Stories untold

We’ve heard a lot from the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A slight revision: we’ve heard a lot from the white students. I appreciate what these students have been doing to stir the national consciousness with their Never Again campaign. But they’re not the whole story. Out of more than 3,000 students 11% are of color. And they say it is time to hear their stories.

So they’ve started posting Stories Untold and saying why their voices matter.

Many of these students are from neighborhoods that have a lot of violence. They want the movement to be about more than guns in schools. They want to include minority communities.

The number of police on campus has increased. The students of color feel less safe. They recognize the intersection between gun violence, police violence, and immigration enforcement. Mass violence is not the only gun problem.

Voices should not be silenced.



Another way our media is failing us. Melissa McEwan of Shakesville posted a headline from the Washington Post: “Should you worry about trade? Some Americans will feel pain from China more than others.” McEwan and her army of commenters tell us all the ways this headline is wrong.

* We’re all going to feel pain.

* But even if it were only “some” Americans, it is disgusting to imply that if you don’t feel the pain, no need to worry about anyone else.

* We’ve been told that the economic insecurity of rural white America (a garbage narrative) was a big reason why they voted for the nasty guy. This article says I don’t need to care that the trade war might make things worse in rural white America.

* This headline implies the trade spat began in China and not with the nasty guy. The spat doesn’t have to happen.



Oklahoma teachers are on strike. The legislature offered a pay raise. The teachers said not good enough. We need new textbooks and our schools need lots of repairs. They’ve started tweeting pictures of the state of their textbooks. One shows a history book without a cover. The book says the current president is George W. Bush.