Shs Aware

Frequently Asked Questions about BLM
October 1, 2020

Dear Springfield School Board and Community -

The Aware student group has heard lots of questions about our petition to raise the Black Lives Matter Flag. We wanted to answer some of those questions. Please look at our questions for you below each section.

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What is BLM?

BLM is a global movement founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murder, George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense when he shot and killed an innocent, 17 year-old, Black boy wearing a hoodie and carrying a bag of Skittles. This is just one of the many innocent Black lives that have been taken, with no justice served to Trayvon’s family.

BLM advocates for people to stand up against incidents of police brutality and any racially motivated violence against Black/Brown people. Really, the BLM movement is an attempt to hold responsible perpetrators of violence while also holding our communities and ourselves responsible for the ways in which anti-blackness is perpetuated in our communities.

Black Lives Matter is an effort to recognize:
practices like felony disenfranchisement, gerrymandering and redlining that are meant to silence Black voices;
that Black people led the fight for many of the freedoms we enjoy today,
and that incidents like ones that took the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Trayvon Martin should never be repeated.

Violence against the Black community must end. Violence against all other communities must end, too. We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for the color of their skin.

You can also check out: https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/ -BLM official Website
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In response to comments about Violence and Division:

Violence
The BLM movement began in response to violence against Black people. Their aim is to put an end to violence, not to perpetuate it. Below are examples of Violence against the Black community here, in our own backyard:

2017: Claremont, New Hampshire. An 8 year old biracial boy was lynched. He survived, but there were no charges, and it was not deemed a hate crime.“The older boys had put the ropes around their necks,” she said, adding that they then told her son it was his turn. She said her son “got up on the table and put the rope around his neck, and another kid came up from behind him and pushed him off of the picnic table. And they walked away and left him there hanging.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/us/biracial-boy-lynched-new-hampshire.html
Examples from here in Springfield, VT:
2019-2020: Wifi hotspot created in SHS titled “Hang all N*****s”,
2019-2020: Black students at SHS were escorted off of school property after an incident because the school didn’t think they were “safe”.
Students of color being told their afro picks aren’t a good public representation of the Greenhorn by other students on the Greenhorn.
Exchange students being publicly criticized/joked about for their ability to speak English.
Regular incidents of being called the N-word at school by other students; also have heard some adults use this word
When studying history in middle school, our classmates called us “slaves”.
People constantly ask us if our hair is real, or fake, or a weave
Students wearing durags because they think its trendy, when Black students wearing durags were told by teachers that they were “gang affiliated”
We have been told to hold our tongues when students say racist things in class, or tell racist jokes
Confederate flags flown on student cars, on student sweatshirts and other clothing items
Many other events of racism, ask if you want to know!

To discuss violence we have to understand the situation that Black people and people of color are in right now in the US. Violence originates from the antagonisms that already exist in society. Those in power direct violence towards Black people in a myriad of ways all the time. Those in power direct violence towards poor people as well. Hunger is violence. Homelessness is violence. Police brutality is violence. The beginning of the cycle of violence does not start with Black people or the BLM movement. In fact, Black poor people are experiencing violence daily - they are hungry, jobless, discriminated against, deal with racism all the time - this is all violence. We are not discrediting the experience of other poor people, we are simply saying that being Black adds an extra weight of skin discrimination. This also makes Black lives the target of police violence.

It is important for people to remember that the large majority of BLM protests are peaceful. According to Time Magazine, a non profit organization called “The Armed Conflict Location Project” analyzed over 7 thousand different BLM protests and out of those only 200 were deemed violent:

“The vast majority of Black Lives Matter protests—more than 93%—have been peaceful, according to a new report published Thursday by a nonprofit that researches political violence and protests across the world.The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) analyzed more than 7,750 Black Lives Matter demonstrations in all 50 states and Washington D.C. that took place in the wake of George Floyd’s death between May 26 and August 22.Their report states that more than 2,400 locations reported peaceful protests, while fewer than 220 reported “violent demonstrations.” The authors define violent demonstrations as including “acts targeting other individuals, property, businesses, other rioting groups or armed actors.” -Sanya Mansoor, https://time.com/5886348/report-peaceful-protests/

We have to remember what MLK said “The riot is the language of the unheard.” In addition, when pointing out the violence that doesn’t often occur at protests, it is important to look equally at the violence committed by the police and to identify where the violence is rooted. On many occasions, police officers use tear gas and shoot rubber bullets at close range, brutally assault peaceful protestors for no reason. Colin Kaepernick also peacefully protested by taking a knee during the national anthem, he was then kicked out of the NFL. Any form of protest against police brutality is attacked, and Black people have to fight for their right to exist daily.

Our question for you: what do you think people should do when they’ve been unheard?

Division

Students of color in Springfield have long been aware of the divisions that exist in our society, and which are unfortunately mirrored in our schools. While sometimes these divisions can be obvious, more often they are hidden, hushed, or unspoken. We’ve not been taught to discuss them, but instead to ignore them and so they persist and grow and morph at the expense of our community. Our aim, in raising the Black Lives Matter flag, is not to reinforce divisions or create new ones. Instead, we hope that by starting a conversation among our community, we can bring some of these divisions to light, and by doing so, can begin to repair them. What we aim to do is ensure students of color in Springfield know that their lives matter, and that their community knows, too. This is just a short step in a long process of learning and understanding together, and so we think that being united to say “Black Lives Matter” is an important first step.

Our question for people is: how does our request for support from our community create division?

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All Lives Do Matter… but all lives can’t matter, until Black Lives Matter, too.

Statements such as All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter have been made in response to Black Lives Matter. These statements were made in reaction to Black Lives Matter and didn’t exist before BLM started. Seeing as there were no All Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter slogans until BLM makes us wonder why there was a need for people to respond in this way? We wouldn’t be yelling Black Lives Matter if someone other than a Black person was murdered by police, this does not seem appropriate to us. It is actually really divisive not to listen to people suffering and calling out for justice.

We do believe that everyone’s lives matter, but we are unclear whether or not other people (especially those in power) believe that Black lives matter. This is a question that we ask because we see Black people treated so badly in this country.

Blue Lives Matter was started in response to Black Lives Matter after the homicides of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn, New York on December 20, 2014. When cops are murdered (and we are against the murder of anyone), their convicted killers are charged and sent to prison. When murdered, police receive justice through the legal system. However, Black people killed by police, do not. Here are some statistics from NBC news:

“Since 2005, 98 nonfederal law enforcement officers have been arrested in connection with fatal, on-duty shootings, according to the Police Integrity Research Group’s data. To date, only 35 of these officers have been convicted of a crime, often a lesser offense such as manslaughter or negligent homicide, rather than murder. Only three officers have been convicted of murder during this period and seen their convictions stand. Another 22 officers were acquitted in a jury trial and nine were acquitted during a bench trial decided by a judge. Ten other cases were dismissed by a judge or a prosecutor, and in one instance no true bill was returned from a grand jury.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/police-officers-convicted-fatal-shootings-are-exception-not-rule-n982741)

Police officers can take off their uniforms at the end of the day but Black people cannot take off their skin at the end of the day. Police officers have chosen that profession knowing the risk, but we as Black people did not choose to be born Black. We are proud to be Black, but we do want society to treat us better. Black people are protesting because we want our people to stop being murdered and justice for those that have been murdered.

Our question for people is: since all lives matter, why is it hard for people to say Black Lives Matter?
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Politics in School

Students are supported by the US Constitution to express their First Amendment rights. Students have a right to express their political beliefs on school property as long as they are not interfering with other student’s ability to learn. This right is protected under the US Constitution and the First Amendment, as well as by the Tinker vs. Des Moines Supreme Court case that was decided in 1969. In the Tinker case the Court overturned a school regulation banning the wearing of black armbands in protest of the Vietnam war, the Supreme Court stated that school’s regulation of any form of speech or expressive conduct violated the First Amendment. This is of course, unless the school believes that the speech will “substantially and materially interfere” with students' school work or the running of the school.

One role of schools is to engage students in democracy, to develop active and engaged citizens, and to teach us the ins and outs of how our political system works. This is how we can measure the health of our democracy.

To ignore this fact is to ignore what happens in the world around us. We, students, do not wish to simply to fly a flag. We wish to engage in the world around us, develop our knowledge and understanding of how to make the world a better place for all, and to uphold our constitutional right to expression and free speech.

Our education has not been objective or unbiased. We have been taught that enslaved people did not resist enslavement, we have been taught that white men have led our world and nation with great and moral ideals while they actually owned and enslaved our ancestors legally. On our own we have read history and know that we have been left out, both in our historical contributions to society, but also as active participants in decision making processes which affect our community.

We want our teachers to teach about equity and justice, we know our classmates need this same education to truly be engaged in the work of making our world a better place for everyone. We also wish to remind the school community that our schools are not free from Confederate flags, a constant reminder that supremacy still exists even in a place like Vermont.

Our question for people is: why is saying Black lives matter seen as political?
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What is racism?

Racism is a system of oppression that takes prejudice plus power to discriminate based on skin color and national origin. It is dependent on power dynamics that have been perpetuated by years and years of structural oppression. In other words, racism goes beyond individual acts of racial bigotry. It necessarily includes an oppressor with power on their side. Racism has meant that one group of people hold power over another. We want everyone to be equal.

The oppression of Black people has a long history in this country, and we believe that it is important to educate ourselves and others about the history of racism, race, and justice movements both here in our country and around the world. Unfortunately, racism is woven throughout our society and is unavoidable. Therefore, even though it causes discomfort, we choose to acknowledge racism and seek to identify it so that we can learn about it, understand how it works, and educate others about it. Without taking these steps, we have no hope of dismantling it. No problem can be solved if it is ignored!

We do not want our fellow students to learn that turning a blind eye towards racism and the struggles humans face because of things they cannot control is okay. We do not want them to think that ignorance solves problems in our community. Instead, we want to educate ourselves and others to be able to identify racism and empower them to take steps towards breaking and dismantling it. Let’s be a part of the change we want to see in the world. Let’s educate and love all human beings!

Our question for people is: how can we stop racism from dividing us?

"We are expecting the system that puts black people in harm's way to then turn around and be an effective vehicle for justice when black people are harmed." Since 2005, research shows that only 35 officers have been convicted of a crime related to an on-duty fatal shooting.