Why Black Lives Matter Matters

The common theme among the readings and video is the need to point out the misconceptions and/or fill-in the blanks for those of us who have yet taken the time to understand why these movements have come to be and their place in the classroom.

HERSTORY
This is the website for the black lives matter movement and I wish I had taken the time to find it a few months ago when my son asked me what the movement was about. Instead, I told his father to sit down with him and have the conversation because in my mind he is the authority on all things “race” related.  Mainly because he is mixed and has told me all about the hardships his family endured in the south, but also because I didn’t feel equipped to have the conversation. I live in a bubble. I don’t sit in front of a TV long enough to watch the news. Any bits and pieces that I am exposed to, come in the form of a voice on the radio during my very short commute to work. The ladies at BLM would be so disappointed in me. I probably did exactly what every other “house-wife-brained” female before me has done, and passed the baton instead of waving it around as I dispensed some knowledge and took ownership of my son’s education in current events.

The real problem laid in the fact that I simply assumed that these were topics being discussed at his inner-city school. I’m not entirely sure why I assumed that if I wasn’t discussing it at MY inner-city school. I tend to shy away from speaking about things that I haven’t had an opportunity to learn everything about, i.e. politics.  I remember watching the BET awards referenced in “Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters”, when Jesse Williams said “If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression.” and thinking to myself, I need to brush up on what’s going on but I never found the time to do so.

A District Profile Black Lives Matter At School
This story further proves that I need to stop being a spectator and start getting more involved. I love that the science teacher looked at the school as a whole, not just as the space within his classroom, and identified the need for advocacy and student voice. 

This video provides us with an analogy about the BLM movement. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZiN65xgsM

Comments

  1. Victoria RestlerFebruary 5, 2018 at 6:58 AM

    Thanks for your post Brigette. I totally appreciate and relate to the feeling of not doing enough as a mom and hoping/ assuming that others (partner, teacher, grandparent) will fill in the gaps. The mom guilt is real! And I also want to say--here you are now in the present moment, reading and thinking about how to share what you're learning and thinking about. And to hold that up and value it!
    Best
    Victoria

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 5, 2018 at 8:48 AM

    Brigette I can very much relate to what you are saying. I do not have kids of my own, but I struggle with the same thing when talking with members of my family. Many of them do not understand the movement and I never felt equipped to help them understand. This video you provided was very interesting. While I know nothing about sailing, the metaphor helps bring understanding to the movement. Makes me wonder what other metaphors would be a helpful solution to all the misconceptions that surround BLM.

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