As the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd, comes to a head, teachers may struggle with how to talk about issues of racism and police violence with students.
The discussions can be challenging and uncomfortable, but they are needed. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for the killing last May of Floyd, a Black man. A video of Floyd gasping for breath as the former police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee quickly went viral, setting off a protest movement against police brutality and systemic racism across the United States and around the world.
Days after the trial began on March 29, Daunte Wright, 20, was killed by a police officer in the nearby community of Brooklyn Center, Minn., sparking protests there and elsewhere. That officer, Kim Potter, who was said to have mistaken her gun for a Taser weapon, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Wright, who was Black.
Then, on April 15, officials in Chicago released body camera footage of a , a 7th grader who lived in Little Village, a predominately Latino neighborhood on the city鈥檚 West side.
Attention to issues of racism, race-related violence, and police brutality will likely grow in the days ahead as closing arguments begin in the Chauvin case.
To help educators think about how to discuss these cases and other race-related violence and how to support Black students and other students of color who may be distraught by what they read and see in the media, Education Week has compiled some resources from its archives and elsewhere. Here are a few:
News articles from Education Week writers:
- 15 Classroom Resources for Discussing Racism, Policing, and Protest
- You Have Anti-Racist Curriculum Resources. Now What Do You Do?
- The Violent History of White Supremacy Is Rarely Taught in 69传媒. It Should Be
- Are America鈥檚 69传媒 Ready for Tough Talk on Racism?
- 鈥楾eachers Cannot Be Silent': How Educators Are Supporting Black 69传媒 After Protests
For Black students鈥� views:
- What Abolishing the Police Means to Me: A Student鈥檚 Perspective by high school student M鈥檓unga Songoloy
- Black Student Voices: What Educators Should Know (a video collection)
Some opinion essays:
- 5 Ways to Show You Care for Your Black 69传媒, by Jaleel Howard
- A Black Teacher鈥檚 Letter to His Younger Self, by Lebon 鈥淭rey鈥� D. James III
- How to Make Anti-Racism More Than a Performance by Bettina Love
- The Persistence of Education Inequity: A Father and Son鈥檚 Exploration of Race and 69传媒, a video conversation with Tyrone Howard and Jaleel Howard (one hour)
Some classroom resources from national groups:
- , from We Are Teachers
- from Colorin Colorado
- , from ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)
- , from The New York Times
- from the Center for Racial Justice in Education
