Teaching as a Black man in a Southern state will inevitably reveal the racism of some students. Most of these students grow to respect me, but they rarely latch onto me, especially once they pass my class. I always hope to expand their worldview by exposing them to as much diverse material as possible, but this is becoming increasingly more difficult in the current political climate.
There is one racist student who really connected with me, though. Even after passing my class, he returns just to say hello and update me on his life. For this article, we will call him Lance.
Lance comes from a single-parent household. His mother struggles to pay bills, and he sometimes complains about not having the most recent video game systems.
Although in special education classes during his ninth-grade year, he was resourceful and motivated. He became an itinerant student at the end of the year, still in the program but only for extra support as needed.
He didn’t have many friends in his classes, and usually stayed to himself. When he was with friends, his smile was always wide, and he radiated joy.
I didn’t know any of this when I received Lance’s paperwork. On top of being part of the special education program, he had a behavior plan.
Now, I try not to prejudge students who are on a behavior plan, but they can prepare teachers for possibly difficult students. Lance’s plan said that when he was experiencing anger or frustration, he was allowed to step outside the room or go to a designated area to calm down.
Additionally, his special education teacher told me his paperwork warned that he did not get along with people of different races. This was especially interesting because he is white, and they chose to put him in a Black teacher’s class.
I didn’t see any of these traits in Lance. The only time I saw him get frustrated was when he would sneak and play games on his computer. He would slam his fist against the desk.
“Playing games again?” I would ask.
He would apologize, and we would move on. He usually kept a B in the class and always asked questions when he needed help. It didn’t bother me much.
He started visiting me every day during my planning period to ask questions or update me on his other classes or the latest show he was watching. He even introduced me to his girlfriend.
She was Black.
Okay, I was very confused now. What was this paperwork talking about? Lance did not seem to have a problem with anyone, especially Black people.
Turns out there was some truth to that paperwork. One day, Lance opened up about the bullying he experienced in middle school. He especially disliked another one of my students, an immature kid who fancied himself a class clown and was desperate for the approval of his classmates.
Lance told me how the student picked on him for years, making fun of his clothes and shoes. The other student even stole Lance’s shoes once, and the teacher had to get them back.
Lance punctuated his thoughts by saying, “All Black kids are like that.” The discomfort in his face revealed it was a slip that he didn’t mean to make.
“Not you, though,” he added awkwardly, patting me on the back.
“I’m not a kid,” I clarified before trying to explain to him not to judge all people based on the actions of a few.
Logically, he understood this, but there was one argument he felt made my words obsolete. Those people, me, his girlfriend, we were the exception. Most Black people were like his bullies.
The idea of some Black people being “one of the good ones” is an idea created to protect white supremacy. It allows racism to live even when kids like Lance meet Black people and realize they are just people.
Lance and many people like him buy into the belief that Black people are bad, and when the world shows them they are wrong, instead of adjusting their beliefs, they just exclude those experiences as outliers.
Mr. Ware doesn’t count. My girlfriend doesn’t count. The Black kid I met this year and play video games with doesn’t count.
Sadly, some of my Black students buy into this lie as well.
This year, a Black student called me over and whispered, “Look around.”
I did, assuming someone was using a cellphone or some other minor disturbance. (Kids LOVE to tell on each other when it comes to the minor stuff, but never the big stuff.)
I didn’t see anything, so the student explained further. “There are no…” she pauses and points to the inside of her palm, “…in here. This is a dangerous classroom.”
To translate, my student was saying that because the class was made up of all Black and Hispanic students, the class was more dangerous. In other words, these students are naturally more dangerous than white students.
I don’t have to pull up school shooting statistics to point out this isn’t true. Unfortunately, Lance’s views are warped by society, but it is even more disappointing that Black kids also fall for it.
Why are kids so racist?
I remember thinking the world would progressively get better. I was innocent.
I believed it because of the innocence of the children. They were the hope. They wouldn’t make the same mistakes as the generations before them. They wouldn’t be driven by hate.
I was so wrong.
Although it is hard to find exact numbers, it is easier to see why young people are still racist, sexist, and homophobic. I think there have been a few big shifts in society that threw progress off course.
Trump- The acceptance of Trump as a viable political candidate changed mindsets. Suddenly, not only was it okay to be openly disrespectful and hateful, but one could be rewarded for it.
Internet-The internet takes hate and amplifies it. Extreme views are so easy to find. When I look up workout routines, I’m suddenly getting suggested videos about how women are the cause of all my problems. Imagine a young person, especially one dealing with rejection, stumbling across this video. It sometimes only takes one to send them down an extreme rabbit hole.
Echo chamber-The internet also creates a space for an echo chamber. When kids go down these extreme rabbit holes, they are surrounded by nothing but support. If someone disagrees with them, they can block them or go back to their safe space.
Backlash- The last issue is also likely related to the internet, but it is probably best described as progressive backlash. Socially, we made too much surface-level progress. The internet allowed people to make progressive talking points their personality. There is a backlash to that, and for people not truly in the fight, it is a battle over bad Disney movies or who gets the most likes on social media. Unfortunately, children get wrapped up in these battles without the knowledge or the nuance to truly understand what they are consuming. They just know they want Tony Stark back, and Captain Marvel is in too many movies. As mentioned earlier, once these children are caught up in this mindset, it is difficult to change their minds with facts.
Lance was enthralled by internet culture. He memorized entire YouTube videos and recited them. He shared memes and jokes he would save to his computer. He quoted manipulative figures like Andrew Tate. Once a kid like Lance discovers a figure like Tate on the internet, he is in the danger zone.
It is not the job of Black people to explain to white people why we should be viewed as human. We have been walking that road for a long time, and at this point, they can go read some books. (Assuming they can still read and the books haven’t been banned.)
That being said, I’m a sucker for the kids and I will spend every day trying to expose them to a wider world. If I can get them to critically think and question everything, they will eventually get to the truth.
As for Black children, so many of us are still brainwashed by the same tools utilized to maintain white supremacy. This was an especially rough year to see how many students were not only ignorant of their own history, but also how many of them viewed Blackness as a negative.
Understanding that history will bring pride and appreciation, which will also lead to more motivation and possibly even hope. I’m working on a Black Pride Program. It was originally shared as a real Black History course, but I realized the students who needed it the most had no interest in taking another class “just for fun”.
I’m hoping this will help my students. You can read more about the program here.
Lance is still a work in progress. I do think as long as he continues to be in community with Black people, his racist talking points will dwindle. His innocence may be corrupted, but he is on the road to understanding the truth.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of LG Ware's work on Medium.