I'm sitting here in the computer lab trying to wrap up the conclusion of my dissertation on culturally responsive teaching. I've been agonizing over this section, wrestling with what I really wanted to convey, and how best to do it. I noticed that I felt conflicting feelings because what I really wanted to write had to do with a different topic, so I am turning to my blog instead.
I've worked in urban education for fourteen years. My mother was a Head Start social worker for thirty years. I am the daughter of a proud Mexican American who began his life working as a migrant worker and ended up with a key to the city after devoting much of his life as police officer. I defied the odds and went not only to college, but to grad school. I attended an all women's college that cultivated my strength as a woman but also elevated my belief that there are two distinct worlds in the United States. That's OK, because I don't really care for the other world too much, anyway. But what I realized over the past month, and specifically election night, was just how much my world doesn't matter to them...and some of those people are my friends and family.
My world is ugly to many. We're brown, White, Yellow, and Black. We're poor, middle class, or in some cases rich. We have cultural norms that are different than most. We have to make decisions that other people will never even have to consider. We will be pulled over simply for driving. We will have our asses slapped at work and will have to act like it's OK because boys will be boys...even when they're grown men. We will be called thugs, hoodlums, rapists, liars, thieves, and delinquents. We will be shot for stealing a carton of cigarettes. We will be used for our cheap labor, be mocked for speaking two languages, ridiculed for our accents. We will be asked to assimilate, to act White or more proper. We will be told we aren't pretty because our skin is too dark, our hair too nappy, or our butts too big. We will be told we are intrinsically evil because of our sexual orientation, our religious beliefs, or our head scarf. We will be told we're too loud, too brazen, too ghetto. We will be told racism doesn't exist and that we live in a post-racial society, yet have to explain to our children why someone would enter our church and kill us all simply because we're Black. We will be judged for working a system that is worked even better by people who make more money than we could ever imagine. We are judged for our hustle and judged for our protests. We are mocked and ridiculed for fighting for social justice. We are told that all lives matter even when it's clear every day that we eat and breathe that our lives don't matter to everyone. We live in a world where people die from senseless violence, a lack of hope, and dehumanization. We live in a world where we are told that life is sacred and begins in the womb, but is not valued, protected, or loved once it's born. We attend schools that are underfunded, lack resources, and pay someone who isn't even a teacher to teach. We are broken, tired, and frustrated.
You don't have to like or even understand my world because you will never have to live in it, but you can acknowledge that it exists.
So, yes, we are grieving today. Personally, I'm not grieving because Clinton loss and Trump won. Somewhere deep down I think I expected him to. I saw my friends' posts about the importance of nominating a conservative supreme court justice, appealing Obamacare, and protecting religious liberties. I can and do respect a difference in world views.
What I can't respect is the failure to recognize what Trump stands for. And this isn't an invitation to compare Trump's ethical issues with Clinton's because she isn't the president elect.
What do I want from you? I want you to say, I voted for Trump because I believe in the sanctity of life. So I vow that I will fight for the lives of all people. I will fight against racism, prejudice, and inequality.
I want you to say that it's not OK for women to be the victims of sexual assault, sexism, or sexual harassment.
I want you to shut down racially charged comments about immigrants or any other ethnic group, and to stop using them yourself.
I want you to start acting like all lives matter.
