How the Trump Election Is Negatively Impacting Students in CPS and Across the Country... Hatefilled threats, graffiti and fears are increasing across the USA and across Chicago's schools and communities...
One of the many "Make America Great Again" walls since the November 8 election.Each day there are reports of harassment across the country of racial, gender, LGBQT, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-anyone who does not share the Brietbart view of the world. Following is part of an article detailing this phenomenon:
-- An overwhelming number of educators from schools across the country have reported a spike in anxiety and harassment among students in the days following the election, according to a new survey from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). In an effort to chart the so-called Trump Effect in schools, the SPLC conducted an online survey and received responses from 10,000 teachers, counselors, and administrators across the country. Ninety percent of respondents said they've seen a "negative impact" on students' mood and behavior since the election, and 80 percent reported increased anxiety among minority students.
-- The SPLC also received 2,500 reports of specific incidents of bigotry and harassment on campus that were directly related to the election. The incidents, while not all independently verified, include everything from verbal threats to vandalism involving racial slurs and swastikas. "The p-word has been used very casually, citing Trump as the excuse," a high school teacher from Michigan reported. Another from Tennessee wrote, "'Kill the n*****s' etched in school bathroom. Paper with n-word left in my classroom. Neither incident was investigated." Messman, L. (2016, November 29). Teachers report spike in trump-related harassment at schools | VICE | United States. Retrieved December 4, 2016, from news, http://www.vice.com/read/teachers-southern-poverty-law-center-trump-effect-vgtrn?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard
Closer to home, there have been incidents in Chicago with the incident reported at Marist High School last month which caused the expulsion of white students from the school for sending out a racist remark on social media. I collected a few incidents.
• A social worker wrote this in an email: During a recent team meeting, the counselor/case manager, while reviewing the necessity of implementing an IEP for a student began to discuss how this 8-year old African-American girl had a meltdown and began to cry about being sent back to Africa as a slave because of anxiety over the election. The entire team (who are all white) began to minimize the behavior and laugh about it in a school that is 90% African-American.
• ABC reported on 11/29/16 that a parent saw a swastika painted on a door at John Hay School the day before when he was bringing his child to school.
• A speech pathologist had two of her student tell her they are afraid that Trump is going to send them back to Africa.
• Students at a school in Little Village were panicked as they have parents who are here illegally as was reported by a school psychologist
• A social worker heard from a first grade student whose parents are British had told her mother when she was picked up from school that a classmate said she would be an orphan because her parents will be deported.
I am sure there are many more stories of this happening in Chicago only to be added to the enormous trauma students are going through the increase in violence. What can you do? If you feel you are seeing a student looking anxious or withdrawn, please contact your school counselor, social worker or psychologist, and add by contacting Substance (Csubstance@aol.com).
School professionals are trained in helping students with trauma. There are ways to report this as Southern Poverty Law Center is tabulating these hate crimes and they have resources for teachers. Their website is: https://www.splcenter.org/
