Montgomery County Public Schools Teachers Learn About Survivors of Hate Crimes

On Wednesday, June 19, 2019, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) held a workshop for 30 educators on how to teach American Hate: Survivors Speak Out by Arjurn Singh Sethi, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Georgetown and Vanderbilt Universities. The workshop was organized by Tiferet Ani, a social studies content specialist at MCPS and longtime friend and supporter of Teaching for Change and Zinn Education Project.

Sethi gave educators an overview of the rise in hate crimes across the country during and after the 2016 election. In the wake of the increase in attacks, media outlets chose to humanize the white supremacist perpetrators rather than the survivors of violence. Sethi also explained why there is limited documentation of hate crimes experienced by Muslim and Sikh Americans after the 9/11 attacks. In response, Arjun set out to collect stories of survivor testimonials published in American Hate.

Alison Kysia, director of Teaching for Change’s Challenge Islamophobia Project, guided the group through a sample lesson focused on the testimonial of Destinee Mangum and Walia Mohamed, who were targeted by a white supremacist on the Portland, OR light train rail in May 2017, resulting in the death of two men who intervened to stop the attack.

The lesson, which is free and downloadable on the Challenge Islamophobia Project website, began with a viewing of a news clip about the attack which focuses on the white male victims but provides no information about the women who were targeted.

Kysia then gave educators a copy of Destinee and Walia’s testimonial, giving teachers insight into what the news does not tell us about hate crime attacks. Destinee and Walia explain in the testimony how they were victimized not only by the white supremacist attack but also in the exploitative behavior of the media and activists alike who were more interested in their agendas rather than providing support for the mental health needs of the survivors.

Teachers shared stories from their classrooms of tense incidents between students that occurred the day after the 2016 election. Alison noted that schools have an “allergy” to explicit conversations about race and justice stemming from the belief that teachers need to maintain neutrality, and as a result, in the wake of the 2016 election teachers were scrambling for ways to address the results and mediate altercations between students.

Kysia notes that there is no neutrality and silence is a form of complicity. An MCPS social worker in the workshop brought up the idea of implementing a restorative justice process in place for students who perpetrate hate crimes against other students. Sethi encouraged educators to begin recording incidents of hate crimes in Montgomery County Public Schools as a means to begin addressing the issue.

One of the most powerful questions Sethi and Kysia left attendees with was: “How do we empower students to create a future that we have never known?” They highlighted that to effectively listen, teach, and amplify these experiences and create solutions, teachers and students alike need the vocabulary to talk about racism.

Kids look to teachers as mentors, so neutrality is especially dangerous for students who are vulnerable to violence and trying to push back against it. Teachers can instead help students engage with the world and unpack news stories by sharing their honest perspectives, and encouraging students to ask questions and figure out what they think. Through this engagement and a curricular commitment, schools can proactively combat hate before it happens, rather than after the fact.