As we begin this new school year, nearly one year after the death of Michael Brown and the grand jury decision to not indict the officer responsible, I am not saddened. My students, their stories, their voices, and the ways in which they will positively impact society encourage me.
Last year I was sad. I wasn’t surprised by the verdict, but I was hurt in a deep way that I couldn’t find words to express. Each day I greeted my students, many of whom are young Black men; I felt a heartache that I couldn’t describe. I wasn’t my usual charismatic self in class. I couldn’t engage authentically with my social justice oriented colleagues that wanted to discuss the morality of the case with students. I found myself lost for words when I thought about what I would say to a group of young Black men living in a society that might prejudge them as monstrous demons, validate their deaths, then quickly move on to the next news headline of the day. I needed reassurance that me teaching in a public school classroom mattered after the grand jury verdict.
Reassurance was discovered in my slam poetry class. In this space, students were given an opportunity to critically respond to the challenges they faced and to honestly express themselves. I assigned a poem about bullying and three Black male students wrote a poem about their perception of police as bullies. They analyzed the social issues of racial police brutality with their own words in a way that liberated their listeners and themselves. They gave permission to other students to speak about their fears and claim those fears as opportunities to fight injustice. They wrote about their justified anger and their commitment to resilience as young men who would not be defeated by the propaganda of fear projected into their communities. They spoke confidently of a pride in their identity as Black men that let me know that hope is safely alive within their words, voices, and actions.
Their poems were the catalyst for an honest discussion about the events surrounding police brutality against Black men in America and the historical parallels embedded in that narrative. It allowed me to offer an opportunity for students to read, analyze, and respond to the media published around the case. Together, my students and I were able to engage in a dialogue about this sensitive issue in a mature, appropriate way.
The experience reassured me that I was in the right place doing the work necessary for educational equity with students and our communities. As a teacher of five years, it is clear that equitable education is both rigorous and relevant. When I felt incapable, my students gave me the assurance I needed to continue to create an environment that cultivated their powerful voices. The engagement with my students demonstrated to me, their teacher, that the greatest thing I can do for my students is confirming their value in the world and encouraging them to seek and speak their own truth.
I chose to return to my fifth year in the classroom in a public school because of the same conviction and passion that inspired me to apply for Teach For America in the first place. I believe that ALL children in America deserve a quality education that is not only rigorous but also relevant to whom they are. Creating a space to converse about social justice in ways that are counter cultural and develop students’ critical literacy is essential to the work that I am purposed to do.
In the process of teaching, I have met brilliance in the face of challenge, boundless creativity in the presence of limitations, and hope beyond measure embodied in the children I teach. They motivate me to continue working alongside them to one day achieve the justice and equity they all deserve.
Camea Davis is a Teach For America – Indianapolis alum and eighth grade English Language Arts teacher Belzer Middle School. She teaches in her hometown and in the same community she taught for her Teach For America placement.
