In January 2017, I happily prepared to teach my yearly Chicano literature class. I love watching students discover the joy of reading literature that represents their lived experiences.
However, once the semester began, something felt very different. Students’ energy was subdued. There was a palpable tension, tremors of anxiety that bubbled into our discussions, a sadness that lurked at the edges of the room. The students were the same that I usually teach: predominantly first-generation Latinxs from working-class and or immigrant families. Some have close family members who are undocumented or are themselves without papers.
And suddenly the difference became clear: We began living under a new administration — the Trumpescene, a colleague calls it — that considers these students and their families to be freeloading invaders who need to be deported. Throughout spring semester, I felt these young adults holding their breath: Is today the day we are rounded up? They held themselves so tight that they could barely breath out the lines of poetry we read aloud.
The Trumpescene made itself felt regularly. For example, when students come into my classroom, they arrange their seats in a circle and we begin class with a check-in.
One day, a student rushed in late, tears streaming down her face. She had just encountered fliers from Identity Europa taped up at various locations around campus. “Be yourself, be white,” the flyer screamed, “Say no to anti-white propaganda.” The founder of that group punched a woman at a Berkeley “free speech” rally organized by right-wing extremists in April 2017.
For my students, this slip of paper is a similar punch. I found myself having to set aside my lesson plan to facilitate a spontaneous discussion in which students shared their collective fear and outrage.
Nothing in my training prepared me to teach in this context — and I suspect the same is true for many of my colleagues. Moving forward, what changes must we make to facilitate teaching and learning on the front lines, by which I mean working with students who are living in fear in today’s political climate?
