We all know what happened in Ferguson, Missouri with Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson. We know that Michael Brown was a young teenager who was going to attend college but sadly died before he could attend. We also know that Darren Wilson didn’t get indicted for Brown’s shooting. Now that’s the problem: the fact that the officer was not even taken to court to stand trial for the killing. The people want Michael Brown back. The people want to see justice served. Communities in Ferguson, Oakland, New York City, and other places are getting together to make a change. We see protests all around the country. There are many different opinions on this situation, but I will be discussing my opinion about this tremendous event.

Ferguson was where this semester began. 

When non-indictment news from Ferguson began streaming in, I found myself searching. Searching for answers, searching for justice. I have been inspired by the various collections of resources that have been assembled through by educators who have sought to support others as we work through this tragedy (resources below).  But having just moved with my family to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, I have thought about what it has meant to be teaching in the time of Ferguson.

as in opposite of crawl:
hands dragging knees
that bleed but instead
legs dangle
after head.
as in limp
from a rope
that swings
back and forth.
as in strung up
like lights
blaze brilliant
in the night.
as in opposite of crawl:
hands dragging knees
that bleed
but alive.

I just finished my first semester as a Visiting Professor in a new masters program in Educational Leadership and Societal Change at Soka University of America, in South Orange County. The transition from being a graduate student to being a professor poses new challenges, both in terms of the work and in embracing a new identity as a professor. However, the biggest challenge I faced this semester was being detached from my colleagues at UC Berkeley, whom I had grown to trust and with whom I engaged in both political discussions and actions to intervene in the world. 

When I taught preschool in West Baltimore in the 1990s, the oft-quoted crime statistics of the city predicted that seven out of every ten black males would end up in the criminal justice system by the time they were adults. I have no idea if this was an accurate statistic, but it’s one I heard all the time. All of the children I taught were African-American. 

The neighborhood struggled with poverty, crime, under-resourced schools and health care systems, and limited opportunities. But it was also brimming with promise.

The families were vibrant. They loved their little boys with a passion. They watched over their play, the friends that they made, and their early education. They showed up for parent conferences, read the books I sent home for their children, and worked hard to give them a head start.

With the grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson (a white police officer) in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown (an unarmed black man), teachers and  schools continue to grapple with how to talk about race and violence with their students. And while black-on-black crime is deeply troubling, we know, as Professor Michael Eric Dyson recently reminded us, "Black people who kill black people go to jail. White people who are policemen who kill black people do not go to jail."