Everyone here has heard of the Black Lives Matter movement that happened right in our campus community. It took over the summer of 2020, and still is an issue today. This movement was to make aware the injustice the black community faced in this unsegregated world. It was to bring to light what other may not know or choose to ignore. This was a country wide deal, and one person lost her job for expressing herself. With Covid-19 very prevalent at the time of the incident, masks are required to be worn by all staff members. One teacher named Lillian White, made her own masks that expressed her agreement with BLM. This caught the attention of many faculty members, and not in a good way. They did not want her beliefs to be reflected on the students or the parents. The staff expressed concerns to the head mistress. The head mistress explained that even though they were diversifying the curriculum and always want to promote equality, the masks were not allowed. White did not listen and wore the masks anyway because she wore them for knowledge, not for a political or violent reason. Despite the warnings from the head mistress, White did not comply. When addressed to the counsel of the school, they agreed she resigned by not complying with the school’s requests.
With all, standing up for what you believe in should not be a crime. I think the school was unfair in the decision made to “fire” Ms. White. They will refuse that they fired her, but it was a force quit in my eyes. BLM was to open people’s eyes and to give equal rights no matter the skin color. Discriminating against someone for wearing masks to help the issue, is wrong. The pictures attached are the ones Ms. White made for the school year that caused her to lose her job.
What do you guys think? Was the school right in their decision to have a teacher not wear these kinds of masks? Will a bigger challenge arise once the community gets all the details? What would you do in this situation?
Written By: Connor Wolford
HI! I also write Black Lives as one of my diary of systemic injustice. Nowadays, more and more movements are appealing for more equal world, and more and more people join it and fight for their rights. We can see that black people are treated as “Other” and different in global world. I consider wearing masks to appeal BLM is really good way of nonviolence movements, and people are easily recognize this. Thank you for your showcase.
I agree with this and also have my doubts about this. As a mixed male in 2021 society Unfortunately I feel that almost anything can be turned into a negative or an ” act of violence” although I have no issue with the masks I feel in some places and states in the country these would provoke certain people. I would wear the mask to represent my stance on the matter that we should all be equal, people are people and that is that. But I would not let my child, or old defenseless parents or grandparents wear this mask due to what it may cause and people are just very edgy and you truly never know these days.
Hi Connor,
I did not write Black Lives as my topic of systemic injustice diary, but I wrote something similar like that. I focus on the cases that the police’s injustice to black people, however, your reply reminds me a lot and also answers me of some key. As you said in the paragraph, standing up for what you believe in should not be a crime. If these basic powers are violated, how can we talk about freedom? We should reduce these discrimination, like using the theory “one” and “other”, they should not be treated as “Other”. Thanks for your reply!