Let’s Hear From the Kids

I  am the cisgender, straight, able-bodied, English-speaking, middle-class white kid who you think you are protecting

And I am pissed!!!!

What makes you think I want to pretend that human beings don’t have skin tones from light to dark and that I don’t notice that people get treated differently depending on that tone?

What makes you think that if we don’t say gay we won’t know that people love each other in a lot of different ways?  

You are adults.

How come you don’t know that race IS critical and if we don’t learn how to talk about it we are going to be just another generation of unhappy people who don’t know how to get along with each other?

And if you think that learning about Ruby Bridges, the Little Rock Nine, and Linda Brown makes us feel bad, then you don’t really know who we are or why our schools are still not safe or welcoming for everyone.

And if you think hearing stories about Caesar Chavez, Delores Huerta, farmworkers and other immigrants who take the hardest and dirtiest jobs makes us feel worried, then you’re right but you don’t get that we understand how money talks in this country,

You don’t think we noticed that the kids with disabilities are back in their own classrooms again?  What happened to inclusion?  It must be the adults who got uncomfortable because us kids were doing fine.

And don’t forget that we also see that the communities with kids who look and live like us have nicer schools and parks.  We know that’s not fair.  We know some people get more chances, more choices, and more resources.

And who told you that we want to be one of the very few countries in the world where kids hear and learn only one language in school?  What makes you think we don’t want to be bi-lingual, or tri-lingual, or ALL lingual?  And while we’re at it, we want to have teachers who look like ALL the kids, not just us.  We want Principals and school counselors, and Mayors and Governors Presidents that are ALL skin colors, ALL incomes, ALL genders and gender expressions and Religions, and Abilities and Sexualities.

We want the adults in our lives to be as brave as we are.

We want them to talk about race, critical race, and fighting racism in any and ALL of its forms.  We want you to show us how we are all part of that struggle.  We want adults in our lives who not only say gay but can be happy that love exists in any and ALL of its forms.

We need you to show up!

And just to be clear, that’s the opposite of banning books and silencing voices, and eliminating certain stories and choices.

We need you to show up now.

katiekissinger  2023