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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Jose Vilson: Trayvon Martin and the Implications for Teacher Perceptions of Students

Jose Vilson: Trayvon Martin and the Implications for Teacher Perceptions of Students:


Jose Vilson

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Trayvon Martin and the Implications for Teacher Perceptions of Students

Posted: 03/21/2012 11:34 am


The bad news: Another young black boy gets shot down on the basis of perception of threat. Trayvon Martin is the latest in a list of victims of our racial politic, a young scholar with a budding future. George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old man who one day dreamed of being a full-fledged cop, admitted to the shooting and alleged self-defense. What gets lost in this conversation is that somewhere along the line, our society still has people who teach our children that our racial differences imply inferiority or, worse, dehumanization.
The good news: Teachers can play a critical role in the move towards racial consciousness and, yes, harmony.
We greet students into classrooms with histories that don't always favor them, and it's often our job to remedy that situation. We help create cultures within our own school accounting for all these 



WATCH: Tennessee Passes Anti-Evolution Law

Monday evening, a new bill (SB 893) was approved by the Tennessee Senate that will protect teachers who wish to promote "alternate" scientific theorie...