Taking Responsibility

My favorite, and I mean my most heartbeat-skipping favorite, part of teaching is debating social justice issues with my students. You name it, and we will debate it: racism, abortion, presidential election candidates, drug legalization, freedom of speech, welfare. We finally really started treading in some of these murky waters this week with our exploration of cultural appropriation.

For those readers that may not know, cultural appropriation is the adoption and use of elements of one culture by another culture. This sounds harmless, but this definition is missing a huge part of what cultural appropriation is. Typically, the elements being adopted and used by another culture are not used with the same care, the same importance, and the same respect. Additionally, the strings connecting those elements to the culture are severed and the new culture claims that artifact as it's own. A great example of this is the donning of headdresses by people that are not members of the indigenous community, specifically concert/festival-goers wearing headdresses as part of their ensemble. These concert/festival-goers are appropriating Native American culture by taking a sacred garment meant for members of tribes and wearing it as if it was just another headband. In this case, wearing the headdress as a fun accessory is also piling on another layer of mistreatment and racism towards the indigenous peoples.

I know...loaded topic.

But listen, OUR KIDS KICKED BUTT discussing cultural appropriation. We read a TIME Magazine article, "When Native American Appropriation is Appropriate," and had a 20+ minute paideia. A quick side note, paideias are fully student-run discussions that dissect a text. I literally sit outside of the discussion circle and watch our insanely smart students challenge each other's thinking for 20 minutes. Okay, back to today's paideia. I kid you not when I say that I had tears in my eyes watching our students grapple with what it means not only to appropriate, but how they may have participated in appropriation at different times in their lives. Here are a few golden statements from our students (I took notes on the conversation, but these may not be 100% accurate):

• Does the profit of one culture selling these items (hula skirts and leis) overshadow the fact that it may be appropriating a culture?

• We should take the time to learn about the artifacts and the meanings behind them before we try to use them.

• We all need to learn how to understand when we become offensive and how to not continue.

• The Native Americans have been around the USA and mistreated in the USA the longest. How come there is not a Native American Lives Matter movement but there is a Black Lives Matter movement? If there is one, how come we don't hear about it?

• We need to create a clear line so that everyone can understand what is appropriation and what is not.

I am telling you right now, I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. Students were formulating opinions, changing opinions, pushing back on opinions, and they were doing it all respectfully. A few opinions popped up that may not have been the most popular, but standing up for what you believe in even if it is not popular should be celebrated. Even when these unpopular opinions were shared, the student's greeted them with understanding and with kindness. They then talked them out, referencing the article (and previous articles) to support their opinions. Wow.

We live in a time where race and racism are being examined constantly. We are confronted with angry people on the news trying to convince us that our opinions are wrong or that simply expressing opinions that they don't like is wrong. But that is not what happened in our classroom. And, if that is not what happened in our classroom for this discussion, then we need to have more of these discussions. We need to create a model for healthy debate and showcase our abilities to SAFELY discuss our differences while backing up our points with evidence. If we begin to practice this in the classroom, imagine what our future news outlets will be saying when our sophomores are the ones running for president. Imagine the informed debates, the open discussions, and the simple practice of respecting each other dripping from our TV stations and social media outlets.

The discussions and debates that are on our horizon this year are just as provocative, if not more, than this one. I sense some heated classroom moments of standing up for what we believe in or fighting for our opinions and I.CAN'T.WAIT. Thank you, parents, for giving me the gift of spending my days with your students. Thank you, students, for truly giving me faith in the future of our country by letting your maturity and compassion shine through all of your words.

And now, for the most important part of today's post: a place that allows you to do yoga while baby goats run around your mats. How do I get there?

Happy Weekend!