As a Principal I Would Rather Join than Suspend

by Ernie McCray

Say what?
Students are facing
being suspended from school
for standing up|
against ICE’s
muggings and
cold-blooded killings
of citizens?

Based on what?
Doing the right thing?

I mean if I was still a principal
of a school
and my students
decided they wanted to make a statement
about some goons
who had never heard of
or cared about the Golden Rule,
I’d be out there with them,

looking out for their safety

and protecting their rights

to assemble and speak

to their concerns,

their anxieties,

like I’m supposed to –

as a general rule,

encouraging them to

keep their cool.

And when the protest is done,

I would invite anyone

of them who cared to

to meet with me

and talk about their experience.

How did it feel?

What good did it do?

And I’d tell them about my history

when it comes to dissenting,

going back to the 50’s,

speaking against Jim Crow Laws

before the Tucson City Council,

being gaveled down

because two people with me

were “commies,”

and the 60’s

during the great fights

to end the disenfranchisement of African Americans

and legalized racial discrimination

and segregation,

and the 90’s

standing steadfast,

with four other colleagues of mine,

against Prop 187

after it passed,

saying that we, in no way,

would take part in causing harm

to undocumented students

on our campuses

no matter what the law

had to say.

And the students and I would write poetry and prose

and songs

and choreograph dance pieces

and improvise and create sketches

to perform

at an assembly

on all that patriotism is…

And we would take time to appreciate

the collective power organizing

can generate

when we try to better our lives

and pledge

to continue

protesting peacefully,

the nation’s most valuable tool

for change,

until ICE

begins to act civilized.

Denying students’ access

to such tried and true

avenues for human progress

would be, to a shocking degree,

unwise

and Un-American,

as their generation

is next in line,

in our nation’s history,

to keep

the hope for liberty and justice for all

alive.

Instead of suspending them
educators should act as their guide.