WEBVTT - Heavy Backpack of Sadness 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.560 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WOKP Daily with me 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:19.239 your girl Daniel Moody recording pre recording from the home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.799 I'm taking a few days off for my birthday and 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:28.639 with that, I'm leaving you with some amazing pre recorded 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.839 conversations with some of my faves new and old to 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.520 the show. And so first Step today, I am very 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.880 happy to welcome back to wok F Daily the executive 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:47.440 director of Glisten, Melanie Willingham Jaggers and Glisten is an 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.560 organization that has been near and dear to my heart 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.160 for quite some time because, as a former educator in 0:00:54.200 --> 0:01:00.280 the school system, Glisten creates curriculums and puts together their 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:08.600 instruction for schools, administrations and students who are LGBTQ and 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:13.120 their allies. And at a time when there is an 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:18.280 unsafe environment that has been created for LGBTQ kids, particularly 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:23.120 our trans youth, Glisten's work is more important than ever. 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:26.600 And so in this two part kind of back to 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.760 back episodes where first Step, we're going to talk to 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:31.880 Melanie and then we're going to talk to the chair 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.840 of the Glisten board, actor and friend of mine, Wilson 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:40.240 Cruz tomorrow. So first step listen to this conversation with 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.800 Melanie about what Glisten has been doing during this time 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:49.480 of great strife, grief, anxiety and pain for our LGBTQ 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:57.680 youth with her work at Glisten. Folks, I am very excited, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.120 I believe to welcome back after a very long time, 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.400 I think, Melanie, I'm thinking that we have not spoken 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:06.960 since you got the job. 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.520 At right, Yep, that's right. 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:15.280 Very happy to the back to wok as Melanie Willingham Jaggers, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.920 who is the executive director of Glisten. 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:20.639 You all know about Glisten. 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:27.040 They are a lgbt Q organization that provides so much 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:33.880 content curriculum that is affirming for LGBTQ young people and 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.480 really helps, you know, all students right be able to 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:45.880 access their empathy, their compassion and their understanding of the community. Melanie, 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.040 I mean, let's just start with this. You know, since 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.600 you took the helm in twenty nineteen of Glisten, now 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:59.040 your lack a veteran is it has been trial by 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.160 fire in a life of ways. Because I don't think 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:06.000 that we've seen the type of attacks on schools that 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:12.920 you have been presiding over probably since the late nineteen sixties. 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:18.200 So how have you been doing and what like what 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:22.560 have you been experiencing as you've taken over this role 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:23.840 the last few years. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.119 Yeah, I appreciate the question. Thanks for having me back on. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.840 Always good to be in conversation with you and in 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:35.000 these forums. So, yeah, you know, it's just been going down. 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.720 Things have been things have been happening. And here's the 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.640 I think here's the top line, and then then also 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.000 maybe it's the bottom line as well, is that schools 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.840 are the education as a process is the cornerstone of 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.000 a democracy, right, And if we are to ever have democracy, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.920 if we ever have a country that delivers on the 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.600 promises right that we are all kind of operating under, 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.680 education is that cornerstone. We have to have people who 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.800 come into participation in our democracy who have education about 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.920 the reality of the world around them. That's like true history, 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:15.040 true science, a realistic understanding of the world right with 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.960 the phenomena are in the world, so they can come 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:24.000 into their full citizenship and participate. Right. So that's you know, 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.280 we may have forgotten that Bill Hooks told us, John 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.840 Dewey told us, Right, education democracy has to be born 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.600 anew every generation, and education is its midwife. Right, So 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.320 we know that, but turns out the ops do too, right, 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:42.839 And so part of what we the way that I 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.080 want to encourage us all to understand this moment, is 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.880 that the attacks on education, the ways in which classrooms 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:55.240 have become frontlines for the assaults on democracy, the way 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.560 that teachers right are being pit against parents for the future, 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.400 like really around who is educating? Who is their children? 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.800 Who is who are educ who is educating the children 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.760 of our country? This is a you know, the nice 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.600 way to put it and the euphemistic way to put 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.599 it is a culture war, right, But what this really 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:18.000 is is an anti democratic attack on the future, on 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:23.000 our collective future, right, because they are insisting on miseducating 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.240 our children. So that's like part one of it, right, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.040 And what we know is that what authoritarians do, what 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.280 fascists do, what Christian nationalists do, what white supremacists do, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.560 come after people of color, They come after queer and 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.920 gender diverse people, and they come after children. Right, That's 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:46.240 a primary technique, right of this project, which is colonial 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.520 and genocidal in nature. And so we have to understand 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:56.080 actually that the attacks on classrooms, teachers, students, schools is 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.320 really about an anti democratic vision of the future for 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.240 our country, and their power is consolidating, right, and we 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:08.640 as advocates for young people, advocates for education, advocates for trans, queer, 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.760 non binary kids, it's our work that is right at 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.159 the center of their bulls eye of what it will 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.719 take who to undermine in order to advance their vision 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.920 without any without any resistance, or with less resistance and 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.360 less friction. So you know, we just out here fighting 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.880 for democracy, fighting for the future that we all deserve, 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.320 and for the future that our country has long promised. 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:37.280 You know, I think I'm a former educator. I went 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.479 to you know, I taught first and second grade, and 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:45.000 then I went into education policy for many years following 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.600 that work, when I lived in Washington, d C. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:49.200 And worked on the hill. 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.719 And you know, it's almost as if, and this is 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:57.159 a question for you, it's almost as if democrats and progressives, 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:03.400 following the desegregation of schools, forgot that schools. 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.600 Are the battleground for democracy. 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:11.480 Right. It was like we desegregated schools with brown you know, 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:16.160 things got a bit better. Then, it was like fast forward. 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.360 We all care about kids, and now we're teaching to 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.840 the test. But I feel like the foundation of us 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:30.360 understanding that a democracy requires an educated citizenship seems to 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.160 be something that we lost. And I'm just curious if 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:38.840 you think the same way, Like now, it's as if 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:43.000 we're behind the curve trying to catch up to where 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.800 the opposition has always seen education. I mean, you can 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.720 look at Moms for Liberty and their quote of Hitler 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.960 that they put up on their chapter page talking about 0:07:55.240 --> 0:08:00.280 if you own the children, you own the future. Right, 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.040 So why is it Why does it seem as if 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.600 we're playing catch up to something that we knew back 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.840 in the fifties was so important. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.320 Yeah, that's a good question. You know. I'm not gonna 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.000 give you my comrade mel answer. We could do that offline, 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.760 but here's what i'd say. Here's what i'd say for 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.320 the pod. You know, I was in a conversation last 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.400 week at the White House and someone really smart in 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.600 that room said that what we need right now is 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.600 kind of in terms of education, where we need to 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.560 be thinking about is what is the next step after reform. 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.320 We've been in an education reform moment for a long time, 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:47.120 and I think that what education reform did and does 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.400 is put the deficit, put the onus on the child, 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.280 on the learner. Right. What we have to understand actually 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.559 is our education system is deeply broken. So just to go, 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.320 you know, talking to a fellow policy nerd, just ago 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.280 nerd for a second. We often think about school boards 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.640 right in school districts, and we often think about the 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:12.520 school system. But similarly to like when before marriage equality 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.400 was the law of the land, right when you could 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.959 be married in Massachusetts but not married in Pennsylvania, even 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.640 though you're the same two people crossing state lines. Similarly 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.520 with our and we have fifty states, right, Similarly with 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:29.520 our kids policies, they're basic rules of the road, right 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.640 that are federal requirements, guidelines, et cetera. And then there's 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.679 so much that is handed to localities for them to control. 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.680 And so what we don't have is an education system. 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:45.720 We have sixteen thousand education systems. So you know, like 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.160 the school around the corner from me up here in Harlem, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.640 New York, is different from it's the same school system. 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.839 It's the same school system, right, but it's different in 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.920 the teachers that are teaching kind of in the policies 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.320 et cetera, than the school up the street and around 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.280 the corner of Frederick Douglass Academy. Right, So there's a 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.840 way in which our kids don't actually have a promise 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.439 of consistent education across the board. And that's even within 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.240 one district. Now, God help us that we have sixteen 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.680 thousand districts, many some of whom are run by folks 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:21.719 who are progressive, who have their you know, have their 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.160 eye on the prize, who know that learners need to 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.200 be safe in their minds and their hearts and in 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.079 their bodies in order to learn. And they are building 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.360 these incredible school leaders, are building education systems to teach 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.960 the babies right. And then in other districts, right, fools 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.720 of fools are in charge right where they are limiting 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.600 history and you know, denying science and you know, making 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:46.680 the world smaller and smaller, so that the kids that 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.400 come out of those districts are less and less prepared 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.000 to deal with the world as it is right to 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:55.080 navigate it successfully. And so I think that where we 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.840 are at is that to your point, we absolutely have 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:04.640 taken our ball, our eye off the ball around education's core. Uh. 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.360 Education is a core component of democracy. We've lost the 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.760 We've lost the thread there and long have because we 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.560 for so long, for about thirty years, right, have been 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.760 putting the onus on kids, saying, oh, these kids are behind. 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.520 Oh these kids lost lost some learning over the summer. 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.240 Oh we'll be cutting funding and we'll be breaking teachers unions, 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:29.240 and we'll be privatizing public responsibility and privatizing public wealth 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.679 in the form of private schools, et cetera. But it's 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.520 the kids who are really the problem. Right, So what 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.120 we are in need of now is a new and 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:44.360 refreshed understanding for this moment. That's really about not taking 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.400 our eye off the ball when it comes to building 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.520 a democracy for the future. And you know, here's the thing. 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.000 Sometimes you realize things too late. Right, our democracy is 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.720 under attack, and it's been under attack for a long time. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.800 And so you know is are we are? We in 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.160 a position where we have the local will and the 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:05.160 runway right to write the ship. And that's what So 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.679 that's what me and so many other folks are are 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.199 both fighting to turn the ship but also fighting to 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:12.760 beat the cloud. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.199 You know. One of the things that I have been 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.680 finding over the last couple of years too, and maybe 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.600 this is just by virtue of like reading and also 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.840 just being exhausted with the fight. The way that it 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:31.200 has been, which is that resistance is in and of itself, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.480 is not enough. Right, the way that we have been resisting, 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.679 the way that we have continually been fighting inch by 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.600 inch by inch and then getting pushed back, you know, 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:45.480 several feet every every generation, every few years. And I 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.880 wonder in your thinking, in the way that we have 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:54.040 had schools be the battleground that we know what the 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:57.880 opposition is doing, how do you see resistance and the 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.680 way that we've been resisting different or how we need 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.640 to change, you know, our thinking, because I just don't 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.760 think that trying to block a thing is enough. It's 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.719 what are we creating? Right that I don't think that 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.040 just and this is again me, I don't think that 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.720 just screaming at the opposition is enough. I think that 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.040 it is what are we dreaming about? 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:22.719 How are we. 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.760 Moving that dream further? And so I wonder for you, 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:31.439 how has your understanding or idea a conceptualization of resistance 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.000 changed over the last four years given what you've seen. 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.200 Yeah, it's a great question. And also you you asked 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.840 the question, and you gave the answer I was gonna offer, right, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.000 which is that which is that you know it is 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.960 it's imperative for us to stop the bad stuff and 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.920 or accept that that's actually not enough and never has been. Right, 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.560 we have to have a vision, a positive vision for 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.440 the future of what not only what we don't want, 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.200 but actually what is the thing that's going to have 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.120 to be present order for us to get the outcomes 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.720 we want. And as I just said, right, we have 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.240 to think we have to begin thinking beyond the kind 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:12.920 of reform moment of education where young people, their parents, 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.880 their poor communities, et cetera, and their poor broke schools 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.040 quote unquote are the problems and understand that actually we 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.560 have a collective responsibility to ensure that every kid in 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:27.760 our country is educated and prepared to participate fully and 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.960 build for the first time, by the way, a multi 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.080 racial democracy that includes us. All Right, that's the vision, 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.760 that's where we're going. And I think that, you know, 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.160 here's what. Here's also another thing that I'll say, which 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.400 is we're finally in a for a very long time 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.360 since since desegregation, what has happened is that you know, 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.960 black folks, women and felms, people who are poor, working 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.040 class and low income have been decisions have been made 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.800 about them and us without there and our voices at 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.760 the table right, we've been kind of patted on the 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.360 head and say, hey, you know, we appreciate your stories, 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.720 but actually we know better and actually maybe you're the problem. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.240 And I think that in this moment, what we're seeing 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:18.800 is both a deep and widespread transition of leadership where 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.160 there are more people who are coming from impacted communities 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.560 in decision making roles. And so we actually have a 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.800 full understanding, not just the not just the brain smarts, 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.640 the book smarts, but like the heart knowledge, the body knowledge, 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.320 the fact that we have wherever we are right, we 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.800 still have family and friends who are who are where 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:38.720 we came from, right. And so there's a way which 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.920 we have a holistic understanding of how these systems work, 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.800 how these systems don't work, and what the fixes are 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.400 for them. And so so yeah, that's what I would offer. 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.160 Let me know if I if I answer your question. 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.360 Yeah, yeah, it does, it does, and I think that 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.440 you know it is it's just important for us and 0:15:55.480 --> 0:16:02.040 I you know, I remember being younger and thinking to right, 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.840 we all remember that you know where you know, consistently 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.920 pounding against you know, the door, consistently pounding against the table. 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.000 And I just I understand. 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:17.160 Now as you knows, as elders were like, we need 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.400 a different way, we need a we need a new 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.520 way like you need. It's like you need the pounders, 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.960 but you also need the thinkers, and you need the weavers, 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.040 and you need the dreamers, and you need all of 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.080 these different people in order to create this universe that 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:34.240 we want for all kids. You know how I keep 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:40.600 thinking about young queer people, queer students when Florida was 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:45.120 taking down their rainbow stickers out of their classrooms, and 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:49.800 their safe place, these safe place stickers out of their 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.560 classrooms is you know, share with us some of the 0:16:53.600 --> 0:17:00.040 things that lgbt Q kids have been met with in 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.919 their classrooms. And you know, for many school was a 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.280 safe space, right Like maybe they're not accepted at home, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.600 but that teacher, that coach was the one that saw them, 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.480 and now by seeing them can lose their jobs. So 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.280 I just want you to be able for the audience 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.800 to have some under real life understanding of the stories 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:22.959 that you're hearing. 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:29.480 Yeah, well, listen, you know we all understand how important 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:34.560 it is to have love and support, period, full stop, right, Like, 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.560 kids succeed when you put love and support in their way. 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.440 They fail when you put barriers and you with whole 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.720 love and support from them. It's literally just how animals work, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.879 how human animals work, It's how life works. And so 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.160 you know what we are seeing A couple of things 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:57.200 would I would say here, One, it's a universal law 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.840 that kids fail when you put barriers in front of them. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.800 Kids fail when you withdraw and remove and ban and 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.600 outlaw support. And so what we're seeing is children failing 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.760 right in terms of school attendance, in terms of mental 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.199 health well being. Wh y'all come back to right in 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.080 terms of in terms of grades, in terms of learning, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.320 we can't learn. We feel like we are in danger. 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.919 We can't learn. You feel like we are abandoned. We 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.960 can't learn. We're hungry, right, we can't learn when we 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.800 are hurting. And so and I'll come back to the 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.679 hurting in a second. Right, But like if we understand 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.960 and teachers do understand this, what is necessary for kids 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.280 to succeed and for kids to learn, How absurd is 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:41.440 it that actually parents whose job it is to love 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.080 and support and raise whole human beings are being pitted 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.800 against the folks in the only system in our society 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:53.879 that is intended only for care education. Right, it's not 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.000 intended for punishment, it's not intended for anything else. Right, 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:02.080 is literally only supposed to teach and so poor children 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:06.880 and somehow, right the holders of that system are being 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.239 pitted against. And I think both in false opposition. But 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:16.520 then also there are some deeply cynical and unloving and 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:21.439 unfit parents that are actually coming at education and educators 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.000 knowing full will. What they're doing, right, what they want 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:25.760 to do is create a world that's smaller for their 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.240 kids than the one that they live in as parents. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:34.920 That's like part one. Part two is the incredibly deep 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.399 mental health crisis that we are in the middle of 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.960 right now. And I say we, not young people. I 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.800 say we as a collective, right, we can name the 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.560 multiple crises that are happening right now that are stacking upon, 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:54.040 interlocking between, right, compounding down on all of us. And 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:58.040 we are adults. Right, We've got optimismy, We've got income, right, 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.920 We've got discretionary income. If we're lucky, we can choose 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:02.760 what to do with our time. For the most part, 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.080 we can choose our coping mechanisms. Right, there's a way 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.240 in which we have a level of autonomy and self 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.280 direction in this moment, and even we aren't okay, And 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.639 so what about a five year old? What about a 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:17.840 ten year old? What about a thirteen year old? What 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:20.760 about an eighteen year old? Right? And so what we 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.480 And I'll just zoom in here for a moment to 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.760 share this statistic that continues to break my heart every 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.200 time I think about it. So, we've lost over a 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.960 million people from the coronavirus pandemic right here in this country. 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.959 And while the policy wise, government wise, business wise, the 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.520 pandemic is over for those listening I'm doing air quotes, 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:45.760 the pandemic is over of while that is, while that 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.800 is true based on the policy realities and how everyone 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.040 is acting, right, what is what we also know is 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:55.679 that folks have been permanently marked by this pandemic. And 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.160 so here's one here's one statistic as an example, which 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:05.359 is seven out of ten children who lost a parent 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.919 or caregiver during COVID. So, right, seven out of the 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:14.280 ten kids whose parents or caregivers died during the coronavirus pandemic. 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:20.240 Seven of those ten young people are Black, Indigenous and 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:26.119 LATINX seventy And so forget everything else for a second, right, 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:29.760 forget the deep economic trouble that folks are in that 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.760 working people, you know, despite working one and two jobs, 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:34.880 don't have enough money to like, you know, to make 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.879 the ends meet. Forget for a second, you know, the 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.360 deep insecurity and both and like the lack of safety 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:44.399 that people feel moving through their communities and moving through 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:49.119 moving through the streets. Just understand that seventy percent of 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.640 the kids who lost their parents during COVID or black 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:56.600 and brown, right, and like the deep heartbreak of that, right, 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:03.320 the deep trauma, the deep sadness, and so what that 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:05.280 looks like in the five and like what that looks 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:07.760 like for me, right, for as a person who didn't 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.520 lose a parent or caregiver, who's in my forties, who's 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.760 lost dozens of people in this pandemic, dozens of people 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.760 who I know and love to COVID. I'm I'm grown, 0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:22.680 I'm grown, and I'm carrying around a heavy backpack of sadness. Right. Yeah, 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.600 So when we're talking about how are kids doing, not 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.320 good because none of us are doing good, right, But 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:31.520 the thing is is that we're also they're not. They're 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.600 not doing good, and they don't have people who are 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.520 listening to them and as a result, building systems and 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:41.439 putting supports up and around them to help them be better. 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:44.560 Because actually, no one's doing good and no one is 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.880 focused on being better. We're grinting our teeth right, we're 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:50.600 girding our loins, and we're putting our head down and 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:53.760 we're moving on for some reason without attending to the 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:59.280 real heartbreak and sadness and trava that we've all experienced. 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.359 So all this is say, kids aren't. No one's doing okay, 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:07.040 and young people who have fewer tools and discretion and 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:10.320 autonomy are doing less well. Now, put on top of 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.040 all that, like you're queer right, or your gender expansive 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:18.240 or your trands and again, great on you if you've 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:19.960 got to, if you've got to support a parent. And 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.480 there are parents out there who love their kids right, 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:27.280 who understand it's their job to to love and support 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.240 their child and to meet their kid anew at every 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:34.520 single developmental age, and believe them, believe that right for 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:37.720 who what they are told? What the kid chooses to 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:42.120 tell them about themselves. Then there are other parents who 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:44.879 who insist that actually it's better that my child not 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:47.680 exists then then be different than what I tell them 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:51.480 to be and so. And it's those parents, sadly, who 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:53.760 are who are the ones who are taking over school boards. 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:56.800 It's those parents who are taking who are challenging books 0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:00.679 quote unquote and getting books that would support their young person, 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:04.320 support other young people seeing themselves or seeing people like 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:08.280 their friends in literature and curriculum. It's those parents whould 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.520 rather have a dead kid than a trans adult, right 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:16.800 who are pushing this political agenda at the school, at 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:17.760 the school board level. 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:23.720 You know, last question for you, Melanie, because I appreciate 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:27.239 so much you laying out just where things are and 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:29.840 where we are and the fact that it is okay 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.719 to recognize and acknowledge frankly that we are all not okay. 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:37.760 I think that that is the first part of honestly 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:40.359 getting to a place of healing is to understand that 0:24:40.400 --> 0:24:47.040 you are wounded to begin with. What I so appreciate 0:24:47.280 --> 0:24:50.080 about the work that you are doing is that the 0:24:50.160 --> 0:24:53.520