In 2018, Echo Park Elementary School teacher Qorsho Hassan, a Black Muslim woman, was pulled over in Minneapolis for having prayer beads hanging off her rearview mirror.
The police officer commented that an audio recording of the Quran, which Hassan and her mother were listening to, was too loud and then gave her a ticket. It was a story Hassan recounted in detail to her 4th grade students this school year when, just 17 miles away from where she was pulled over, police shot and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man. The incident left her with a sense of panic and doom that came 鈥渇ull circle in a really bad way,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t was incredibly triggering to hear about Daunte Wright鈥檚 murder, but then also realizing the fear and the sense of doom that I felt when I was pulled over made sense,鈥� she said.鈥�淭hat I wasn鈥檛 irrational to feel like my life could potentially end as a police officer who was white was smiling at me while putting his hand on his gun and talking to me in a very demeaning manner.鈥�
In the aftermath of this week鈥檚 guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white, former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, thousands of teachers across the country are discussing with their students systemic racism, white supremacy, and Black people being killed by law enforcement.
Hundreds of teachers said in a recent EdWeek survey that although they try to find ways to discuss national politics in the classroom, especially as it relates to race and immigration, it can be challenging. Teachers of color are more likely to bring up these 鈥渃ontroversial issues鈥� and to share stories from Black or Latino perspectives, according to a report on civics education from the RAND Corporation.
A recent bill introduced in eight states, however, aims to ban the teaching of 鈥渞acist and sexist鈥� concepts deemed 鈥渄ivisive鈥� by the Republican senators who drafted it. The draft of the legislation copies sections of former President Donald Trump鈥檚 now-rescinded executive order from September 2020, which banned federal trainings designed to confront racism, sexism, and bias.
Two Black teachers in Minnesota, which has been the epicenter of the Black Lives Matter movement and the location for several high-profile shooting deaths of Black people over the past year attested to the need to discuss police brutality with their students. Although it is emotionally exhausting and they risk facing backlash from parents or their district, both teachers said not addressing systemic racism is doing a disservice to their students and to themselves.
Abdul Wright, a Black 8th grade English teacher at Harvest Academy, a Minneapolis charter school, also believes it鈥檚 important to have conversations with his students about the killings of Black people in Minnesota over the last year to teach them about systemic racism, to give Black and brown students a space to process their reactions to violence against their communities, and to educate white students about their role in abolishing racist systems.
He isn鈥檛 playing Chauvin鈥檚 trial in his classroom because he does not want to subject himself and his students to rewatching police violence against Black people repeatedly.鈥�
鈥淲hat I鈥檇 rather show is the protests that are happening,鈥� he said.鈥淵ou鈥檝e seen us get beaten down. What I want this generation to see is how we fight back, unapologetically.鈥�
On Monday afternoon, as Chauvin鈥檚 lawyers presented closing arguments in his murder trial, students from dozens of school districts across Minnesota walked out of classrooms in a planned protest of racial injustice that led to Floyd鈥檚 and Wright鈥檚 deaths, and to highlight discrimination within schools.
While discussing police brutality and systemic racism, Black educators also have to manage their own frustration and anger. Last Monday, Wright attended the Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis. He plans to discuss his experience there with his students, but not right away.
鈥淭he way this conversation has to happen, it always has to be from a place of being as composed as much as I can be,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had to take a step back before I can even address certain things with them because I have to be mindful that I still want them to develop their own perspectives in their own mind.鈥�
Across the country, teachers that try to talk to students or even have had to deal with outrage from parents, colleagues, and district leaders.
While Wright鈥檚 school stands by his decision to discuss these issues with his students, Hassan faced backlash last year when her class started reading the book, Something Happened in Our Town, after Floyd鈥檚 death. The book is about racial injustice from a child鈥檚 perspective.
鈥淯sing multicultural books that emphasize the importance of racial justice, and also naming, like, white supremacy, naming racism is important,鈥� she said.鈥�淏ecause if I don鈥檛, I鈥檓 erasing the experiences of my Black and brown students as well as my own.鈥�
A parent who posted about Hassan reading the book on Facebook, she said. That caught the attention of the state鈥檚 largest police union, which issued an to the Democratic Governor Tim Walz condemning Hassan鈥檚 choice to use the book, claiming that it contains divisive language which instills fear of law enforcement in children.
鈥淭he irony is that I received such little support from my school administrators and my own school community,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd now many of the white teachers at my school and in my district have certainly realized that this book is a resource. What frustrates me is that, like, while I鈥檓 happy that they realized that, a Black person had to die yet again.鈥�
