0:13

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

0:14
in a 1968 speech where he reflects upon the Civil Rights Movement,
0:18
states, "In the end,
0:21
we will remember not the words of our enemies
0:24
but the silence of our friends."
0:27
As a teacher, I've internalized this message.
0:29
Every day, all around us,
0:31
we see the consequences of silence
0:33
manifest themselves in the form of discrimination,
0:35
violence, genocide and war.
0:39
In the classroom, I challenge my students
0:41
to explore the silences in their own lives
0:44
through poetry.
0:46
We work together to fill those spaces,
0:48
to recognize them, to name them,
0:51
to understand that they don't have to be sources of shame.
0:54
In an effort to create a culture within my classroom
0:57
where students feel safe sharing the intimacies
0:59
of their own silences,
1:01
I have four core principles posted on the board
1:03
that sits in the front of my class,
1:05
which every student signs at the beginning of the year:
1:08
read critically, write consciously,
1:10
speak clearly, tell your truth.
1:14
And I find myself thinking a lot about that last point,
1:16
tell your truth.
1:18
And I realized that
1:20
if I was going to ask my students to speak up,
1:22
I was going to have to tell my truth
1:25

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 and be honest with them about the times
1:27
where I failed to do so.
1:28
So I tell them that growing up,
1:30
as a kid in a Catholic family in New Orleans,
1:33
during Lent I was always taught
1:36
that the most meaningful thing one could do
1:38
was to give something up,
1:39
sacrifice something you typically indulge in
1:42
to prove to God you understand his sanctity.
1:44
I've given up soda, McDonald's, French fries,
1:47
French kisses, and everything in between.
1:50
But one year, I gave up speaking.
1:54
I figured the most valuable thing I could sacrifice
1:56
was my own voice, but it was like I hadn't realized
2:00
that I had given that up a long time ago.
2:03
I spent so much of my life
2:05
telling people the things they wanted to hear
2:07
instead of the things they needed to,
2:08
told myself I wasn't meant to be anyone's conscience
2:11
because I still had to figure out being my own,
2:13
so sometimes I just wouldn't say anything,
2:16
appeasing ignorance with my silence,
2:19
unaware that validation doesn't need words
2:21
to endorse its existence.
2:23
When Christian was beat up for being gay,
2:24
I put my hands in my pocket
2:26
and walked with my head down as if I didn't even notice.
2:29
I couldn't use my locker for weeks because the bolt on the lock
2:31
reminded me of the one I had put on my lips
2:33
when the homeless man on the corner

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 2:35
looked at me with eyes up merely searching
2:37
for an affirmation that he was worth seeing.
2:39
I was more concerned with touching the screen on my Apple
2:41
than actually feeding him one.
2:43
When the woman at the fundraising gala
2:44
said "I'm so proud of you.
2:46
It must be so hard teaching those poor, unintelligent kids,"
2:49
I bit my lip, because apparently we needed her money
2:51
more than my students needed their dignity.
2:53
We spend so much time
2:55
listening to the things people are saying
2:59
that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.
3:02
Silence is the residue of fear.
3:06
It is feeling your flaws
3:07
gut-wrench guillotine your tongue.
3:09
It is the air retreating from your chest
3:11
because it doesn't feel safe in your lungs.
3:13
Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina.
3:16
It is what you hear when there aren't enough body bags left.
3:19
It is the sound after the noose is already tied.
3:22
It is charring. It is chains. It is privilege. It is pain.
3:25
There is no time to pick your battles
3:27
when your battles have already picked you.
3:28
I will not let silence wrap itself around my indecision.
3:31
I will tell Christian that he is a lion,
3:33
a sanctuary of bravery and brilliance.
3:36
I will ask that homeless man what his name is
3:38
and how his day was, because sometimes
3:40
all people want to be is human.
3:42

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 I will tell that woman that my students can talk about
3:44
transcendentalism like their last name was Thoreau,
3:47
and just because you watched one episode of "The Wire"
3:49
doesn't mean you know anything about my kids.
3:51
So this year,
3:53
instead of giving something up,
3:55
I will live every day as if there were a microphone
3:57
tucked under my tongue,
3:59
a stage on the underside of my inhibition.
4:03
Because who has to have a soapbox
4:05
when all you've ever needed is your voice?
4:10
Thank you.
4:12
(Applause)

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