Day of Silence 2009
This is an overdue blog post about what it was like to Break the Silence.
"Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by name-calling, bullying and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?"
While I was not silent for the whole day, after work last Friday, I walked over to Library Mall from Witte with my 'Straight but Not Narrow' pin and my '4 out of 5 LGTBQ students reported being verbally harassed in school last year' poster in hand. I silently stood in sea of rainbow, while a few men and women,while greatly outnumbered, shouted words of 'homosexuality is a sin' and 'you shall perish in hell' into the crowd.
After 30 minutes or so, the silent march began down the middle of state street to the capitol. It was a strange sensation to have onlookers gawk and stare at my sign, trying to read it as they pulled out their cameras and snapped photos of the colorful protest.
When we got to the massive white steps, a man moved to the front and took out a mega-phone, and began a memorable speech. He reminded us why we were silent today, and for whom we were breaking the silence for. We were breaking the silence for bullying in school. For bullying, name-calling, and tormenting that breaks down students every day. For students like 11 year old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover.
The hairs on my arms stood on end while he spoke, and when he finished- we broke the silence. We screamed- and it felt great.
Various speakers went up and recited spoken-word monologues, poems, and thoughts. One girl spoke about a college scholarship she found online this year. The scholarship was an essay contest and the topic was: Write a persuasive essay on why heterosexual marriage is better than homosexual marriage. While the letter she submitted didn't fit the topic's parameters, she read it for us anyways. I hope the essay readers read her essay.
"Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by name-calling, bullying and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?"
While I was not silent for the whole day, after work last Friday, I walked over to Library Mall from Witte with my 'Straight but Not Narrow' pin and my '4 out of 5 LGTBQ students reported being verbally harassed in school last year' poster in hand. I silently stood in sea of rainbow, while a few men and women,while greatly outnumbered, shouted words of 'homosexuality is a sin' and 'you shall perish in hell' into the crowd.
After 30 minutes or so, the silent march began down the middle of state street to the capitol. It was a strange sensation to have onlookers gawk and stare at my sign, trying to read it as they pulled out their cameras and snapped photos of the colorful protest.
When we got to the massive white steps, a man moved to the front and took out a mega-phone, and began a memorable speech. He reminded us why we were silent today, and for whom we were breaking the silence for. We were breaking the silence for bullying in school. For bullying, name-calling, and tormenting that breaks down students every day. For students like 11 year old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover.
The hairs on my arms stood on end while he spoke, and when he finished- we broke the silence. We screamed- and it felt great.
Various speakers went up and recited spoken-word monologues, poems, and thoughts. One girl spoke about a college scholarship she found online this year. The scholarship was an essay contest and the topic was: Write a persuasive essay on why heterosexual marriage is better than homosexual marriage. While the letter she submitted didn't fit the topic's parameters, she read it for us anyways. I hope the essay readers read her essay.
* * *
In my education policy class we just studied LGTBQ issues in schools. We watched a training video on how to even start talking about these issues, and how to start making change.
I get extremely excited to think I'll be a teacher next school year. I'll be able to have these conversations and will be able to start making some waves.
This also scares the shit out of me.
What is going to happen in my rural Texas town when I want to have my class participate in Ally Week in October? Will I be able to?
What will happen when I want to make activities about TransACTION in February, or when I allow my students to be Silent for an entire day next April? Will any of them want to?
Being a teacher has so much responsibility! The more I think about it, the more the weight of it presses down on my shoulders.
You are teaching children.
Teach them to read, to write, to reason AND to respect.
I get extremely excited to think I'll be a teacher next school year. I'll be able to have these conversations and will be able to start making some waves.
This also scares the shit out of me.
What is going to happen in my rural Texas town when I want to have my class participate in Ally Week in October? Will I be able to?
What will happen when I want to make activities about TransACTION in February, or when I allow my students to be Silent for an entire day next April? Will any of them want to?
Being a teacher has so much responsibility! The more I think about it, the more the weight of it presses down on my shoulders.
You are teaching children.
Teach them to read, to write, to reason AND to respect.
posted by Katy @ 3:37 PM
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