#TDRS Criminalizing Black Children in Exchange for Criminalizing Black Teachers ?

 

We started out this episode focusing on the criminalization of Black children in the public education system and so how landed on the idea of body cams on teachers. 

Even after meditating on this episode, I'm still not here for policing Black folks in schools. 

I am totally against body cams being on teachers especially with trauma that is already synced into our children through body cam footage of Black Americans, unarmed, targeted and profiled by police officers and then killed. 

We don't need that level of trauma in schools that already feel like mini prisons, criminalizing and policing Blackness. 

The ideas of body cam, where it could give a picture of what's happening in the classroom, is a good idea. It may even work for some places that are free from the traditional public education system model. However, I don't foresee it being something that's going to help protect Black kids. Especially in the current education system. 

Remember, teachers are key players in this game who create classroom cultures that either suffocate or elevate Blackness. This doesn't take away the fact that there are teachers, even Black and brown teachers, who play into the systemic processes of criminalizing our own. I believe there are ways that we can protect Black children in public schools without demonizing and criminalizing good teachers. 

Cameras in classrooms shouldn't solely be there to ensure safety. 

Because if that's the case, what fixes the other systemic issues that bring harm to Black children in public schools? I believe the focus should be on creating innovative learning atmospheres, meeting the needs of every child and ensuring teachers are supported in providing quality instruction. 

If we had a new system, that operated with equity at it's core as opposed to oppression, then would we really need to have cameras in classrooms or even body cams on teachers to ensure Black children are protected?

The opposition isn't simply against body cams, it's against us working to push equity into systems that were created without the very things Black children need to be successful. 

We must change the system by dismantling it! 

Fighting a system and gaining access that only further criminalizes Black people, shouldn't be our collective goal. Freedom should be our goal.