The 2020 election cycle is a pretty big one. We all (those of us who have not been systematically and deliberately disenfranchised) have the opportunity to cast our vote this November to return a semblance of sanity to American government by voting the Orange Demon (Trump) out office. After (hopefully) losing in the fall, not only will the Orange Demon be vacating the White House, but his appointees, spokespeople, and advisors will be forced to leave the nation’s capital unceremoniously as well. Further, and perhaps equally as encouraging is the opportunity to flip the Senate from Republican control, to Democratic. Certainly, this current environment to achieve bureaucratic change, if successful, would not represent a wholesale course correction, but it would indicate the nation’s desire to take a few steps back from the catastrophic cliff that another Trump term would assuredly be for most of the non-rich, and the non-rich, non-white segments of our society. In being forthright about my personal political biases, I am an antiwar, Black socialist which means my politics are against the ultra-wealthy, as well as me being anti-wealth concentration, anti-incarceration in all but the most extreme cases, anti-imperialism, and anti-environmental exploitation. I am staunchly supportive of universal free healthcare, free universal education from pre-school through college, free universal basic housing, universal basic income, pro-renewable energy, and pro-taxation. Though I suspect I’m not the only one who holds such ideas and aspirations for our politics, the reality for me is there is no politician running for federal office that reflects the combination of all that I value; but I do recognize there are degrees to awful-ness.
The Orange Demon is the worst president in modern history, aside from the slave-owning presidents that held the office prior to the Civil War. Trump represents the very worst in humanity as he encourages and thrives on man’s darkest impulses. He actively seeks to add misery to lives of the vulnerable. He basks in the suffering of people he deems weaker. He encourages violence from his supporters upon those voicing dissent in pursuit of a more equitable and just society. He is a xenophobic, sexist, white supremacist sympathizer and on top of all that, subscribes to the notion that if something is good for Donald Trump personally, that is justification for any and everything. Trump man has shown no moral bottom nor line that he refuses to cross in efforts to make money or consolidate power. Neither decency, nor fairness, nor goodwill has shown to register with Trump. Nevertheless, Trump has been leading this nation progressively deeper into the abyss for nearly four years, and finally we have a chance to excise this cancer for good.
Aiding in efforts to rid America of the Orange Demon, and begin marginalizing Trump-ism, people of all races, religions, ethnicities, economic statutes, and occupations have been canvassing their communities, texting, and calling registered voters urging them to vote, preferably, Trump out of office. Many labor and professional unions (notably not including police unions) and their members have taken this task to heart in holding phone banking events to connect with their fellow-members and communicate the urgency of this moment. The National Education Association (NEA), and its state affiliate, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) held such an event recently where one of my union sisters experienced a curious occurrence. While reaching out to fellow New Jersey educators to remind them about the importance of voting safely and being aware of NJ’s Vote By Mail protocols, one member responded by saying how “excited” they were to be voting “for Trump!!” When she shared this experience with our group-chat, incredulously, I asked: “There’s teachers who are voting for Trump?” “Yes”(es) were shared amongst the group all-around. I, naively it seemed, believed there was no way educators charged with educating children and cultivating spirits of acceptance, tolerance, and cooperation could ever vote for such a deviant like Trump. Apparently, I was wrong.
I began deliberating how educators truly consider, let alone, actually, vote for Trump? What could possibly attract teachers, guidance counselors, nurses, librarians, or support staff to want to experience four more years of this? Was it the locking up of babies and our immigrant brothers and sisters at the border that attracted them? …where immigrant girls were given hysterectomies by an unlicensed gynecologist for no medical reason? …where endless sexual assaults of children took place for months? …where children have been permanently separated from their families never to be reunited with them again? Is that what Trump-supporting educators find attractive in there desire to spend another four years in Trumplandia? Was it Trump’s insulting of the handicapped that convinced such educators that he’s their guy? Was it when Trump threw paper-towels at Puerto Ricans who had lost everything following Hurricane Maria? Was it the endless bombings of Yemen and steadfast support of an apartheid-Israeli state that they support? Are Trump educators willing to look beyond all the sexual assault allegations? Is it that Trump supports racist militias like the Proud Boys and Three Percenters who murder protesters with their cars while parading with semi-automatic weapons that resonates with them? Is it Trump’s hatred of Black Live Matter, a movement of people simply imploring law enforcement to stop murdering Black people, that strikes a chord? Is it Trump’s handling of the coronavirus epidemic that has left 8M in poverty and killed 215,000 people convinced some educators to stick by him? Is it Trump’s disdain for all things science from wearing masks, to denying global warming that connects with such educators? Is it his (toppling) border-wall? Was it when Trump launched his crusade against the 1619 Project intended on capturing a more authentic version of Black enslavement in North America than is covered in much of our nation’s K-12 curriculum that convinced them? Is it Trump’s endless associations with grifters, money-launderers, and criminals that is resonating? Maybe its Trump’s tacit approval of armed violence if he loses the election that is attracting support from some educators? Is it the flagrant and unabashed racism that oozes from every Trump speech, at every Trump rally, and radiating from his supporters won Trump educators over? Seriously, what is it?
Our expression of, and affiliation in politics, like one’s religious affiliation, is an expression of who we are as individuals. As such, the policies we support, and by extension, the politicians we choose to support to represent us in the public domain, directly reflects who we are in private. Similar to other occupations whose primary constituency are children, educators justifiably come under heightened scrutiny in the executing of our profession and should also require a universal set of baseline values that does not tolerate racism, oppression, or violence. Among educators generally, and those working in high minority districts specifically, as professionals who possess more institutional and informal power over children, I have concerns about those who are supporting Trump for another term. After all we’ve seen and witnessed through these years, that some educators (much like police unions) are still willing to support the Orange Demon should raise alarm about what’s taking place in such educators classrooms – especially if they are working with students of color.
As much as educators may try to subvert their political affiliations and sensibilities in the workplace, in school buildings, avoiding politics is impossible. Everything, from the textbooks used, to school lunches being served; from the offering of courses and curriculum, to the people hired to work inside buildings, is political in schools. Discipline policies are political. Dress codes are political. What holidays and historic heroes are celebrated are political. While many educators proudly trumpet their keeping politics out of their classroom as virtuous and a signal of conceptual alliance with objectivity, the reality however, is that politics bleeds into every classroom in and it would be delusional to believe our personal politics don’t influence our practice at work as well. Where one’s politics of liberation, self-actualization, grace, love, and friendship should permeate throughout every classroom, imagine an educator’s politics that sympathizes with Trump’s and how that influences their pedagogy, and their assigning value in course content and student worth. Trump, and his values, should be repulsive to anyone claiming to be a decent person in a civilized society. That some educators among us find Trump’s behavior and principles acceptable to the extent they desire four more years both, is deeply disappointing and disgusting leaving me concerned for any child burdened to have experience such an educator.
