O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

[Publisher’s note: For reference,  here is a link to an email distributed last weekend to several elected officials by Camille Craffey as well as supporting materials, the subject of this submission.]

Outrage has been sparked in Manchester by a classroom activity conducted in concert with a lesson on the Holocaust. The image of a “Wheel of Power” activity floating around social media was from a professional development packet intended for adults that made its way into the hands of students. It was not the actual activity the teacher used in the classroom. The teacher used a “snorkel, scuba, dive” protocol that’s meant to help guide these challenging discussions and make them more relevant to students, challenging them to think deeply. People have suggested it’s wrong for students to feel “uncomfortable” in their classroom while discussing these things that are largely outside of their own control (race, religion, ability, etc.). Some may liken this to “woke indoctrination” or “critical race theory,” but what if we simply changed it to a discussion about community status? If we change the name to something less controversial, less politicized, does it help? What if, instead of discussing homelessness, we asked which part of town you’re from? West Side? Center City? North End? Would any less of a picture be created? As you’re reading this, does an image not come to mind when you read those names of places and of the type of person who may live there? Or the type of house one might live in?

Some may liken this to “woke indoctrination” or “critical race theory,” but what if we simply changed it to a discussion about community status? If we change the name to something less controversial, less politicized, does it help? What if, instead of a section on homelessness, it asked which part of town you’re from? West Side? Center City? North End? Would any less of a picture be created? As you’re reading this, does an image not come to mind when you read those names of places and of the type of person who may live there? Or the type of house one might live in?

We are all affected by the environment around us. Children are the honest test for what kind of world we are creating. Genocide is a difficult topic for adults to wrestle with—let alone eighth grade students. It’s important, though, and it should make all of us feel uncomfortable. These are real events that happened to real people, not even 100 years ago. It’s unfathomable how one human could harbor so much hate for another—how that hate fueled a desire to wipe a people from the face of the planet. Yet that’s what the Nazi’s tried (and failed) to do. If we are not horrified by this fact, then are we truly kind and caring individuals, raising kind and caring individuals?

It is unconscionable to pretend that we, as a collective people, do not bear responsibility for preventing tragedies (like the Holocaust). As Elie Wiesel said in the preface to Night, it would be a victory to the enemy to allow his “crimes to be erased from human history.” And, yet, that is what I am hearing and seeing from the people who were upset by this classroom activity and lesson. They do not want their children to feel uncomfortable for being who they are—yet that’s how Jewish children felt then, and potentially how they feel now, as a minority group. Jewish holidays are not federally recognized, so they must get permission to be dismissed from school on high holidays. Immigrant children are scared for their families, denying parts of themselves to blend in more and draw less scrutiny. Children with parents who are LGBTQIA+ are made to feel that their family lives are somehow “controversial” when we ban books like And Tango Makes Three or Heather Has Two Mommies. Black children’s heritage (slavery, the Jim Crow era, etc.) is an embattled subject that people regularly want to minimize or remove from history units—their people’s entire history. When was the last time we talked about Japanese internment in this country? Or the annexation of Hawaii (a sovereign nation)? What about the genocide of American Indians and First Nation Peoples? Does reading all of this make you uncomfortable? Good. It should.

It’s okay to feel uncomfortable. You will never grow if you don’t feel uncomfortable. You didn’t learn to walk without falling or stumbling. You didn’t learn to talk without mispronouncing some words. Children will never learn if we don’t teach them about these uncomfortable periods in history, if we don’t explain to them how who they are on the surface (race, religion, sex) reverberates in the world around them. The other side of this discussion, though, is that who we are on the surface does not reflect our morality. It is the content of our character by which we all hope to be judged—as Dr. King once said. If we aim to avoid genocide and tragedy in the future, then we must resolve to make ourselves uncomfortable and have open discussions about the past. Patience on all sides is key. We cannot be so closed-minded that we won’t entertain the thought that we may own some inherent privileges, but we cannot be so impatient with others for change that we don’t allow them room to grow or space to ask questions.

As a community, we must resolve to do better—for everyone—past, present, and future.

Jessica Spillers represents Ward 8 on Manchester’s Board of School Committee.

Beg to differ? Agree to disagree? Thoughtful prose on topics of general interest are welcome. Send submissions to publisher@inklink.news, subject line: The Soapbox.