I watch these events unfold as an educator. Specifically, a white educator of mostly white students. I think about how we've been complicit in creating the conditions that led to these events. If we've been complicit, then we also have a role to play in preventing more of this.

I think about what has been in our curriculum and what has been left out? What books have we read and which have we not read? How have these decisions led white students to believe that they are at the center of everything so that...

when they feel that start to shift, they experience the kind of rage that leads to this kind of violence? What have we taught about power and privilege and systems of oppression and what have we not taught? How have these decisions led to such a misunderstanding...

of what it means to have your rights truly denied and what it means to protest? It is on us not only to ask these questions of ourselves but to use the answers to motivate us to create actual change. Because this IS America and we, as educators, are complicit in its creation.

Knowing that is hard, but it also can lead us to feel empowered to create the kind of change that matters and makes a difference. But we first MUST see our role in it all and then work together to use that role to create change.