Do I need to write more? That’s both the sizzle and the steak. Watch the video above.
Okay, fine. I’ll write a little bit more.
On my first day in the Twin Cities, while I was running around with my small crew, I came across a news article about a suburb of the Twin Cities named Columbia Heights. The article explained that the Columbia Heights school district had canceled school that day because several schools received bomb threats. No bombs were found, but better safe than sorry. The threats were yet another body blow to the students, parents, teachers, and administrators of the district. That is a body blow that reverberated throughout the Twin cities metropolitan area and throughout the entire state of Minnesota. In the weeks leading up to the bomb threats, more than two dozen parents and at least three students had been detained by I.C.E. One of the students detained was 5-year-old Liam Ramos, whose story went viral. While Liam and his dad (who was also detained) are back home, there are many, many other illegally-detained folks who are still in custody.
Needless to say, all of this makes for less than an optimal learning environment.
One story I heard over and over during my three days in the Twin cities was that many students were choosing not to go to school during this time. I heard estimates between 30 to 50 percent of students not showing up while I.C.E. and Border Patrol are marauding in the streets. Understandably, many of the students who are not showing up to school are undocumented immigrants (or from mixed status families). But there are also many students who aren’t showing who are United States citizens. Some schools are actually going back to COVID-era hybrid learning to give students another option to learn. These students have seen what we have all seen. They have seen government agents kill Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the streets with no due process. These students are experiencing the trauma of those two killings. Then the students have the added trauma of seeing members of their school community being abducted by I.C.E from the school’s premises. Meanwhile, all us adults know that the pressure of being a kid in school is more than enough to deal with. And teachers are even more sure of this, so Education Minnesota, the teachers union, has decided this has to end.
Education Minnesota, along with the Fridley and the Duluth school districts, are suing the federal government. Read that sentence again. There is no greater act of love that teachers can have for their profession than to stand up for their students in direct opposition to THE GOVERNMENT.
Just in case you are unsure of these teachers badassery, this is a quote from their lawsuit:
That sentence gets an A+ from Mr. Bell.
I was lucky enough to be in the room where the announcement of the lawsuit happened. How did I end up there? Don’t worry about it. I’m a Goodfella. Ask your friends in the neighborhood about me.
Several teachers and administrators spoke during the press conference. It was electric in the room, but also solemn and emotional. Shirley Chisholm’s word “unbowed” comes to mind. The teachers talked about for more than 30 years the federal government has restricted immigration enforcement activities from school. The government did this in the past because of what are eyes are telling us now. IF A SOCIETY CAN’T ALLOW SCHOOLS TO BE SAFE PLACES FOR LEARNING THEN A SOCIETY CEASES TO EXIST. If you are looking for reasons to say that America is in a free fall, kids being afraid to go to school because they are afraid of THE GOVERNMENT is a great reason to start with.
The bravery of these teachers and administrators deserves the Nobel Peace Prize that Trump gangstered from María Machado. These teachers and knew they were putting themselves on the line at the press conference, but they also seemed like they would have made the choice 100/100 times. After the press conference I talked to Education Minnesota’s president Monica Byron and Columbia Heights High School Social Studies teacher Kristen Sinicariello. When I asked Ms. Sinicariello why she would willingly put herself in a lawsuit, she put it succinctly— the way a good teacher knows how:
“I’m a history teacher so my whole career is spent teaching children about the oppressive governments and how things have changed throughout time. We talk about people who stood up. We talk about the people who spoke truth to power.”
I asked Ms. Sinicariello if she was scared. She quickly responded, “Oh, I’m scared everyday.” But the way she said it also let me know that, like many of her fellow residents of Minnesota, she wasn’t going to let fear stop her from doing the right thing.
WHO’S WITH THE TEACHERS OF MINNESOTA?
DonorsChoose Can Help You Support Minnesota Students & Teachers
Of course my folks at DonorsChoose are figuring out ways to help teachers in Minnesota! TAKE IT AWAY, DONORSCHOOSE!
“The Twin Cities community is in a period of deep disruption. Teachers are stepping up to provide stability and strength. They need our support.”
How it works:
Make your donation to the Minnesota Students & Teachers Fund, and we’ll direct your gift to meet the most pressing teacher needs in the Twin Cities. These resources will be distributed quickly to support classrooms where support is needed most.
Mutual Aid with Stand With Minnesota!
While I was in the Twin Cities, I talked to many people about the power of mutual aid. Mutual aid is when you just give people money or goods or services without bringing American capitalism into it. Think of it as when you go out to dinner with a friend and you know that you can’t afford the meal, and your friend says, “I got you!” Right now, mutual aid is helping Minnesotans who can’t go to work for various reasons. It could be because their workplace is closed during the federal occupation OR because they were laid off due to business being down during the federal occupation OR because they are, understandably, afraid to leave their house during the federal occupation!
I met with organizer Ashley Fairbanks who built the website Stand with Minnesota. That interview will be out eventually, but don’t wait for that. You can help, today!
My WHO’S WITH ME TOUR
April 17 North Bethesda, MD at The Music Center at Strathmore
May 22-24 San Diego at The Mic Drop Comedy Club.
My friends & colleagues were producers on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show
Yes, they met Bad Bunny.
Geraldine Porras and Grace Porras are sisters. They are proud Latinas. They are from The Bay Area. They are television producers who have worked on a bunch of my projects (including United Shades of America, We Need to Talk About Cosby, and 100% Me: Growing Up Mixed). They were both talent producers on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. I talked to them on Monday about how it went down and what it meant for them to work on it. If you need some joy, watch this.
I basically wore nothing but Mahogany Mommies while I was in Minneapolis.
I’m even wearing one of my newest ones in the video with Georgia. It reads, “I will use my breath to speak up for those who can’t breathe.” Joi, the owner of Mahogany Mommies, has an all-new line of shirts that she is calling Conversation Starters. Get yours below, and don’t forget to use my code WKB to get 20% off! The perfect purchase for Black History Month.
