Bad Things Keep Happening In Our Town
By Dr. Ferial Pearson, Dra. Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo, & Mr. Gabriel Gutiérrez.
*Our opinions are our own and not representative of any organization.
We need someone to explain to us like we are kindergarteners how an elementary school teacher reading a picture book about racial injustice somehow jeopardizes their entire district’s relationship with their police department. Or…maybe we don’t.
It came to our attention this week through Twitter and an Omaha news story that a teacher at a Nebraska elementary school in the Papillion/LaVista School District in the metropolitan Omaha area read the book Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice as a part of their “Meaningful Monday” series. Subsequently, outraged parents — most of whom have family members in law enforcement and were not parents of the children who read the book — took to Twitter and other social media to protest the use of the book. The Superintendent of the school district did not support the teacher or the use of the book both on Twitter and in the news story, but instead took time to write apology letters to the police chiefs at La Vista Police, Papillion Police, and the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office. Through the letters and his tweets he let the police chiefs know how loyal he is to law enforcement, and to let the world know that the book does not represent his district’s values. The district asserted that the book has been removed from all of the district’s bookshelves. This occurred at a school that is named after G. Stanley Hall, a prominent progressive era psychologist. He is often credited as a pioneer in the fields of child psychology and educational psychology. A lesser known part of Hall’s biography is his involvement with the eugenics movement which believed that the human race could be improved by promoting groups that were seen as being genetically superior. Hall and others helped introduce eugenic ideology into education programs, the effects of which can still be seen today. G. Stanley Hall Elementary School is designated as an “EL site,” meaning that the school has a significant number of English Learners (ELs). Towards the end of the book, thanks to the conversations they had with their families, two little kids from different races stand united to make sure that an EL is included and not discriminated against by bullies. Ironically, this is one of the many messages of the book that these parents and the superintendent are missing; they describe the book as promoting hate, when it actually does quite the opposite.
We have been aware of this book, and you can experience a Read Aloud of it on YouTube. It has been endorsed by Common Sense Media whose review says:
Parents need to know that Something Happened in Our Town approaches racial bias and injustice with direct language appropriate for readers of all ages, discussing feelings, actions, and historical truths in a way that seeks lasting solutions. The book shows two families, one Black and one White, reacting to the news that a police officer shot and killed a Black man in their town. The children talk through situations in their own lives where they have seen racism and prejudice, and their parents model excellent questioning and listening. Authors Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard all have PhDs and experience in community advocacy efforts focused on children’s behavioral health and social justice. The extensive guide at the end of the book is invaluable, providing concrete examples of language to address racial bias with children, vocabulary and child-friendly definitions, and sample parent-child questions.
The book is also a New York Times and #1 Indiebound Best Seller, was #6 on American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020, A Little Free Library Action Book Club Selection, A National Parenting Product Award Winner (NAPPA), and an NCSS-CBC 2019 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People among other numerous and glowing accolades. Beyond addressing police brutality against Black people, there are many more conversations in this book about equity and inclusion, and its larger purpose is to give children also the language to talk about difficult topics. In an interview with Forbes exploring the topics presented in the book, Dr. Sandra Chapman, describes this process as racial socialization and it “is a combination of two things: racial or cultural pride and an awareness of racism.” If this goes against the district’s values, we shudder to think what those values are.
In our classes, keynote presentations, and workshops on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and social justice, we tell our students and participants that we must discuss issues of prejudice and discrimination in age-appropriate ways with young people as early as possible in order to develop their sense of empathy, compassion, and justice. The best way to do this is with picture books that have been vetted by experts, not by individuals whose privilege and bias affect their decision. If a child is old enough to bully someone because of the color of their skin, they are old enough to learn about racial discrimination. Children do see race, and we are not raising a new generation that does not question this view. Our students, both teacher candidates and veteran teachers, often are apprehensive about doing this because they are afraid of pushback from the community and from their administrators; as we can see here, their fear is well-founded. Recently, one of our former students who is currently student-teaching at a different elementary school in a local district decided to take action to help teachers at the school move beyond merely celebrating holidays and heroes during Black History Month (BHM). As she and her mentor teacher were planning a lesson for BHM, our student suggested utilizing a book that discussed current issues to her mentor teacher. The mentor teacher agreed it was a great idea, and the student suggested using Something Happened In Our Town. After reviewing the book, the mentor teacher liked it so much that she suggested it to the other teachers on her team. However, when the teachers approached the school’s principal about using the book for a lesson, the principal refused to allow the book’s use in the classroom because of the potential for backlash from parents. This illustrates the hypocrisy of school districts that provide “professional development” to talk about creating more equitable spaces and having difficult conversations, but when teachers decide to do just that, they are denied the opportunity.
As we write this piece, white police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd, a Black man. A murder caught on camera. A murder that sparked protests in cities across the country and even across the globe. Tragically, this is not the first murder of a Black person by a police officer, and we doubt it will be the last. Statistically, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) are more likely to be shot and killed by police than white people. This is not an opinion; it is a fact, backed up by studies and statistics. Indigenous and Black people in particular are murdered at the highest rates. The racial disparity in police shootings has not changed in the past five years, despite the use of body cameras and media and the public shining more of a light on this issue. Here in Nebraska, the murder of Zachary Bearheels, a young Indigenous man murdered by Omaha Police Officers, goes without justice. Of his four murderers, three are back on the force having even received back pay as well. Families across the country are talking about this issue at the dinner table, on the phone, and on social media. Children are hearing their family members discussing their thoughts and opinions about it and they have questions too. BIPOC families are living with palpable fear of police brutality. It is the culturally responsive and ethical thing to do for a teacher to find a book that helps children process this event and others like it; yet this teacher was thrown under the bus by their own superintendent when they did this.
Teaching for social justice is incredibly difficult when we are living in a red state. We, as BIPOC educators, have all experienced racial discrimination here. In fact, bordering the Papillion/LaVista school district is the Platteview/Springfield district where in January of 2020, one of us experienced such hate that she was forced to quickly move her family out of their home of fifteen years. Both of these districts are only a 20 minute drive from the institution where we teach. BIPOC and LGBTQIA students from one of these schools reached out about the death threats and racial slurs they experienced daily. Elsewhere in the state, she received Islamophobic hate and threats just a year earlier. This bigotry is way too close to home for our comfort, and we worry about the students from minoritized backgrounds who attend these schools and who live in these predominantly white communities. A few years ago, a Latina mom wanted to enroll her little boy in an elementary school of one of these districts. The school recommended that she take her child to a different school district because they were an “All-American School” and did not have an ESL teacher on their staff to serve English Learners (ELs). After a lot of advocacy from the family and a local Latinx non-profit agency, the student was allowed to stay and receive services that, by federal and state law, should have never been denied. To us, and to these students and their families, the political is personal, and it impacts each of us in harmful ways.
We want to make it clear from our professional standpoint to teachers who use this book with their students that you are doing exactly what you should to help your students process a very real and current phenomenon while also instilling in them the compassion, empathy, and kindness we wish was more present in our community. We wonder how much of the racism and bigotry we have faced here could have been avoided if more teachers taught like this. We understand how much risk you are taking to do this, however. This past year has been a wake up call for many of us; we have not made as much progress as people think we have in the fight against racial injustices and institutional bigotry. As we educate future and current educators who are hungry to learn how to do their part to move from conversation to action, we keep hearing stories of administrators and parents opposing any type of curriculum that promotes what they call “divisive,” “political,” “controversial,” or “against blue lives.” These are code words for “it will trigger white fragility” and “it makes us uncomfortable.”
It is time for educational leaders to stop worrying about the comfort of the already powerful and start worrying about the safety of the most vulnerable among us.
There is only so much these brave educators can do without the support of those whose duty it is to advocate for them and their students. Enough is enough.
The time to stop talking about justice and enacting it instead is now.
UPDATE: 04/30/2021
In the three weeks since we wrote this piece, it has been picked up by The Shadow and one of the co-authors of the book, Dr. Marianne Celano, contacted us to thank us for writing it and sent us this wonderful resource.
We have learned now that what the district told the news at first was not the real story. It turns out that the video of the book was shown to students in more than one elementary school in the district, and was vetted and endorsed by curriculum specialists and instructional leaders in the district. A personal connection to G. Stanley Hall Elementary School with the Police Chief was what sparked the news story. It is interesting that this school is the most diverse, ethnically, in the district. There was a school board meeting in which the high school media specialist spoke about the dangers of censorship and the importance of supporting BIPOC students and their families. A representative from the teacher’s union also read a powerful letter from the Papillion LaVista Education Association:
Unfortunately, the superintendent did not change his mind about not allowing this book into the district. We have been told that teachers are now afraid of even talking about the issue with students.
Since this Op-Ed was published many parents and educators have purchased Something Happened In Our Town and have reached out to us for resources. Along with the resource from Dr. Celano, we recommend this Reading Rockets website with more resources as well.
Educators are speaking up, and many privately thanked us for writing what they were too afraid to say.
