I'm Sorry

On this Friday I have so much to be grateful for. I have a job that I LOVE that impacts so many, an amazing family, my health, a house, food, great friends, the list is literally endless. I am a Christian, so I also have my faith and God.  I am truly, irrevocably blessed. 


But today, no every day for months, I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken because it is 2020 and we STILL have significant, major, inexcusable racism and violence. Honestly, I am heartbroken because it took me until 2020 to fully realize this. I guess I was in my own bubble. I live in a small town out in west Texas, we are pretty isolated, but that isn’t an excuse. I have really lived my life separate from all of the pain and hurt that still takes place in our country and pled ignorance. For this,


I am sorry.


I am sorry that I haven’t done or said anything. I am sorry that I have largely ignored such a massive issue. I am sorry to all of my friends, colleagues, students, family, acquaintances, EVERYONE of color that I haven’t stood up for. 


I cannot imagine what you go through. I can’t imagine looking my children in the eye and trying to get them through this racism on a day to day basis. Dealing with the fear that must be omnipresent. 


As a white male, I’m not going to say I understand what you are going through. I can’t and I won’t say that. That would marginalize the issue and be a disservice to the severe injustices taking place. 


I can say, I will do better. I will be better. I will take a stand. I will do everything in my power as an educator to speak up and speak out! Our job as educators is to inspire. This includes not allowing our black population to be intimidated or discriminated against. It includes standing up for injustices and fighting for what is right. 


George Floyd’s life matters. His legacy matters. The brutality that led to his death is vile. It is murder. Enough is enough.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's Important

Image
If you have read my blog, my tweets, or watched my videos, you know I am passionate about education and I think that overall schools, administration, teachers, students, and parents have absolutely hung the moon! I am surrounded by real-life superheroes! So many in education are ROCKSTARS!  There has been a theme the past month and I personally think it is a GREAT trend! Below are some of the amazing things taking place during the current situation: There has been an increased focus on well-being! This is teacher well-being, student well-being, parent well-being! We are checking on and worried about EVERYONE’S well-being! This is a phenomenal development!  There has been an increased importance placed on relationships and supporting the whole child. There has been an increase in the buzz of SEL and making sure our stakeholders’ needs are taken care of.  Making connections has come to the forefront of education!  Providing grace for our students, our teachers, and our parents has skyroc
Read more

Mental Health and SEL

Image
May is mental health awareness month. Mental health has typically had a stigma attached to it, especially in my home state of Texas. Being real, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. Full transparency, three of my wife and I’s family members have committed suicide and I’m not talking some distant relatives. One was my cousin, who was my next-door neighbor growing up and more like a brother to me, and the other two were my wife’s uncles. As an educator, I also routinely encounter students struggling with mental illness and I have two former students that took their own lives. Just to be frank, those aren’t the only 5 that have struggled with mental health issues, those are just the five that ended it. In our family alone, we have addictions/substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, just to name a few. I personally struggled with an eating disorder from the ages of 16-19, talk about stigma, a teenage male with an eating disorder. The impact mental health has pers
Read more

5 Ways to Support Parents During Emergency Distance Learning

Image
A quick Google search or Twitter search turns up 1,000’s of hits on how to support teachers during emergency distance learning, how to support students during emergency distance learning, how parents can support their children during emergency distance learning, and the list goes on. That is not going to be the focus of this post. There are a few out there, but an overlooked area is how schools, teachers, and administrators can support parents during distance learning. That is going to be the focus of this post. It is our responsibility to serve our parents in any way possible. We want to foster learning and build a positive bridge between school & community. The last thing we want to do is add to their stress. Parents have been put in an almost impossible situation. All of a sudden they have been thrust into a role that many of us never envisioned. Their children are now at home and, with little direction, parents are being expected to provide an appropriate learning environme
Read more