AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WHITE TEACHERS WHO WORE NYPD T-SHIRTS TO SCHOOL, DESPITE BEING TOLD NOT TO
Dear PS 220 White Teachers Who Wore NYPD T-Shirts To School,
It must have seemed like a fantastic idea when, despite warnings from from the United Federation of Teachers, you all donned NYPD shirts and crowded in front of a camera for a smirking group portrait. Through this lens, which is conspicuously White, those matching gray shirts might either be a tone-deaf display of team spirit, or a more troubling reification of how you regard your relationship to the minority student body. Whatever the intention, you have managed to introduce the armed and socially embroiled segment of the judicial system into the classroom in the most polarizing way.
And for that reason, on behalf of your Black and minority student population, which happens to comprise more than 59 percent of your school’s racial demographic, you must be made aware of the fact that this is an egregious offense. Regard this as an educational opportunity; a glimpse at some of the sentiments that boil deep within the Black/minority community when such insensitivity is overtly displayed in a school, of all places.
Allow me to contextualize your actions which have generated such angst and anger within me and many others, including, more than likely, a large number of your students and their parents. On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was placed in a chokehold by an NYPD officerfor allegedly selling loose cigarettes. He said “I can’t breath” before passing out and dying. This was filmed by a citizen journalist and sparked outrage over the unlawful death of the man who leaves behind a wife and six children. Since that date, multiple Black men have been gunned down in the streets by police. Michael Brown was shot and killed by police while holding his hands up in the air, a gesture that conveys surrender/compliance, and sparked a nationwide protest against police brutality. John Crawford was fatally shot in the chest by a police officer inside of a Walmart as he talked to his girlfriend on the phone.Omar Obrego, a father of three, was shot and killed after being pulled over for “driving erratically.” All of these men were unarmed. These of course, are only recent examples. There is a long history of police brutality, and very specifically, NYPD brutality that targets Blacks and minorities. Please, take the time to Google “Stop and Frisk” and Amadou Diallo, because I cannot afford any more time to your obvious ignorance.
In the wake of these tragedies, racial tensions have peaked. Protesters have taken the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, their cries for justice met with militarized force by local police who littered the streets with tear gas and rubber bullets — prompting Palestinians to share much needed information about avoiding and dealing with military/police An Open Letter To The White Teachers Who Wore NYPD T-Shirts To School, Despite Being Told Not To: