It was the kids who told me that Daniel Pantaleo, Eric Garner’s choker, wasn’t indicted.
Outside at around 2:40pm, the kids approached me from the grocery store, coming back into the school, and said, “Mr. Vilson, they’re getting away with it.”
Unlike my generation, there’s no delusions of racism being isolated to the South, no nuanced understanding of the role police undertaker, and no after-school specials telling us it’s going to be OK.
For them, the idea of a Black president not preventing institutional racism will linger there, with less language for it, but all the rage.
So if you ever get the opportunity to talk to students who are most disenfranchised by the judicial, the executive, and the legislative branches of their country, don’t choke. Matter of fact, don’t choke them. Because it’s not about telling them not to riot. It’s about listening to their feelings and hoping they can create a better tomorrow than the crapshow adults have laid for them.
Don’t choke. Don’t choke our kids. Don’t cut their breath before they’ve even drawn it. Their bubbles were burst long before we came into the picture. It’s our job to arm them with truths and a set of tools to empower them, even if the world we left for them is still too dangerous for their existence.
Don’t choke our kids. Just don’t.
Jesus. I’m shaking my head and swearing. I thought they got rid of the damned technique after the “Don’t Choke ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em” episode in PDX back in the 80s. Words that aren’t obscenities fail me. They KNEW that hold was an issue YEARS ago. Grrrr. Grrr. Grr.
As a white man of considerable curiosity and empathy for the US racial-historical narrative, I’ve chosen to live in nearly all-black neighborhoods and to teach in nearly all-black schools in NYC for almost 15 years now and I really don’t understand your post. The world is complex and black teenagers who have exposure to diverse adults and diverse narratives (e.g. effective 21st century education) don’t reflexively embrace the anger represented by Ferguson. They are immunized by a sophistication which a place like Ferguson — a stagnant outpost of slave culture — dearly lacks. Obama represents this same sophistication, and while there are no quick wins in cultural transformation of a former slave colony, I believe things are looking up.
I think you mean the cop who choked Garner wasn’t indicted…
Right now there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of police officers who are engaging young Black men on the street respectfully, and at least appropriately if they are legitimate crime suspects. Like public teachers, it doesn’t take very many who can destroy lives or crush hope and dreams. The level of expectation for public servants must be much higher than it is today so as to limit or eliminate the damage that can occur from fearful, ignorant folk who infiltrate these sacred and honored professions.
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