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What would it mean to a Black students to sit in a classroom knowing that their White teacher had a gun?
Republicans are arguing in favor of arming teachers in the wake of the Parkland school shooting. Lawmakers from Michigan to North Carolina and other states are now entertaining laws to arm teachers. This week, the Florida senate approved a bill that would allow arming some teachers, though the measure was quickly rebuked by the Florida school board, which voted unanimously against doing so. It’s an issue that breaks along sharp partisan lines. According to a Quinnipiac University poll, two-thirds of Republicans believe that America would be safer if more people carried guns. Only 6 percent of Democrats and 35 percent of independents agreed.
But there is also a racial component to this issue, one that policymakers would do well to keep in mind.
More than 80 percent of American teachers are white. Black students, who represent just 16 percent of student enrollment, represent 27 percent of students referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of students subjected to a school-related arrest.
K-12 schools where at least half of the children are nonwhite, and high-poverty schools—meaning those where at least 75 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch—are home to the highest percentages of campus law enforcement. An April 2017 ACLU study argues that the presence of law enforcement in many of these schools originated with a “false panic” about Black and Latinx youth crime. Their presence has meant that poor students have been increasingly criminalized.
According to a 2015 study, schools with larger minority and poor populations are more likely to implement criminalized disciplinary policies—suspensions, expulsions, police referrals, and arrests—and less likely to connect students to psychological or behavioral care.
And a 2014 American Psychological Association study revealed that young Black males are more likely to be mistaken as older, perceived as guilty, and face police violence if accused of a crime. There is even published research indicating that white people are more likely to attribute supernatural or magical powers to Black people, even to the extent that they believe Black people feel less pain.
All of this research and data must considered when questioning what an armed white teacher might do under duress—real or perceived—during interactions with a Black student. A number of existing cases show us what armed police officers will do to black youth when they feel “threatened.” Think about LaQuan McDonald, Jordan Edwards, and Tamir Rice. All were killed by police officers “trained” to use guns and de-escalate situations. What would make anyone believe that teachers will do better—even with training?
Think about LaQuan McDonald, Jordan Edwards, and Tamir Rice. All were killed by police officers “trained” to use guns and de-escalate situations. What would make anyone believe that teachers will do better—even with training?
In fact, the vast majority of mass shooters are white. And those white mass shooters receive the benefit of a narrative describing them as troubled individuals, suffering possible mental health issues, who fell through the cracks. (According to the American Psychiatric Association, people with serious mental health problems account for just 3 percent of all violent crime.)
Black youth are not afforded the same narrative.
Consider the Ohio teacher who told a black student that he would be lynched if he wouldn’t be quiet. What if the teacher had been armed? What if the Florida teacher who hosted a White supremacy podcast was armed? What if the Mississippi substitute who encouraged a white student to let himself be hit by a black student “so they can hang him” was armed? What if the Atlanta teacher who told a black student, “Don’t smile at me, man. That’s how people like you get shot,” was armed? Would these incidents have ended with black students getting shot? It is certainly plausible.
We all ought to ask: What would it mean to a Black student to sit in a classroom knowing that their White teacher was armed with a gun?
Rann Miller directs the 21st Century Community Learning Center, a federally funded after-school program located in southern New Jersey. He spent 6 years teaching in charter schools in Camden, New Jersey. He is the creator, writer and editor of the Official Urban Education Mixtape Blog. Follow him on Twitter: @UrbanEdDJ.