Death to Separation Based on Race

Hearing of another innocent black man dying because of racism, I stopped and wondered
Why?
Why are some people more afraid of a strange man who is black than a strange man who is white?
And I thought maybe it’s because they live in an insular world without diversity,
Because we only fear what we don’t know, right?
And maybe it’s because they don’t know.
I am blessed to work with children of various races from various nations, so I know
And I will tell you
They are not scary! They are beautiful!
Nobody laughs like the Marshallese,
These kids smile so much,
And they randomly burst into song,
And I can’t tell you how many times they’ve brought a ukelele to class randomly,
And I’ve had to set it on my desk until the lesson ends,
And nobody can braid hair like the Marshallese ladies; I wish I could do as well
I love speaking Spanish because I have never once been told by a Hispanic student
That their language is only for them,
That I’m doing it wrong,
That I can’t understand or help them,
I have never had students bring me homemade treats like my Latina girls,
And if you’ve never had a pupusa made from scratch by a Salvadoran,
I’m very sorry for you,
The resilience of my Hispanic kids who have come here from other countries and been thrown into a language and culture so different from their origin astounds me,
Such strength is something from which we could all learn and benefit,
And my African American kids take the cake when it comes to slang,
Some of my favorite new vocabulary words were taught to me
By African American teenagers, no cap!
The way they play fight with their friends
But then staunchly stand together with fierce loyalty,
They way they can go from saying “yes ma’am” to me
To jokingly roasting me in front of the whole class,
It’s beautiful,
It makes my class better,
And then there are all the kids from other demographics,
The Vietnamese who study so hard and learn so fast and are obsessed with anime and video games,
The kids from islands I never knew existed—places like Yap where they speak Yapese—
I am privileged to learn from them and about them.
My kids aren’t scary; they’re beautiful,
So maybe these people who are afraid of them,
It’s just because they do not know them,
So know them,
Do better

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