(Edited 1/14/2022)
It has been two years since I chose to kneel in support of Black Lives Matter on the football field of the National Championship Football Game in New Orleans. I was being honored with the rest of the 2019 State Teacher of the Year Cohort with President Trump and the First Lady only yards away. My protest partner, Jess Davis (2020 Minnesota State Teacher of the Year), kneeled in solidarity at her home in Minneapolis.
The organization that was supposed to have our backs distanced themselves from the protest, "The Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO] appreciates the opportunity for outstanding teachers to be recognized on the national stage," the statement read. "The decision by an individual State Teacher of the Year was not coordinated by the National Teacher of the Year program or CCSSO” (ABC News).
This is not the first time that our mentor program demonstrated their distaste for overt advocacy.
In May of 2019, our National Cohort of State Teachers of the Year was crammed into a Washington, DC, hotel conference room to kick off the first day of “Washington Week.” A former National Teacher of the Year gave us the following directive as part of a “lesson” on complacency: “Every fight is not your fight. Pace yourself. You don't change the world in a few days. It's better to be a pilot light than a firecracker.” (The italicized portion was taken from this 2013 interview with John Lewis.)
This lesson on complacency was their fourth effort to shut us down and was meant to dampen the fire of the few of us who had been planning a Teach-In at our Nation’s Capital. This was supposed to be a nonpartisan event with teachers, journalists, and legislators from both sides of the aisle. After being taught at a National Teacher of the Year Program induction on how to lift our voices and share our stories, a group of us created an opportunity for State Teachers of the Year to share stories about their students and their schools. Over half of our cohort signed up.
A week before the event, our mentoring agency unexpectedly shifted from support to sabotage. They held the belief that only a few voices should be heard during “Washington Week” and that they were the ONLY ones who had the right to choose whose voices and which messages could/should be heard and how those messages should be delivered.
Their multiple attempts at sabotage succeeded in dwindling our numbers, but there were still a few of us who had the support of state leaders and were committed to speaking up for our students.
I have always been inspired by the courageous advocacy of the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, Mandy Manning. From wearing advocacy pins and sharing letters written by her refugee and immigrant students with President Trump, to co-founding Teachers Against Child Detention, to helping to organize the Teach-In for Freedom, and everything in-between, I have seen firsthand the powerful impact that her efforts have had on countless people. Like Manning, we, too, knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advocate for our students on a national stage. Many of us felt that it was not appropriate (or necessary) to have other people share our stories (i.e., a cisgender, heterosexual educator sharing MY experience of being a gender nonconforming lesbian is ineffective [at best]).
The inspiration for the pilot lesson was from an interview that Krista Tippett did with Congressperson John Lewis as part of the On Being Project. He told her (while laughing) that “You don’t change the world, the society, in a few days. And it’s better. It is better to be a pilot light than to be a firecracker.” Lewis also talked about how as advocates, we have to be patient and that it can be a “long haul.”
But this is where the either/or fallacy that our facilitator set up was ineffective. She failed to acknowledge that as one of the “big six” of the Civil Rights Movement, that Lewis has been both a firecracker AND a pilot light. Among other things, “He led the first Selma march on what became known as Bloody Sunday” (On Being Project, 2013). It is dangerous to use someone’s else’s quote as a way to support your own or someone else’s agenda- in an effort to control others. Especially when it is taken out of context.
And when you listen to the entire interview, Lewis later reflected on the fact that he wished he could do more, “But you must do all that you can do while you occupy this space during your time. And sometimes I feel that I’m not doing enough to try to inspire another generation of people to find a way to get in the way. To make trouble, good trouble[;] I just make a little noise” (On Being Project, 2013).
While this misleading lesson had the intended effect of causing fear in some folks in the audience, it did not work on all of us. It did not dampen our fire, instead, it lit our fuse.
The next day, while touring the National Museum of the American Indian, I received a call from Illhan Omar’s Chief of Staff. Congressperson Omar’s office had been sponsoring our Teach-In, but they received a call from another Congressperson (who was affiliated with our mentor organization) and were persuaded to cancel the Teach-In.
This was devastating news and several other people “dropped out.” I don’t blame them. We had no idea what our options were at this point and not everyone had the support of their home states in the ways that I did. It seemed like it was over.
Two of us remained and we were not ready to give up quite yet: Jessica Dueñas, 2019 Kentucky State Teacher of the Year, and I had slipped out the back door of the Smithsonian while the rest of our 2019 Cohort got on some buses to go visit with the current administration: Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Betsy DeVos. While sitting in the National Mall, Jessica and I explained our situation to some staff members at American Federation of Teachers. As a member of their union, they offered me support and options. We had already decided to boycott the White House visit, but they helped us schedule a Press Conference and Press Call for the next day as a way to replace the previously scheduled teach-in.
After talking to my students and members of multiple communities, I chose not to meet President Trump and his administration. I could not, in good conscience, implicitly support people who hate my students and who do not support my Rainbow community (LGBTQIAP2S+). Our mentor organization tried to talk me out of my decision, but their logical fallacies and put- downs were ineffective at getting me to change my mind. I knew in my heart what needed to be done and I wanted to model boundary setting for my students.
It was never my intention to advertise my White House protest, which is why the Teach-In (and then the Press Conference) were scheduled on a completely different day. I did not want to take away from the celebration of the 2019 National Teacher of the Year or from all of the State Teachers of the Year who were excited to take part in this opportunity. But when journalists heard about the press conference and realized that Jessica and I were not planning on attending the White House visit, then the story broke - in a big way.
Our choice to reject a visit to the White House and stand up for historically marginalized and oppressed youth caused some folks to communicate their rage (and exhibit their prejudice) through direct messages, emails, voice mails, death threats, letters and social media comments.
But our actions also inspired a lot of people to communicate their pride and support in exactly the same forums (minus the death threats).
Jessica and I were able to talk about our decision to boycott the visit during our Press Conference and during countless interviews. We were also able to explain our perspective on an episode of Democracy Now. Were we firecrackers? Probably. But, more importantly, we were able to light our OWN fuses with our OWN pilot lights because we have dedicated our lives to doing this work.
I had similar responses to my choice to kneel: lots of support, and lots of hate. But I never expected the organization that had encouraged us to share our stories in the first place to turn their backs on me for doing just that.
There are a myriad of ineffective and harmful strategies that some people employ to silence advocates. People who don’t take the time to understand the complicated nuances of advocacy work, and instead choose to spread misinformation, misperceptions, unfounded accusations, and ungrounded assumptions are causing harm. And folks who attempt to manipulate others by creating false narratives and inventing logical fallacies are being controlling and abusive. Taking the time to find out the truth, and investing energy into discovering the intentions behind the actions of advocates is an effective way to avoid these pitfalls. And it is the only way to move away from characteristics that are firmly rooted in white supremacy.
I want people to be wary of those who use rhetoric and logical fallacies to try to control a message (and the way it is delivered). Since “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) then other people’s fights ARE our fights. We don’t need permission to advocate for others (and ourselves). Keeping Equity 2.0 at the forefront benefits everyone. And we can all do our part to help change the world with even one moment.
Whether an act of advocacy is subtle or overt, it all matters.
I disagree that it is better to be a pilot light than a firecracker. Not even John Lewis truly believed that. This false binary does harm because we need both and everything in-between in order to fight supremacy and oppression. And claiming that advocates are only one thing while not recognizing their complexity is attempting to control them with [misinterpreted] and shame-based rhetoric. It is ineffective and short-sighted.
And deciding what is “appropriate” advocacy and what is not is the kind of white supremacy gatekeeping that does direct harm.
We need pilot lights AND firecrackers to achieve Equity 2.0. And I am proud to be associated with everyone else who has done, is doing, and will continue to do this work.
