When I first saw a mention of this certain incident on social media, I didn’t believe it. I scrolled through a dozen different news outlets wishing it wasn’t true. Here’s a link for an article about it on NBC News (10.9.18): https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/virginia-school-allegedly-barred-trans-student-active-shooter-drill-n918216. What is it exactly? In Virginia public schools, active shooter drills occur every month or so. But, apparently, even with that repetition, some teachers just can’t get it. In Stafford County Middle School, last this September, some students were in gym class when the alarm sounded. I wrote this letter (displayed below) to the school. I cried at the story. I hope it doesn’t happen again. The teachers divided the kids, putting the girls in the girl’s locker room and the boys in the boy’s locker room. Instead of noting that the spaces were for stimulating hiding from a potential deadly assailant, they alienating a single student because of her gender identity. They made a transgender student sit outside, in the hall, while the teachers spoke. They debated, openly in front of her, which space would be safest for the other students, for her to be in. Their transphobia is painfully evident. The school board is taking the blame over the teacher, I believe. And I understand that. But, at the same time, I remember having to participate in those drills. They were scary and, after a while, an annoyance. My first “code red” was while I was in kindergarten. And since then, I have had two incidents that were real, or at the very least, possible real threats. The one that was real, there was a man with an unknown predictability with a gun nearby. I almost got locked out of the building, alone. “[1] In Virginia, there are no statewide anti-bullying laws to protect students based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [2] There are statewide anti-discrimination laws, but they do not clearly include sexual orientation or gender identity.” https://sexetc.org/action-center/sex-in-the-states/ I'm having a hard time putting it into words, but school shootings are a very prevalent possibility. We are talking about a child in middle school, around 12 years old, being humiliated, belittled, and dehumanized by her teachers. She spoke a bit to the press, just saying how scared she was. She was embarrassed because she had a panic attack in front of all her classmates. She got on National news, people. I think it's important to see these issues. Sometimes it's easy
The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big think, and you work off the resonance. After all that, I saw an article by NY Magazine, that interviewed suriviors of school shootings. They were short quotes, sometimes much bigger than the day itself. Just profound. Another reccomended reading.
2 Comments
Deenah
11/2/2018 06:50:55 pm
So glad you wrote to that student. The times are changing because of people like you both. The aesthetic board is so meaningful.
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X
11/15/2018 11:57:26 am
Wow, I'm shocked that the teachers would do something like that to a student. I'm glad you wrote to them.
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Who Am I?Hi there! I'm Whit, my pronouns are they/them, and I write a lot.
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Painting by Whit Acrylics on masonite April 20th, 2019 Words are a Quaker saying. George Fox? |