A popular educator’s blog encouraged teachers to discuss a shooting that took place in Buffalo, New York, with students and blamed the shooting in part on Kyle Rittenhouse, according to a blog post.
Co-founder of “Teaching While White” Jenna Chandler-Ward, a white woman, authored a blog post blaming “white silence,” Kyle Rittenhouse, parental rights in education bills, and banning pornographic books for an alleged racially-motivated shooting in Buffalo that took the lives of 10 individuals. The post is titled, “Responding to Buffalo: Ending White Silence in the Face of Racial Violence.”
“[The shooter] was not ‘mentally ill’ or a ‘lone wolf.’ Innumerable white adults either implicitly or explicitly encouraged and supported his thinking and decisions — even his actions,” Chandler-Ward wrote.
“When Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old who shot and killed two people during the unrest last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was lauded as a hero by many, and the majority of white adults said nothing, that sent students a message,” the blog continued. “When states legislate that the discussion of race and racism in schools is unlawful, and the majority of white adults say nothing, that sends a message. When books are banned and certain histories are omitted from public school curricula, and the majority of white adults say nothing, that sends a message.”
In a Twitter post, Chandler-Ward called on educators to model “white antiracism to white kids.”
Trying to get these resources into the hands of as many white teachers as possible. We need to be intervening, interrupting and modeling white antiracism to white kids. White silence is deadly. https://t.co/HkbXMsC75a
— Teaching While White- Jenna (@TWW_podblog) May 16, 2022
The blog post listed resources that “white teachers and parents” “must have” to craft conversations with school-aged children about the shooting. (RELATED: Police Say Buffalo Shooter Investigated Previously For Earlier Threat)
Examples of resources include a podcast titled “Parenting While White” and a post on how to talk to kids about sensitive subjects like mass shootings in the classroom.
Tony Kinnett, the executive director of Chalkboard Review, told the Daily Caller that he believes the blog post is “racial stereotyping” and that talking about political events with students is unacceptable.
“It’s horrific racial stereotyping, degrading to all involved, and is insulting to the victims of the shooting,” Kinnett said. “There is never an acceptable time for a teacher to step away from curriculum to posture and preen about their political take on current events.”