Educators across the nation will enter school with heavy hearts on
Monday. Beneath flags at half-mast and between hugs of staff and students, teachers
will navigate through difficult questions and raw fears as we remember and
honor the victims of the Sandy Hook School tragedy.
First, we mourn.
We mourn for the victims, for their families, for the heroic Sandy Hook
staff, and for the entire community of Newtown, Connecticut.
We also mourn for this nation and for the tens of thousands of people whose
lives have been affected by this country’s epidemic of mass killings and
incessant gun violence.
We also grieve.
As professional educators, we will help our students process their grief
and fears. Using social media, teacher unions, school districts and individual teachers
have provided resources on how to guide conversations.
Six educators (all women), twelve girls and eight boys (all 1st
graders) were killed in the massacre. Our grieving will never completely end.
We also honor. And the best way to do so is to organize against
senseless gun violence.
There are some commentators who say, “No, you can’t take on the gun
lobby, you will never win. Talk about keeping children safe, yes. But don’t
talk about gun control.”
But, as Nicholas Kristof wrote in Sunday’s New York Times, “What do we make of the contrast between heroic
teachers who stand up to a gunman and craven, feckless politicians who won't
stand up to the N.R.A.?”
We can hope that our political leaders will, in future
weeks, take “meaningful action” against gun violence. We can also hope that
this country begins to address the crisis in mental health services.
But the only way to make sure our hopes come true is to
organize.
It will take nothing less than a mass movement to ensure
that our political leaders fulfill their responsibilities and actually do
something rather than lament the power of the pro-gun lobby.
Given the events of Sandy Hook, parents and educators have a
particular role to play, including the NEA and AFT leadership. Likewise,
community leaders must demand a community-wide response, and religious and
business leaders must call upon
their colleagues. Together, we all must demand that our elected leaders address
the epidemic of gun violence and the crisis in mental health care.
In the coming days, we will mourn the victims of the Sandy
Hook tragedy.
But we must also organize to prevent future such tragedies.
We have no choice.
