This blog post is a response to the comment I received last night. The comment from John is below, along with my response.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Dear John,

I hope you are doing well. I read your comment last night under my blog post, What Do I Want from White People? (An Illustration on Being Black in America). It is alarming that you read my blog post and that you were moved to follow up with racist remarks. You may be a person who is disgruntled with your teaching experience in the public school system and you wish you could have done more. I can understand this. As your comments give readers additional insight into our educational system in America, your remarks, attitude, and tone have serious consequences for Black students and students of color.

First of all, I don’t normally respond to negative commentary and will not respond to any future comments. As racist and offensive as your comment was, it was eye-opening. Unfortunately, I’m sure it won’t be the last comment of its kind. Your comment further perpetuates the implicit stereotypes and bias against African Americas that America is currently in the process of dismantling.

Your comments give light to this bias. It is outright disappointing, John.

The viewpoints you hold are severally limiting. There are Black families that encourage education, who sit with their children after long work days and review homework. There are Black families that pool resources for summer camps, educational opportunities, and visit the library on a weekly basis. There are Black families that value education, but may not be able to solely focus on education due to other factors that make life extremely difficult, like you know, systemic racism. Your remarks point out how systemic this issue is, especially within our educational systems.

We need to do a better job of vetting those who teach our children.

One could say that your career as a school teacher was harmful and detrimental to Black students in the Dallas public school system. Sadly, your views are sustained by other white teachers. To hear that you were an elementary school teacher is horrifying, given that you were once in charge of educating the young minds of our next generation.

You were their first example of what a teacher is.

I wonder how many students of yours encountered implicit bias, lack of support, discriminatory policies, suspensions, zero tolerance policies, and who knows what else. Have you heard of the School-To-Prison-Pipeline? The aforementioned contribute to this national trend that impacts Black students. How many students were truly given a fair chance to succeed within your classroom?

As an African American woman who was educated in the public school system, I wonder how many of my teachers felt the exact same way about me and other Black students as you do. Black students would have loved to be supported, uplifted, and not discriminated against by our teachers. In fact, we blossom and contribute to our families, communities, and society, when we are given equal access to resources and safe spaces where we are encouraged to grow, learn, and develop.

It is a shame that many did not have this opportunity in your classroom, due to biased teachers that subject their students to stereotypical opinions, either through implicit or explicit actions and/or behaviors.

Quite frankly, John, we both know you can do better. It sounds as if you are now retired. As a gift, I donated $50.00 in your name to Educational First Steps, an organization that supports early learning environments for African American and students of color in Dallas, Texas. Your donation will go towards children’s books and classroom supplies.

Take care and thank you for your donation.

Tianna

_______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

https://www.gofundme.com/f/A-Love-Letter-To-Durham-North-Carolina. ** Please consider donating to my community.