Stuff You can’t say to your Teacher

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

Yes,

calling on me

while my hand is down

to answer your questions

about the black community while

I am

the only minority in the class

is not only alienating but horrifying.

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

No,

it’s not okay to talk about welfare queens

when you don’t realize

that the large majority of people on welfare are not black.

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

No,

don’t talk about the American Dream.

 I’d rather not hear your tales of the systematic oppression

 of my people who are still yearning to be free.

If you instill in us the beliefs that we will never be anything,

what could we ever rise to?

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

Yes,

white stereotypes are funny.

Why?

Because they discuss trivial things:

dancing, Starbucks coffee, and Uggs

never mentioning

the continuous mass genocide and gun violence

produced by you all.

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

No, black stereotypes aren’t funny, ever.

No, black face isn’t okay

even if a culture has done it for centuries.

They’re used to oppress and demonize

a community who is still struggling to escape.

Being called thieves, murders, and good for nothing are all we get.

Please take off your blind folds

these words are so dehumanizing.

They allow our children

to be killed without thought,

because one more dead black child won’t harm anyone.

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

No,

don’t talk to me about

teen pregnancy rates, abortion, and STDs within my community

when your media constantly promotes us as sex symbols

who can do no better than being impaled by your beliefs,

as you impaled us unjustly less than 200 years ago.

So when those seeds sprout within our wombs,

bearing undesired children,

don’t be surprised that they’ve risen to your expectations.

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

No,

please do not try to explain

how we are equals

in this day in time.

The wage gap is high,

our graduation rate is low,

and you still expect me to be remedied with

 “but public education is available to everybody?”

Excuse me,

while I look at the intercity schools,

containing many children struggling with drug issues,

abusive homes, hunger, and homelessness

and tell me that this is fair.

When you place large amounts of black people in a community

and the quality of education goes down

who is to blame?

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

Yes,

history exists.

When mass genocide is committed,

when we are installed near power plants,

when we are used as animals for experimentation,

and you continue to try to deny the truth,

our hearts ache.

Please acknowledge your past,

maybe not your family personally,

but you still benefit from the actions of your own.

 

Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,

Yes,

We are worth more than 10 sections in a 200 section book.

 Scold the children who complain about learning about black history,

because nearly every time I open a history book

I’m learning about yours.

 

Dear every white teacher that I’ve ever had,

Please,

educate yourself on matters other than your own,

recognize your privilege

and don’t spew nonsense

into all the other future white teachers

that my children will someday have.