October 4, 2022
Black Trauma Is Not a Lesson
By Lisa Herforth-Hebbert
After a teacher made me watch the video of the killing of Tamir Rice, I realized I had to raise my voice against injustice.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published by Youth Communications and is reposted here with permission. YC is a nonprofit publisher of teen-written stories and curriculum to help educators strengthen the social and emotional skills of youth.
One afternoon at the beginning of eighth grade, I was sitting in the room where Model United Nations met after school. Under the guise of open and inclusive debate, students played the roles of ambassadors. We talked about every political topic under the sun: the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the immigration policies of the Obama administration, police brutality in the United States.
Sometimes there was yelling and crying, and occasionally a silence heavy with more meaning than any words could ever have. There was rarely accountability when people said hurtful things. Whenever we had these emotional moments, I stared at my shoes. As a perfectionist who didn’t like revealing my imperfect feelings, I carefully crafted a hard exterior. On top of that, being one of the few Black and Latina people in predominantly white schools all my life made me feel like an outsider and, thus, even more afraid of expressing my opinions, particularly those on race-related topics.
That day, it was late and getting dark outside, and only our adviser, four other girls, and I remained in the room. I was friends, or at least acquaintances, with these girls, but I kept a wall up around me. The room was big, but all of us sat clustered together near the projector at the front of the room.
