigo numbers sliding back and forth under my great-aunt’s sleeve as she raised her wine glass at Passover each year.
—

Now, we do the Passover seder in our family, and we gather for Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah, and we respect Yom Kipur, but we don’t go to synagogue, we aren’t kosher, and we don’t focus on Israel. But we are definitely Jewish.

As a young child, I remember asking my mother a similar question. A question about what makes us Jewish. Her response had something to do with how Hitler wouldn’t have cared how religious we were. We’d still have gone to the camps.

So, were Jews involved in the atrocities that have rained down on Native peoples since (in this part of the world) roughly the 16th century? (Because I think that is where that question came from)

I don’t know.

But this question has me thinking about identity, hate, care, history, and my students.
They still keep me thinking and questioning.