What Silence Teaches
The other day, I came across a quote attributed to Ghandi. It states, "Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly." That quote is so powerful to me because Ghandi believed this, even though he did not follow these precepts to a T. You see, Ghandi was also known to be sexist and racist in his time, and many claim he simply did not do enough to fight the caste system in India. All of those points are arguable with foundations in facts. But that's not the point here. The point here is that Ghandi was determined to never remain silent in any pockets, and would encourage others to speak where, for whatever reason, he chose not to. That's part of the problem today. The same few people are speaking. They're always speaking, and they're tired. They're either the people directly affected, or the people who feel passionate about equity, though seemingly unaffected. The question is, how do we get people to understand their silence is in and of itself, a decision against those hurting most? I'll approach this first as an educator, and then as I deal with my circle of friends.
Teaching is not just about the information we provide children. It's also in pedagogy- or the way we walk out what we want children to know. It's not about being progressive for the sake of the progressive label. It's about teaching children that silence is not the option of an ally- ever. WE have to make speaking part of the equitable pedagogy. That means, teachers must be empowered to call out oppression in all forms, and to amplify the voices of students when they speak against the inequities they witness and experience. Pedagogically, we recognize when students have the ability to engage their conscience and intellect simultaneously, it paves the way for innovative approaches in creating equitable classrooms.
It's almost easier to do this in the classroom. Children are able to see the incongruity of teaching to share in one instance, and practicing selfishness in others. Adults are another story. How do you teach adults that it is unacceptable to care more for the plight of donkeys in The Himalayas than for Blacks who've been historically targeted in the United States? How do you convince an adult that changing their status to support France looks suspicious when their status ranted about shoe-shopping during the Orlando attack? What words do you weave together at the barbeque when family members come up with reasons why they'll vote Trump and ignore his hateful rhetoric, or vote Clinton and ignore her Zionism? We can start with what many of us are already doing- refusing to remain connected in relationship with anyone who chooses silence. I can no longer afford to have real or virtual friends who stand by idly when evil is raging all over our world. That means, I will not tolerate #AllLivesMatter or #BlueLivesMatter in response to systemic anti-Black racism. I will not accept that Trans-women are not real men, or that Trans-men are not real men. I will not accept xenophobic rhetoric, clothed in fear and nationalism. Ableism and a myopic view of what strength looks like must go as well. Just as silence strengthens the power of the oppressor, continued connection validates the silence.
