Give this video a listen.
I think often of Edward R. Murrow's speech from 1954 to the RTNDA, paraphrased and recast in the excerpt above from the movie Good Night, and Good Luck. Murrow's words draw important questions on how we use the technology of the time, modern media and journalism, and the importance of our personal and collective resolve to learn about our world vs be entertained.
Hopefully more people will be questioning and investigating what's happening in Ferguson, and with Eric Garner… and learning, especially with students.
Some will say "you don't know how difficult a Police officers job is. You're not a Police Officer." True. I'm not. Brutality and racism are real, though. They shouldn't be justified by simple, boastful, shallow statements. It's not enough to say inquiry should stop in a statement like that.
Some say, "he deserved it. He shouldn't resist arrest."
At what point is death an acceptable result?
At what point should we stop looking at the deeper issues involved?
Do some reading on 'white privilege.'
Don't accept superficial statements and move on as if these issues don't exist.
Too many lives are lost.
Corruption is rampant.
Greed is rampant.
Racism is rampant.
"What have we become?" I asked, again.
It's time to face the fact that we've always been this way, actually.
What we are is still far less that what we should be.
Too many care more about bout being entertained than we do bout gaining an understanding about the world in which we live.
Hate… is learned. Too often it is accepted.
We are not as caring or compassionate as we could be to all others. Not yet. I still believe there is hope.
I've read a lot recently. I offered some of the resources listed below to get students started in some reading and encouraged them to find other resources that spoke to them.
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I wonder if we will ever see the end of racism. Truly. Or live in a time when it's not so paramount in our world.
We have a lot of work to do. Education, I still think, is the key.
I cringe, perhaps daily, at our resolve in education to cram 'subjects' instead of placing higher value on making real connections with kids, developing empathy and compassion for each other, and continuing the hard work toward… hope.
We can do better. We can use our resources better to educate ourselves. We can care more about making positive changes on these fronts. We can help students make this mess we've created better in 'their' future.
Hopefully sooner than later.
Readings / Viewings:
#ferguson #fergusondecision #listen, The Becoming Radical
Mike Brown Dies, A Generation Comes Alive, The Daily Beast
Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress, Washington Post
Ferguson and Fox News, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show (reported by Fast Company)
My Vassar College Faculty ID Makes Everything OK, The Gawker
Race Ya, http://iambeggingmymothernottoreadthisblog.com