April del Fuego’s Blog

I’m so angry and sad about the recent incident where the BART police officer killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s morning.

Watching those videos, I just cried for that young man lying on the ground, surrounded by cops he knew he couldn’t trust, knowing things could go either which way, but hoping they wouldn’t go the way that they went. And I cried for the guy’s family and friends, and the tragic loss they’re dealing with now that he’s been murdered. And I cried tears of anger for the injustice of not only this incident, but centuries of brutality and violence that white folks have inflicted on black folks, and when will it end, when will it end?!!??

What the frack happened? The BART cop, Johannes Mehserle, needs to take responsibility for what he did. He needs to face up to his mistake and answer people’s questions. He needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Being a police officer of any kind does not relieve one of responsibility for one’s actions, and in my opinion cops are too easily let off the hook. Before the advent of video cameras on cell phones and such, an incident like this would likely have been easily covered up. Who could’ve disputed it if the cops said the young man was resisting arrest and was dangerous? Now, everyone can see that he was lying face down on the freaking floor and got shot at point blank range!

But Johannes Mehserle is not the only one responsible for this incident. I think there’s also a level of responsibility that falls on all of us in this country, particularly on white people. As white people, we are taught to fear young black men. For me, it wasn’t a lesson like someone sat me down and told me to be afraid of young black men, it was more like it was so ingrained in the culture around me that nobody had to even say it directly.

On the news the sketches of wanted criminals are so frequently young black men. The justice system and the prisons are full of young men of color. When a white police officer kills a black man, it seems like most white people just accept that there must’ve been a good reason for the officer to shoot him. There are little subtle things like how white people clutch their purses or cross to the other side of the street if a black man approaches. It starts early, too, like when I’ve heard neighbors talk about how the elementary school down the street isn’t a good, safe school because of the black kids who go there. And I remember the way people used to stare if I was out with a black guy, with a mixture of curiosity and repugnance and wanting to warn me away from him. And there’s a million more ways white people are taught to fear black people.

I’ve heard people say that this shooting didn’t have to do with racism, but if this white police officer lives in this country, then he has been exposed to the same lessons as the rest of us. In my opinion, the paradigm that young black men are dangerous and untrustworthy was actively at work that night there in the BART station. Its obvious to me that if Oscar Grant had been a white man, the whole situation would’ve played out differently, and its likely that no one would’ve gotten shot.

I know that BART cop Johannes Mehserle, as an individual, is responsible for his actions that night. But I also believe that its up to all of us to take responsibility for the context in which this shooting happened by working to change the culture of racism and white privilege that teaches white people, among other things, that black people are dangerous.

And, I’ll go one step further and say that I believe that its up to white people in particular to work towards this change. We need to use our unearned white privilege to fight against the institutional and systemic racism that keeps the current racist paradigm in place. We need to look at ourselves and each other and admit our racist thoughts, beliefs and actions, and then find a way to let go of that paralyzing white guilt that keeps us from demanding change from ourselves, each other and the institutions around us. We need to really listen to the stories of people of color about the effects of racism on their lives. We need to join together with other like-minded people to actively move towards racial justice.

And we need to find a way to both hold Johannes Mehserle responsible for his actions, and also compassionately reach out to him and include him in the movement towards positive change.

I just learned a new phrase at a website called Stop Dog Whistle Racism.  Apparently “Dog-Whistle Racism is political campaigning or policy-making that uses coded words and themes to appeal to conscious or subconscious racist concepts and frames.”

Of course, I knew about the phenomenon, but didn’t know there was a phrase to describe it.  The aforementioned website is about identifying, exposing and responding to this type of racism….check it out!

I was going to try to start out sounding neutral on this, but who am I kidding? In what world does it make sense to let school teachers carry guns to class? Certainly not in the world I live in! And yet, a small school district in North Texas recently started letting their teachers carry concealed weapons.

According to The Houston Chronicle, the trustees at the School District in the tiny town of Harrold, Texas (population 320) approved a district policy change so that their employees can carry concealed guns to “deter and protect against school shootings.” The gun-toting teachers have to get permission from the state of Texas and the school district, and they must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations. Oh, and they have to use ammunition that’s designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in the hallways. Good thinking!

Apparently the superintendent and school board feel that their school is at risk because they’re a 30-minute drive from the sheriff’s office, and because “the district’s lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.”

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted the superintendent as saying ‘When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying ’sic ‘em’ to a dog.”

In a way I’m not surprised…it IS Texas, which is one of the gun-friendliest states in the union, not just in laws, but in people’s attitudes. I, myself, grew up knowing how to shoot a gun. In my family it was mainly to protect our chickens from dogs, snakes and foxes, not for shooting other people. And we certainly didn’t pack a gun on the way to school!

I do, however, remember feeling some security from having a gun in the house, since we were in a rural area, and if something happened, help was miles away. We lived right outside of Austin, but you might never have known it. We were fairly isolated, with the nearest neighbors a 1/4 mile away, and our place was mostly surrounded by woods. I remember times when we’d hear about a local incidence of violence of some kind of other, and on those dark nights, I did think that we were better protected because there was a gun in the house. My point is that, at some level, I really can understand why people in Harrold might feel fearful due to their isolation.

I found myself wondering what might have made this particular school district so afraid that they decided to allow their teachers to carry guns. I have a friend who, until recently, lived in Wichita Falls (the biggest town near Harrold), and who used to be a journalist, so I had a feeling he’d have some observations to share about the situation.

Here’s what he had to say: “Harrold is a tiny little podunk school stuck amidst cotton fields. The ‘town’ of Harrold consists of a grain elevator and a few weather-beaten shacks and maybe a couple of meth labs. No stores, no etc. The school consists of two buildings joined by a breezeway. It is slowly dwindling away and will probably be consolidated with Vernon or another district in a few years. Just after I arrived in Wichita Falls there was a big windstorm that blew out all the windows on the north side of both buildings. The district had to stretch their budget to find money to replace the windows, only to find out after the work began that the windowsills contained asbestos. So, for more than a year until they could find yet more money for asbestos removal, all of the windows on the north side of the building were covered with plywood. It looked like an abandoned building from the highway. I don’t think Harrold ISD is a prime candidate for school violence, unless it is started by gun-toting redneck teachers.“

Whether the teachers are rednecks or not, the point is, it just doesn’t make sense to have MORE guns in schools rather than less. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence quotes research that says that “[l]ess than 1% of school-age victims of homicide are killed on school grounds or on the way to or from school. Adding more guns in school can only put our kids at greater risk.” That’s what I’m saying!

In looking at different websites that discussed this issue, I found that lots of people were saying the typical gun-enthusiast/NRA-nut things about how law-abiding citizens have to be ready to defend themselves, and how people who want to restrict gun use are basically too wimpy and weak to be eager to shoot another human being. This phenomenon has always been interesting to me: People in the pro-gun movement identify as STRONG, and put others down for being weak. And yet THEY are the ones so scared that they need a firearm to feel safe!

So, my main objections to this idea are…

-As a mother, I’m horrified at the idea of sending my child to a school where the teachers carry guns. At an emotional level, I feel the mama bear in me growling a big NO FUCKING WAY!!

-It just doesn’t make sense. Again I quote, “Adding more guns in school can only put our kids at greater risk.”

-It is a fear-based policy, and at the social, political and personal levels, fear-based decisions are often problematic. Putting a band-aid on a situation out of fear doesn’t usually actually solve the problem. We need to look at where their fear comes from, and get to the root of that fear…not just throw some guns at it.

-And here’s the big one for me: One of the big strategies of the conservative movement is to convince people that they need to be scared. And they have ideas about who we should be scared of: people of color, gay folks, and immigrants to name a few.

So, in a town that’s 87% white, who will that fear most likely be aimed at?  My guess is anyone who’s different, especially the 13% of people who aren’t white. Even though the superintendent says the guns are for protection against outside threats by terrorist-types, in my opinion, the people most likely to get shot at are the PEOPLE OF COLOR that our culture teaches us white folks to fear, particularly black males. I don’t actually know how many children of color there are at this school, but however many they are, I fear for their safety.  And for the safety of anyone who’s different: gay teens, punk rockers, poor kids…if they don’t fit in the white middle-class mold, they’re likely at risk.

If you think I’m exaggerating, here’s a recent quote from a conservative family member of mine who lives near Harrold, TX (we’ve been e-mailing back and forth about politics, racism, welfare and other social issues), “…you send me poor crying woes about a population of people [poor people, people on welfare, people in New Orleans, black people] that don’t care enough about themselves to do anything for themselves…. We [white people not on welfare] been taking care of business from the beginning of time. It has been making us stronger and more self reliant. So when the time comes, the weak will just breed themselves out of existence. I’m patient I can wait.“

Maybe the Harrold School District is getting a head start. If all the schools in America went this direction, they wouldn’t have to wait for the unwanted members of the population to grow up and cause trouble. They could go ahead and shoot them down while they’re still children. Its frightening to think that maybe now I’m understanding where this gun-carrying teacher policy is coming from.