Talking about Baltimore in an American classroom

Interesting Points

by John

1.

It was VERY hard for almost any of the students to entertain the idea that political and social stances are not simply personal ethics or moral attitudes writ large. In other words, they didn’t want to consider that someone throwing a trash can could be a good political act in Baltimore last week, while being stupid and immature in a classroom in southern Jersey when they were in high school. They even found it impossible to consider politically supporting someone they would personally consider an asshole.

2.

However, the class seemed to like the notion that you don’t need to have a comprehensive stance on the uprising. We don’t live in west Baltimore and don’t know the people and situations involved, so it’s okay to listen to what people are saying and use this as a time to educate yourself and catch up. Most even thought it was a good chance to try to understand the entire set of circumstances and not just the specific issues of whether or not burning cars or throwing trash cans is a way to address Freddy Gray.

3.

Not exactly a shock, but basically all students know absolutely nothing about institutionalized racism, or really anything about race after the Emancipation Proclamation. Some were stunned that there had been race-driven riots about police brutality well before Rodney King. The class is relatively diverse, might just be a general gap of basic knowledge about the people and policies that make up American history.