5 Activities To Help Process The Murders of Adam Toledo & Daunte Wright with Chicago Black and Brown Youth
Reasoning: I am just like many teachers in the city of Chicago, wondering what I am going to do on Monday. As part of the third wave of teachers coming back to school, it will be my first time teaching in my school, teaching hybrid, but also having some real difficult conversations with students. I am wondering, how do we let our students process, speak on, but also inspire all that is transpiring around them. This generation of young people have experienced so much from COVID, racism, losing family members, gun violence, drug violence, and the list goes on. How do we process the shootings of these young men? How do we allow our students space to share their stories and their feelings? How do we create avenues for students to express their anger, sadness, but also joy, hope, and courage. These are activities I came up with that I wanted to try in a hybrid setting, please use what you can.
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ACTIVITY 1: TALKING CIRCLE
PREPARATION FOR TALKING CIRCLE:
Circle Facilitator: Teacher, counselor, community member, or if you have students who are experienced please include them in this process
Setup: Google classroom projected on the screen and chairs spread apart in half circle, so that the students in person can face the google classroom.
Talking piece: What piece will students hold? It should have a strong story or something connected with the theme of the circle. Please make sure it is sanitized and also students sanitize their hands before entering the circle.
Inside Center: Please think of things that can be placed in the center that bring homage and honor to Adam and Daunte. It could be their pictures, candles, flowers, artifacts, things that represent their age and their spirit. The inside of any circle is the heartbeat, the center of all our energy, and what will focus us in this conversation. Students who are joining online can showcase their artifact or if they made something at home to participate.
TALKING CIRCLE:
Script: The video of Adam Toledo’s murder was released last week on our last day of Quarter 3. Many actions took place in Chicago to bring awareness and justice to not only Adam, but also Daunte. This circle is for us to share our feelings, support another, and whatever else you all need.
Acuerdos/ Agreements: This could be extremely emotional for our students. We want our students to feel safe to share their stories, share their experiences, and also have a say in the flow of the circle. Please create agreements that encompass what your students need in order to have this dialogue.
These are my proposed rounds (please amend to your students and your experience)
Round 1: What neighborhood are you from? What is the energy like in your neighborhood? How do you feel? How do people in your community feel?
Round 2: What are questions you have about these incidents? What are your thoughts on gun violence, police in black and brown communities, and gangs?
Round 3 : How can we humanize Adam and Daunte in our school and in our communities?
Close circle with words that honor my students in the classroom and virtually and let them know that this caring adult sees them, loves them, and is here for them.
ACTIVITY 2: OUR RIGHTS / NUESTROS DERECHOS
What are the rights that youth need?
What are the rights that are missing in our country and in our communities?
You can work in teams, with a partner, or by yourself. Create a list of 10.
Example: Collection of rights from my classes
No person is illegal, people shall not be deported or housed in cages everyone is allowed to enter the United States - Priscilla Fernandez
Voting inside this country; Everyone in this country, within these states has the right to vote for whom they want, won’t matter if they’re undocumented, everyone has the right to vote. - Gabriel Orduña
White supremacy will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form. No race is above any race, we are all equal - Natalia Aguilar
All of the constitution rights apply to people part of the LGBTQ+ community. They have all the rights that all people have living in the U.S. - Dianna Valencia
If a police officer abuses his/her power of protecting and serving the people he shall be taken away the right of ever being an officer, before performing this action the conflict that occurred shall be looked over. Diego Rodriguez
Police should have 3 years of training before having to wield a weapon like tasers, guns, pepper spray. - Jan Pagan
Everyone will have access to food and clean water - Luna Santiago
Everybody should be given an average home/house to live in - Mariela Hernández
Being able to have the freedom to speak about certain things without being reprimanded, the right to your own religion and participate in a peaceful protest -Destiny Salinas
Every child deserves an education - Alexandra González
ACTIVITY 3: SOMOS ADAM, SOMOS DAUNTE / WE ARE ADAM, WE ARE DAUNTE – Building Awareness Through Social Media Blasts
Create social media awareness with imagery and hashtags. Think of catchy phrases, meaningful quotes, graphs, statistics, etc. We need the world to know what happened to Adam, Daunte and others just like them. What do you want to tell the public? How do you want to tell the public?
Step 1: Have students draft up ideas of possible hashtags, memes, images, text, and words they can create for social media.
Step 2: Create a canva account (its free) students can pick through thousands of social media templates and create their own. www.canva.com
Step 3: Show them the features they can use. Teachers might have to explore this part beforehand, but it is super user friendly
Step 4: Create and post on social media!
EXAMPLES:
ACTIVITY 4: QUIEN SOY Y DE DONDE VENGO / WHO I AM AND WHERE I COME FROM - Photo Collage and Autobiography Project
It is important you share your stories of who you are, of your community, and the people in your community. Time and time again Black and Brown youth are viewed as criminals, thugs, and coming from broken families. People don’t know who you are, your culture, your traditions, your community, or your life, but speak for you. You can take a picture of yourself strong and fierce, take a picture of your whole family, take a picture of something that represents your community, or neighbors. You get to tell the story of who you are, your community, and flip the narrative of what dominant society thinks about black and brown people.
Step 1: Have students select and think about what they would take pictures of, make sure the brainstorm is public and they can all view and listen to each other’s thinking.
Step 2: Give students time to write their autobiography. What questions do they want to ask themselves? Here are some ideas of questions, but it will be good for students to create their own questions for themselves. When were you born? Where were you born? Did your family live anywhere else besides Chicago? What do you know about your ancestors? What have been important moments in your life? What can you tell people about what black and brown youth go through?
Step 3: Type the autobiography.
Step 4: Take those photos (Please give youth time to take their photo they are always super intentional on how they look and how they want to look for the public to see).
Step 5: Post on padlet or create a google class website so you can share photos and caption the autobiographies. Students can comment and interact with each other's images with these programs.
Step 6: Posting outside of the school environment- Please follow whatever protocols your school has to post pictures publicly and also get consent from children and their families.
ACTIVITY 5: GIVE ME MY FLOWERS/ RECIBE ESTAS FLORES* – Honoring our black and brown youth now, not later
As we see the long list of young people being lost to violence, they get their recognition after they are no longer with us. We honor them after they are not present here in our world. This activity is the opportunity for our young people to be honored now, not later.
Step 1: Set up the context, listen and read all these pieces with students. Discussion what comes to mind? How do you want to be seen and remembered? How can we do that now?
Give Me My Flowers by Sullivan Pugh Versions from The Consolers or Reverend James Clevand (Chicago)
Give me my flowers while I yet live so that I, I, I can see the beauty that they bring
Friends and loved ones may give me flowers when I'm sick…or on my sick bed but I'd rather have just one tulip right now than a truck load of roses when I'm dead
Speak kind words to me while i can hear them so that I, I, I can hear the beauty that they bring
Rose That Grew From Concrete Tupac Shakur
“Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong, it learned to walk without having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.”
Recibe Aquí Estas Flores Traditional Mexica Song
Recibe aquí estas flores, que son tan lindas y bellas
Recibe aquí estas flores, que son tan lindas y bellas
Con sus fragantes olores, mi corazón va con ellas
Con sus hermosos colores, mi corazón va con ellas,
mi corazón va con ellas.
Receive here these flowers, They are so beautiful (2x)
With that beautiful fragrance, my heart goes with them.
With those beautiful colors, my heart goes with them.
Step 2: Have them write a journal entry where they share the stories of their friends, community members, family members or any black and brown person lost to violence. Also, share how they want to be remembered, let them imagine themselves old and living a full life. It is sad to think many of our kids can not imagine this reality. What does your full life look like? Who was this person? What happened to them? How do you feel about it? Why was it important for you to share?
Step 3: Bringing Flowers (This is will happen outside and after school)
Have students come to school and please follow the social distance guidelines of your school. Have them bring flowers for each other, they don’t have to buy flowers but grab from what is around them. Please also have flowers just in case the students were not able to bring some. Have them receive a flower and share their journal entries with one another. Closing this powerful component of showing them their life has value and worth living.
*In this section I would like to recognize Lulua Al- Osaimi, Gina Pacheco-Gamboa, Nahui Ollin HueHuecoyotl, and the Chicago danzante community for their teachings and inspiration.
We are providing these as donation-based resources, and appreciate your contributions as we work to build this network and movement. Even if you're not able to contribute at this time, keep following us on social media or become a MECA member for more resources and ways to stay connected. ¡Muchas gracias!
