“In my classroom we don’t say the words ‘Donald Trump.’ It’s not that it’s against the rules. But if I say his name, the kids put their hands over their ears to cover them. They are that afraid.”
With those words a young teacher made clear the rising fear and anxiety confronting children and families in the urban schools in which they teach. Her comments were made at a recent gathering at UCLA of educators and advocates seeking ways to protect the civil rights of students and parents in Los Angeles area schools and beyond.
“In its first 95 days, the Trump administration has unleashed racist and xenophobic rhetoric, it has marginalized and made more vulnerable various communities, and it has corroded public discourse,” said UCLA Professor John Rogers, Faculty Director of UCLA Center X.
“But it has also unleashed resistance from the street to the classroom. And that’s why we are here today, to learn together and to listen to each other so that we can teach, lead and learn in solidarity.”