The tears have finally broken through.
I’ve been fighting them all evening. But until a couple of minutes ago, they were staying in my eyes where they belong.
Then I thought about the scene right after school today. At the end of the last class, there was an announcement that Hillary Clinton had won the mock election held at our school today. One of my Muslim students expressed his joy, and as he left class to head to the bus, he said “That means there won’t be a great wall!”
It took a second for that to sink in. Then, horrified, I realized that my student, who has limited English, had misunderstood the announcement. He didn’t understand the term “mock” election; he thought the announcement was about the actual election.
I chased him into the hall and had a quick conversation to explain to him what was actually going on, and that we wouldn’t know the result of the real election until tonight. His disappointment tugged at my heart.
In that same class is the girl in hijab who, when I asked a few months ago, told me that yes, people in her community have been experiencing a lot more hate this year.
And the Latina who, whenever I ask students to do quick writes about their thoughts or feelings about something, finds some way to make it about how much she hates Donald Trump, what an awful person he is.
And then there’s the girl in my first-period class, also in hijab, who has been nervously asking me every couple of days, “Has the president been elected yet?”
Hence the tears.
(Oh dear God they halted trading in NASDAQ & SP 500 futures markets and Dow is down more than 800.)
I don't know what the hell I’m going to say to them tomorrow. I’m pretty sure they all know I’m on their side; I guess that gives me some comfort.
And what I’ve just realized in writing the last paragraph is that maybe this is how I survive the next four years. The big picture is just too damn depressing; maybe I just focus on the kids I work with every day, on helping them get through this. At least for a while, until I can heal.
UPDATE: What I ended up doing was starting a discussion in each class by pointing out that our country had a surprise last night, and asking students if they had any questions or concerns or thoughts that they’d like to discuss. In each case, the answer was yes. In a couple of classes, some students weren’t interested, so I told them they could work quietly on something else.
The big questions that came up repeatedly were some form of the following:
- Is Trump going to build the wall? (This was by far the most common question, which kind of surprised me, since I have a lot more students who would be affected by a Muslim ban than by a wall with Mexico.)
- Is Trump going to deport everyone who’s here illegally?
- Why is Trump so racist/Why did people vote for Trump when he’s so racist?
My overall approach to most of the topics we discussed was that we live in a democracy that exists within a structure of checks & balances and is governed by a Constitution. The democracy gives everyone a chance to have a voice, and our democracy just elected Donald Trump to be our next President. However, the checks & balances of Congress & courts, as well as the rules of the Constitution, put limits on the amount of power than any one person can exercise. Also, Trump has changed his mind sometimes about what he was going to do.
Trump has said a lot of things he will do, but some he won’t be able to get the resources and cooperation he needs, and some may turn out to be against the rules of the constitution, and some he may decide not to do the way he originally described.
But bottom line, yes, he will probably do some of the things he said he’d do. We will know more about his plans over the next couple of months, and then we’ll keep learning more as time goes on.
And I told them there are a lot of people who will be working to make sure everybody’s rights are respected and protected.
My favorite question of the day: “Couldn’t we just keep electing Obama for as long as he lives?”