An Open Letter From the Miseducated

Hello,

My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a white [YOUR GENDER]. I graduated from [YOUR HIGH SCHOOL] in [GRADUATION YEAR]. As I’ve started making an earnest effort to educate myself on the systemic racism that led up to George Floyd’s murder (and the murder of countless other Black Americans), I’m realizing just how much I wasn’t taught by the [YOUR DISTRICT NAME]. 

It’s clear that white America was shaken by the murder of George Floyd, just as we were shaken by the murders of Tony Robinson, Michael Brown, and Philando Castille. But the patterns of white supremacy and police brutality have been documented for centuries. There is no reason that we should understand how a bill becomes a law, but not how a slave catcher becomes a police officer. The process is just as calculated.

During the 13 years that I spent in your school district, over 2500 Black Americans were killed by police. I was in [GRADE] when Paul Childs was murdered in 2003. I was in [GRADE] when Frank Lobato was murdered in 2004. I was in [GRADE] when Marvin Booker was murdered in 2010. Why didn’t we learn any of their names? 

Sure, we learned about slavery. But you had a responsibility to explain to us that police officers originated as slave catchers, and how the prison industrial complex made catching Black bodies profitable to this day, and you didn’t. 

Why did you leave the fraudulent phrase 40 acres and a mule ringing in our ears? You had a responsibility to explain to us how we’ve spent every waking moment making it impossible for Black Americans to accrue wealth, how we burned their progress in Tulsa and bulldozed it to create Central Park, and how manipulation and broken promises have defined capitalism since we set foot in this country, and you didn’t.

You showed us “Whites Only” signs above bathrooms. But you had a responsibility to explain the motivation behind Jim Crow laws, and how their legacy lives on through modern policing practices, and you didn’t. 

We learned about the Civil Rights Movement. We learned the I Have a Dream speech. But you had a responsibility to teach us about police officers using deadly force on protestors. You had a responsibility to teach us about Malcom X and the uprisings that facilitated real change in tandem with “peaceful” protests, and you didn’t. 

When we learned about the history of race in America, you had a responsibility to also teach us about lethal whiteness, and you didn’t. 

I demand that the future graduates of the [YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT] know the names Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Dante Parket, Michelle Cusseaux, Laquan McDonald, George Mann, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Matthew Ajibade, Frank Smart, Natasha McKenna, Tony Robinson, Anthony Hill, Mya Hall, Phillip White, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, William Chapman II, Alexia Christian, Brendon Glenn, Victor Manuel Larosa, Jonathan Sanders, Freddie Blue, Joseph Mann, Salvado Ellswood, Sandra Bland, Albert Joseph Davis, Darrius Stewart, Billy Ray Davis, Samuel Dubose, Michael Sabbie, Brian Keith Day, Christian Tayloe, Troy Robinson, Asshams Pharoah Manley, Felix Kumi, Keith Harrison McLeod, Junior Prosper, Lamontez Jones, Paterson Brown, Dominic Hutchinson, Anthony Ashford, Alonzo Smith, Tyree Crawford, India Kager, La’Vante Biggs, Michael Lee Marshall, Hamar Clark, Richard Perkins, Nathaniel Harris Pickett, Benni Lee Tignor, Miguel Espinal, Michael Noel, Kevin Matthews, Bettie Jones, Quintonio Legrier, Keith Childress Jr., Janet Wilson, Randy Nelson, Antronie Scott, Wendell Celestine, David Joseph, Calin Roquemore, Dyzhawn Perkins, Christopher Davis, Marco Loud, Peter Gaines, Torrey Robinson, Darius Robinson, Kevin Hicks, Mary Truxillo, Demarcus Semer, Willie Tillman, Terrill Thomas, Sylville Smith, Alton Sterling, Philando Castille, Terence Crutcher, Paul O’Neal, Alteria Woods, Jordan Edwards, Aaron Bailey, Ronell Foster, Stephon Clark, Antwon Rose II, Botham Jean, Pamela Turner, Dominique Clayton, Atatiana Jefferson, Christopher Whitfield, Christopher McCorvey, Eric Reason, Michael Lorenso Dean, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and any others that become a headline at the hands of police. 

I demand that the future graduates of the [YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT] have read Angela Davis, bell hooks, Audre Lord, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Franz Fanon. I demand that their education is intersectional. Learning about feminism, the economy (capitalism), and race in different classes, in different grades, and never connecting the three, is irresponsible and dangerous. I demand that their education is intersectional.

Less than 20% of public school teachers are Black. That number goes down significantly when the majority of students are white. I demand that you increase the diversity of the teachers shaping the minds of future generations. Furthermore, I demand that Black-led organizations are consulted during the creation of every curriculum. There is no subject that racism hasn’t played a role in. You have a responsibility to make sure your students understand that. I definitely did not. 

I promise to follow up on these demands. I will be in your inbox, in your board meetings, in your voicemails, and in your halls until there is intersectional education that unpacks white supremacy and de-centers white voices in every public school in [YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT]. I look forward to hearing how you plan to implement these changes.

Thank you,

[YOUR NAME]