Thursday, January 7, 2021

One teacher's reflection on the insurrection

I am that teacher. I teach a dual enrollment communications class at Martin Luther King High School in Philly. My students are juniors and seniors, the classes of 2021 and 2022 respectively. My other day-job responsibilities are more administrative in nature.

Let me begin by saying I have the time of my life when engaged with these young people. The learning and discussions are rich. We even have our own student-run podcast and everything, to which we're making some adjustments for season two.

January 6, 2021 - Thousands of majority-white terrorists breached the U.S. Capitol in a glaring show of their white privilege. This treasonous act of flagrant sedition was incited by their cult leader, the 45h President of the United States of America, an unapologetic white supremacist, itself. The law enforcement preparation and response was ostensibly different from that of late spring and summer, 2020, when those protesting for the dignity and humanity of Black lives marched through the streets of Washington D.C.

January 6, 2021 - White supremacists were escorted from the Capitol. Police acted with a great deal of restraint, notwithstanding the bigots' violent engagement with the blue lives they avow to love and purport to matter.

June 1, 2020 - Multi-racial protest groups, made up primarily of Black people, were tear-gassed, billy-clubbed, and otherwise assaulted on at least the occasion when the President wanted to take a picture. In front of a church. With a Bible. Because...I don't even know. Nice. 😡And blasphemous. 

Same city. Two different responses.

I broached the topic with my students today. They expressed the same outrage that many on social media had expressed. The juxtaposed responses, although not surprising, were still sickening to them! To us! After a few minutes of talking, I got the feeling that this moment wasn't the same as the many moments following the lynchings of Black Americans. I got the sense that although they were incensed at liberty and justice for some, they were ready to move on from this particular moment. I do not suggest that what I sensed was a bad thing at all. I just got the feeling that this situation wouldn't necessarily be a crying moment for them. One even found the humor in it, just as a large segment of Black twitter did.

Student response to the storming of the Capitol

Throughout the conversation, I did provide some examples of how this wasn't a single occurrence and that even a few instances happened in their life time. I also posted a few screenshots from the Twitterverse that summarized my feelings and to explore the extent to which they agreed.

     We also took the time, as communications students, to discuss rhetoric and how the president uses it to narrowly speak to one particular audience and the extent to which it works. Cult 45 stormed the U.S. Capitol at his behest. Effective? Yes. Also racist, criminal, immoral, sickening...deplorable. Happy New Year!


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