inkstained

Last week, I had the opportunity to actually do something that felt good, meaningful, and empowering - I (and two other US-based university professors) had the opportunity to share our experiences under the current US administration and to share stories of challenge and resistance with nearly 100 European student teachers and teacher educators. 

This was a last minute panel discussion that was added to the weeklong in-person portion of a Blended Intensive Program (groups of students from different European countries collaborate virtually for weeks and then come together in person to finalize a product). This panel discussion was the inspiration of the Spain-based co-organizer of the Blended Intensive Program (BIP) who follows US politics closely and was immensely grateful that three of us traveled from the US to take part as content experts that week. He thought it would be powerful for the teacher candidates (all undergraduates) and other teacher educators to hear firsthand what it has been like under this administration and what this means for teacher education, research, etc. We three US-based participants agreed and then generated the questions we would like to be used in the panel to make sure our discussions were focused and kept us from wandering down emotional paths. We joked that we needed this to make sure we didn't cry (none of us cried) but I was especially worried I might go off on a rant or wander into doomerism, which is no good for anyone.

We began the panel by highlighting that we each came from a different institution from a different entity in the country and that this really mediated our experiences. This included a red state, a blue state (Maryland), and a non-state entity with no congressional representation. Our universities included a flagship state university, a regional state university (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), and a private university.  We were also involved in different aspects of teacher education including foreign language education (Spanish), linguistics education for both education and non-education students, and pre- and provisionally licensed teachers for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) which predominantly serves immigrants and refugees (this is me).

Some examples of what was shared: my red state colleagues explained how her university had to change the name of it office for diversity and inclusion to the office for belonging. Both of my colleagues had had recently awarded grants (one on open access materials development and another on K-12 teacher education) completely shut down while in progress or cancelled before the projects could begin. I shared that my blue state was resisting like hell and that included going through the courts on the issue of whether universities had to get rid of diversity and inclusion in the mission and materials. I have not had to remove diversity and inclusion from my courses yet and we are still doing as much diversity and inclusion work as possible. 

My examples of how this has affected my teaching and my students was more grim. My students' pupils are the ones who are being targeted by ICE and I shared examples my students and former students have brought to me: disappearing students from classes as families leave communities or pull children from school and the resulting sadness, fear and trauma of those left behind not knowing. An alumni from Nebraska who works in adult ESL education shared with me that they incorporated new teaching activities to help their students generate a plan for for their children if they (the parents) are abducted by ICE - in other words, who will pick the children up from school, who will feed them, and take them in. I also shared what I am trying to do - it is not much - but it is more than nothing. This includes attending training (offered by my university) on how to support undocumented students and sharing those resources in my classes, also attending a bystander intervention training workshop on ways to intervene to support immigrant communities and individuals. I also shared increase focus on trauma-informed teaching in some of my classes too.

We were asked several questions by students and colleagues including why we though this was happening and how long we though this would last. This is where I didn't want to spread my deepest fears - I worry a lot but I also know that my worry can be too extreme and unhelpful. I also thought a lot about what I have read by African-American and Queer activists in online spaces who are often frustrated by the panic of white people or the newly aware. So I channeled their thoughts: authoritarianism has happened before and it will happen again. I don't know how long it will last but as long as it does there will be resistance. That the US has a history of horrific mistreatment of people but also an equal history of resistance. I specifically mentioned slavery and the resistance of the enslaved,

Afterward and for the remainder of the week, different people came up to us to express appreciation for our stories and talking to them about this. Some had been to the US before and felt connected to it, others had family there (like on woman from Finland whose family was originally from the Philippines, half of whom had moved to the US), still others only knew what they saw or read online and in the news which often presents a superficial or sensational overview of the state of the US. They are not hearing the stories of resistance or how people are surviving this or what this might mean or the future of education in the US. 

I'm making much of this because it was a really validating experience and because I know I am not doing enough. This was something though - it felt like an act of resistance to speak out and to share our stories and to share some hope too. I don't know what the coming year will bring regarding the ability to travel to Europe or my ability to afford travel, so I am glad I had the opportunity to travel and to share my experiences this year.