1/ Aight y'all. High school computer science teacher here. As someone who consistently & actively seeks, admires, supports, & amplifies students' voices for a living, this is my professional opinion: Y'ALL NEED TO LISTEN TO THEM WHEN THEY SPEAK.
2/ Here's what I've learned from loving & serving 1000's of Ss over the last few years - They give you respect when you show them you deserve it. "Respect your elders" & other assorted regurgitations of #adultism died with us Millennials. But with Gen Z? THEY 👏🏾 AIN'T 👏🏾GOIN👏🏾
3/ In this next phase of the Critical Race movement, these young ppl will NOT be the MLK's or Malcolm X's of times passed. Don't forget- Before remote learning was a full-time thing, these were the students who called out teachers for mispronouncing their names during attendance.
4/ These were the students who pointed out the hypocrisy of security guards running in the hallways. Then, after we transitioned to remote learning, they got together & tanked Google Classroom's ratings on the App Store - from 4.3/5 to 1.5/5 in LESS THAN 2 MONTHS.
5/ They tend to remember attempts to silence them, resent repeating themselves, lack patience for willful ignorance, & when they're fed up, have little regard for consequences. Sooo, how do YOU think these young ppl feel about all that they've seen and experienced lately?
6/ We say we want Ss to think critically, but we criticize the solutions they create. We call for them to demonstrate empathy and civic responsibility, but we challenge the validity of their anger, & we scoff at their frustrations with the ideologies of the world they inherited.
7/ Y'ALL. Stop being offended by the outrage of anti-racists, esp. those who are younger than you. Honor their audacity & resourcefulness - they're fighting a war they didn't start, using weapons they're forging in response to mounting evidence of this nation's moral depravity.
8/ & to all my young ppl (yes, this "Mama Bear" claims you even if I ain't never met you) who are critiquing & protesting systemic structures of racial injustice, raising your voices, & about to get louder... I see you. I hear you. I am VERY proud of you. & I got bail money.
I am #MoreThanAnAlly - I am a #CoConspirator
