it was a kind of typical tuesday morning: woke at 6, up and down the stairs too many times to breathe, and then a 2 mile walk with lucy. on my way back down madison from 96th street i passed a cluster of policemen surrounding a car. this is not a typical tuesday occurrence on 86th and madison - especially at 7:30 in the morning.
out of the car steps a young black man who showed the police that he was holding an iphone. he was then handcuffed. i found myself getting upset. i'm not sure if it was because of the expression of disbelief on the young man's face, the hour of the morning, seeing something i'm unacustomed to seeing. but i felt myself standing 1/2 a block away crying.
as part of the work i'm doing for community life + diversity, i read a book last night that's meant for lower school kids. the book was about a young black boy accused of stealing. the book made me feel so uncomfortable and i wondered how a young child would process the information. it was stereotyping a group of people while trying to teach a lesson about making assumptions.
this morning that young man in the car may have stolen something, but it made me think that the police might be stereotyping and making assumptions. the only visible diversity i have is being a woman and i cannot imagine what it must be like on a day-to-day basis if it were skin color.
wwcd: teaching kids about empathy is important, but feeling it is more
as part of the work i'm doing for community life + diversity, i read a book last night that's meant for lower school kids. the book was about a young black boy accused of stealing. the book made me feel so uncomfortable and i wondered how a young child would process the information. it was stereotyping a group of people while trying to teach a lesson about making assumptions.
this morning that young man in the car may have stolen something, but it made me think that the police might be stereotyping and making assumptions. the only visible diversity i have is being a woman and i cannot imagine what it must be like on a day-to-day basis if it were skin color.
wwcd: teaching kids about empathy is important, but feeling it is more
Your heart took in the impression, and no matter what the situation was factually, the impression is true... that something unfair, difficult and painful was taking place before your eyes.
ReplyDeleteI also found middle school "lesson" stories often too hard to swallow and digest.