A teacher walked into his classroom to find a racist slur scribbled across his whiteboard…
He stood there, stunned and staring—what would you do? Everything in him wanted to erase it, to do whatever he could to make those ugly words untrue.
Instead, he chose to cover the board but not erase anything. This teacher ran his almost exclusively white, conservative Evangelical school’s ‘justice club’ on campus, and he understood that this was an opportunity.
When the students finally filed in and sat down, the teacher lifted the screen so they could read the board. He explained what had happened. He asked them to consider the deeply uncomfortable reality that, most likely, a student who passes them in the halls had written this profanity—maybe even a friend. It was targeted and by no means an accident that it landed on the board in his classroom.
This teacher was a safe space for many of the non white students in school, but the teacher didn’t leave the slur unerased for them, he left it for the white students.
Dominant culture narratives, like the narratives that insist ‘racism is over’ and ‘let’s move on, that’s in the past’ are so popular, and people will literally stuff fingers in their ears and do whatever they can to avoid any evidence to the contrary.
Racism is a daily reality for many, of course, but the problem isn’t that racism isn’t real, it’s that people with power don’t want racism to be real so they stuff their heads in the sand and avoid the uncomfortable truths.
By not erasing that whiteboard, the teacher invited his students into a deeper understanding and empathy. He then asked the faculty to speak to this and held a school-wide forum where black and brown students from his justice club chose to share their own personal experiences with racism at school.
Friends, racism can’t be erased, it can only be reckoned with.
The only way to overcome deep-rooted, historic hurts is to face them with courage. This is why we exist, and it’s why you’re here. We’re sharing stories of everyday peacemakers who choose discomfort for the sake of transformative love because it’s the ONLY way to healing. Take a minute to share your own stories of confronting the uncomfortable in the comments below, then consider supporting this work with your year-end giving.
We’re with you, and we’re grateful for this community that continues to press into the discomfort,
The Global Immersion Team
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Author: Matt Willingham
Matt Willingham is a writer, photographer, and content creator with over ten years experience living and working in some of the hardest-hit conflict zones in the world. He and his wife, Cayla, are now based in San Diego where they’re raising three little peacemakers and working to promote empathy and understanding in their community.
@matt.willingham