Do you remember what it felt like to be a kid and be scared? My guess is that almost anyone can put themselves back in the position of anxiety when you know you are in trouble and you are not sure what is going to happen next. Not only can we go there in our mind’s eye, we can look at the recent video of a South Carolina student being confronted by a police officer and see what it looks like. Clearly, this young girl is not moving because she is scared. She doesn’t know what will happen next if she gets up and goes with this officer. We have all been there — frozen with fear. What happens next can make all the difference.
To be sure, police officers have a difficult job. And, most certainly, teachers have a difficult job. I fully support the work that both police officers and teachers do every single day. But, what we saw on that video was unacceptable and it makes me wonder about how we think about children in our society and why we are so violent.
I have watched that video several times. Having been a teacher I keep trying to imagine what situation might warrant having one of my students forcibly removed from my classroom. Certainly, if I had a student who was being disruptive and causing harm to others, that would be a reason to have a student removed. However, this girl was just sitting. She did not seem to be causing a problem.
Ok, so benefit of the doubt — let’s say what we don’t see is that 10 minutes prior she was causing a major disruption in the classroom and the teacher called the officer to remove her.
Still, when he gets there and asks her to leave she remains in her seat. She is not being belligerent, raising her arms, or getting in the officer’s face. She is just sitting there. That tells me that she knows she is in trouble and she does not want to get up because she is scared. I wonder what would have happened if the officer made a less violent choice.
What would have happened if he leaned down and said to her quietly, “Look, your teacher called me down because you have been disruptive. Let’s go outside and talk about what is going on.”?
OK, devil’s advocate — the officer makes the quiet request and she disrespectfully tells him what to do with himself. Mind you, I am just making up scenarios — we have no idea what was said. But, just say she is raising the stakes with this officer. What if instead of flipping her desk he tells her he is going to hang out in the room or in the hall until class is over so they can discuss her behavior and deal with whatever consequences are warranted?
As teachers and police officers and parents and citizens we have to remember that these are children. They are still developing cognitively and emotionally. They are still figuring out how to navigate the world. And, based on recent history, you can imagine why a young black female might be scared of a police officer. As the camera pans the room the body language of the other students tell a similar story. These kids are terrified. What can we do to help children as they develop? And, what can we do to support our most important public servants – police officer and teachers in learning how to deal with situations with care instead of violence?
A wise person told me once that almost everything can wait to be dealt with. Of course, there are emergencies that need immediate attention. Those are some of the times we absolutely need the police to jump into action. But, a girl at a desk refusing to get up — that seems like it could have waited.
