Teachers Wearing Hate on Their Sleeves
Why we should all be concerned about the teachers who sported those NYPD shirts.
In the introduction to his 1962 publication The Other America, Michael Harrington notably observed that what the U.S. poor needed most was “an American Dickens”—somebody who, through their writing, could make the poor visible, or better yet real, to the those blinded by their own privilege and comfort.
Unfortunately, the same may be true with regard to the issue of common sense and cultural sensitivity for a group of New York teachers who elected to wear NYPD t-shirts on the first day of school as a sign of solidarity with the New York City police, whose questionable practices regarding minority suspects came under scrutiny again this summer with the chokehold death of an unarmed black man named Eric Garner.
Despite being advised by the United Federation of Teachers not to wear the shirts as a matter of maintaining objectivity and out of concern that community members, parents, and students might rightfully misconstrue their support, the group elected to wear the shirts anyway.
The backlash has been swift and understandable. It is not only the incredible insensitivity of the act but the brazen disregard for the notion of both police and teachers as public servants that is irksome. In an age when so much abuse is heaped on both teachers and police, ostensibly for being out of touch with those they serve, the gesture was more than inappropriate it was damaging.
It was unfortunate for another reason. In the aftermath of rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, following the killing of another unarmed Black person, teenager Michael Brown, teachers from around the country responded in a variety of ways, from fund raising, to social media, to reach out to a community in need. In New York, the United Federation of Teachers even backed a march led by Al Sharpton in support of justice for both Garner and Brown that was intended to be a step toward reconciliation. The UFT’s decision to support the march, however, upset some members critical of Sharpton and what they saw as a rush to judgment against police. It was ostensibly this concern Teachers Support NYPD:
