At a special faculty meeting after school yesterday, teachers were advised to say not much to any reporters that might contact us. The recent rash of negative news media coverage of a twelve-year-old being arrested at our school for gang-related activity, namely a “beat in” that happened in the bathroom across the hall from my classroom and about which I knew–and know–basically nothing, has netted us nightly TV news and front-page newspaper spots.
Thankfully next week’s education supplement in the paper is to feature our school, so we should have some good publicity then, but for now the administration is scrambling to put together a parent-night showing of The Big Lie and in-services so that we teachers can know gang stuff when we see it.
At my old school things gang seemed more common and less criminalized, although I certainly switched to white–not red or blue–hankies after one of my students told another teacher that “Mr. Jacobs carries a flag in his back pocket.” And after the “CJ numbers” that I used when assigning student groups were questioned by a concerned administrator for being too suggestive of “Crip Jumper” lingo (which, by the way, would have fit in with the area’s Bloods associations), I switched to giving out “Classroom Organizing Numbers.” (I just realized that that has another unfortunate acronym.)
This area’s gang scene, on the other hand, seems dominated by the blue-leaning gangsters, who have a known presence in the nearby city. The fact that they are seeking inroads into my school is a bit unnerving, although I won’t be surprised if the recent arrest snuffs out that danger for quite some time, particularly since gangs of a citified nature don’t really fit our demographic. For this area, the handgun-slinging, street-wise black men in The Big Lie–as gut-wrenchingly sick as they appear, especially when shown posing with their guns with children barely old enough to talk–shouldn’t be as worrisome as the appalling yet more socially acceptable, camo-based fanaticism as is shown in this news video of one gun club’s “family event” in Arizona.
Speaking of socially acceptable, though, as the faculty meeting yesterday wrapped up, a teacher who likes to remind everyone of opportunities to show school spirit spoke up. Since the local high school football team is nearing state championship by violently wrenching victory from other schools, she called out, “Remember, tomorrow is green and white day!”
Go, fight, win!
Thankfully next week’s education supplement in the paper is to feature our school, so we should have some good publicity then, but for now the administration is scrambling to put together a parent-night showing of The Big Lie and in-services so that we teachers can know gang stuff when we see it.
At my old school things gang seemed more common and less criminalized, although I certainly switched to white–not red or blue–hankies after one of my students told another teacher that “Mr. Jacobs carries a flag in his back pocket.” And after the “CJ numbers” that I used when assigning student groups were questioned by a concerned administrator for being too suggestive of “Crip Jumper” lingo (which, by the way, would have fit in with the area’s Bloods associations), I switched to giving out “Classroom Organizing Numbers.” (I just realized that that has another unfortunate acronym.)
This area’s gang scene, on the other hand, seems dominated by the blue-leaning gangsters, who have a known presence in the nearby city. The fact that they are seeking inroads into my school is a bit unnerving, although I won’t be surprised if the recent arrest snuffs out that danger for quite some time, particularly since gangs of a citified nature don’t really fit our demographic. For this area, the handgun-slinging, street-wise black men in The Big Lie–as gut-wrenchingly sick as they appear, especially when shown posing with their guns with children barely old enough to talk–shouldn’t be as worrisome as the appalling yet more socially acceptable, camo-based fanaticism as is shown in this news video of one gun club’s “family event” in Arizona.
Speaking of socially acceptable, though, as the faculty meeting yesterday wrapped up, a teacher who likes to remind everyone of opportunities to show school spirit spoke up. Since the local high school football team is nearing state championship by violently wrenching victory from other schools, she called out, “Remember, tomorrow is green and white day!”
Go, fight, win!