so besides a volunteering to make our
student speakers look good today I’m
here to speak as you heard the topic
about why it’s more important than ever
to teach about race I’m gonna focus
though on the how before I get started I
just want to provide a warning to
everyone I’m gonna be referencing a
well-known hate group that operates in
the United States so let’s go to Needham
Massachusetts a sleepy suburb of Boston
the years 2004 it’s October and I’ve
just driven into school it’s my very
first year as the high school principal
and there are a group of students
waiting for me now in my position as
high school principal whenever somebody
is waiting for you at your office when
you show up they are usually not there
to tell you how awesome you are
and what a great job you’re doing they
were a group of Metco students now Metco
is basically the Boston bussing program
where hundreds of students from
inner-city neighborhoods across Boston
literally get onto buses and come into
the suburbs for access to high quality
education a very controversial and
long-standing program but these students
are incredibly important to our
community what are you going to do about
this mr. Richards a student reaches out
with a whole bunch of leaflets they were
leaflets from the Ku Klux Klan yes the
KKK and there were dozens of them all
across the school now you probably know
the KKK through your study of US history
and the terror that they’ve rained all
across the u.s. over the years from
after the Civil War into the civil
rights movement and you may know that
they’re actually unfortunately still
active today you might see them in
marches and you may or may not know that
they’re one of their strategies of
spreading their hate speech is through
canvassing where they basically spam a
community with their literature and that
appears to what happened in Needham so i
placated the students got them back to
class said i’m gonna get right on top of
it
and I was thinking to myself oh no I can
assure you those weren’t the exact words
I used and I was definitely thinking
they did not cover this in graduate
school so we launched an investigation
as you might do and we discovered
something quite quite shocking in fact
the KKK did not in fact canvass Needham
High School one of our very own Metco
students had found an actual flyer
somewhere outside the community brought
it into school used our copiers made
dozens of copies and spread them all
across the school and reserved a few to
take up to the brand-new high school
principal you can imagine how shocked
angry upset distraught we were really
hurt so we started thinking about
consequences as one might do in fact
this is likely what have happened years
after years after years of place like
Needham high school and these are likely
what these students were used to if this
sort of behavior had happened but as we
contemplated we first wanted to ask them
why why did you do this why did you
disrupt this school why did you cause
such embarrassment in the press to this
community and I’ll never forget this
young woman of color Shaina she said mr.
Richards this school for years has
ignored our lived experience they’ve
ignored the challenges we face coming
from our communities into this nearly
entirely white community of Needham
these Flyers were a wake-up call to you
okay not not the response I expected and
I worked hard not to become defensive
not to say Shaina there are a hundred
different ways that you can get your
voice heard without this sort of
disruption or look I’m in my second
month as a high school principal can you
just give me a little bit of time so we
found ourselves out of crossroads
it still would have been much easier to
punish but you know the Latin root for
the word discipline means to teach and
to teach this lesson through punishment
made us feel like hypocrites so we
instead chose to listen we chose to
learn from the students in fact we
didn’t punish at all we launched a
comprehensive anti-bias campaign across
the school to create a new chapter in
needham high school we created affinity
groups for students we created
opportunities to talk to listen we had
students talking to students students
talking to teachers we had trainers
coming in we even tapped into the
district’s efforts to close the
achievement gap and we made a real
difference when it is hardest to do so
we must listen for it’s our greatest
chance for peace and happiness so in
2009 we left Needham in fact we left the
United States altogether to raise our
children overseas first we went to
London then we went to Saudi Arabia and
now here we are in Dubai and I wanted to
keep the passion that I had for social
justice so I developed a course for high
school students taught from the Allied
perspective on topics of race and
culture I taught three versions of it in
London two versions in Saudi Arabia and
this coming fall I’ll offer the latest
version here at the American School of
Dubai now when I first offered the
course in London we needed to start with
the question are we post-racial or is
race just a thing of the past now
remember Obama President Obama had just
been elected and there was this feeling
that we we as a major milestone here
even though if you were paying attention
there were examples all through the
press of racial and sensitivities and
sports or ethnic conflicts in faraway
places but it was a legitimate question
too to have an to pose and then a few
years later the powder keg exploded
Michael Brown and the riots of Ferguson
Missouri and Eric garner in New York
City and then in 2016
Trump was elected and the xenophobes
came out of the swamp and race politics
are now front and center the wall the
travel ban and daca so I ask you again
are we post-racial is race just a thing
of the past perhaps not and here we are
again at this crossroads and I believe
again it’s time to listen it’s time to
learn but you know this is not listening
these are actually police officers not
soldiers nor is this listening violence
against police when it is hardest to do
so we must listen for that’s our
greatest chance for peace and for
happiness why do we listen we listen so
that we can validate the differences
among us so nobody becomes invisible we
listen to appreciate culture what
Explorer Wade Davis calls humanity’s
greatest legacy we listen so that we can
respond to conflict rather than react we
listen so we don’t miss the incredible
messages in this powerful social
movements that we see today
what an incredible age we live in so
I’ll leave you today with an acronym we
listen so that we can learn we listen
through inquiry by asking questions to
understand we’re able to listen only
when we stop talking when we listen we
gain empathy we understand the
perspective of others and when we listen
we negate ignorance bias prejudice
and hates so join me today in launching
hashtag listen thank you very much [Applause]
student speakers look good today I’m
here to speak as you heard the topic
about why it’s more important than ever
to teach about race I’m gonna focus
though on the how before I get started I
just want to provide a warning to
everyone I’m gonna be referencing a
well-known hate group that operates in
the United States so let’s go to Needham
Massachusetts a sleepy suburb of Boston
the years 2004 it’s October and I’ve
just driven into school it’s my very
first year as the high school principal
and there are a group of students
waiting for me now in my position as
high school principal whenever somebody
is waiting for you at your office when
you show up they are usually not there
to tell you how awesome you are
and what a great job you’re doing they
were a group of Metco students now Metco
is basically the Boston bussing program
where hundreds of students from
inner-city neighborhoods across Boston
literally get onto buses and come into
the suburbs for access to high quality
education a very controversial and
long-standing program but these students
are incredibly important to our
community what are you going to do about
this mr. Richards a student reaches out
with a whole bunch of leaflets they were
leaflets from the Ku Klux Klan yes the
KKK and there were dozens of them all
across the school now you probably know
the KKK through your study of US history
and the terror that they’ve rained all
across the u.s. over the years from
after the Civil War into the civil
rights movement and you may know that
they’re actually unfortunately still
active today you might see them in
marches and you may or may not know that
they’re one of their strategies of
spreading their hate speech is through
canvassing where they basically spam a
community with their literature and that
appears to what happened in Needham so i
placated the students got them back to
class said i’m gonna get right on top of
it
and I was thinking to myself oh no I can
assure you those weren’t the exact words
I used and I was definitely thinking
they did not cover this in graduate
school so we launched an investigation
as you might do and we discovered
something quite quite shocking in fact
the KKK did not in fact canvass Needham
High School one of our very own Metco
students had found an actual flyer
somewhere outside the community brought
it into school used our copiers made
dozens of copies and spread them all
across the school and reserved a few to
take up to the brand-new high school
principal you can imagine how shocked
angry upset distraught we were really
hurt so we started thinking about
consequences as one might do in fact
this is likely what have happened years
after years after years of place like
Needham high school and these are likely
what these students were used to if this
sort of behavior had happened but as we
contemplated we first wanted to ask them
why why did you do this why did you
disrupt this school why did you cause
such embarrassment in the press to this
community and I’ll never forget this
young woman of color Shaina she said mr.
Richards this school for years has
ignored our lived experience they’ve
ignored the challenges we face coming
from our communities into this nearly
entirely white community of Needham
these Flyers were a wake-up call to you
okay not not the response I expected and
I worked hard not to become defensive
not to say Shaina there are a hundred
different ways that you can get your
voice heard without this sort of
disruption or look I’m in my second
month as a high school principal can you
just give me a little bit of time so we
found ourselves out of crossroads
it still would have been much easier to
punish but you know the Latin root for
the word discipline means to teach and
to teach this lesson through punishment
made us feel like hypocrites so we
instead chose to listen we chose to
learn from the students in fact we
didn’t punish at all we launched a
comprehensive anti-bias campaign across
the school to create a new chapter in
needham high school we created affinity
groups for students we created
opportunities to talk to listen we had
students talking to students students
talking to teachers we had trainers
coming in we even tapped into the
district’s efforts to close the
achievement gap and we made a real
difference when it is hardest to do so
we must listen for it’s our greatest
chance for peace and happiness so in
2009 we left Needham in fact we left the
United States altogether to raise our
children overseas first we went to
London then we went to Saudi Arabia and
now here we are in Dubai and I wanted to
keep the passion that I had for social
justice so I developed a course for high
school students taught from the Allied
perspective on topics of race and
culture I taught three versions of it in
London two versions in Saudi Arabia and
this coming fall I’ll offer the latest
version here at the American School of
Dubai now when I first offered the
course in London we needed to start with
the question are we post-racial or is
race just a thing of the past now
remember Obama President Obama had just
been elected and there was this feeling
that we we as a major milestone here
even though if you were paying attention
there were examples all through the
press of racial and sensitivities and
sports or ethnic conflicts in faraway
places but it was a legitimate question
too to have an to pose and then a few
years later the powder keg exploded
Michael Brown and the riots of Ferguson
Missouri and Eric garner in New York
City and then in 2016
Trump was elected and the xenophobes
came out of the swamp and race politics
are now front and center the wall the
travel ban and daca so I ask you again
are we post-racial is race just a thing
of the past perhaps not and here we are
again at this crossroads and I believe
again it’s time to listen it’s time to
learn but you know this is not listening
these are actually police officers not
soldiers nor is this listening violence
against police when it is hardest to do
so we must listen for that’s our
greatest chance for peace and for
happiness why do we listen we listen so
that we can validate the differences
among us so nobody becomes invisible we
listen to appreciate culture what
Explorer Wade Davis calls humanity’s
greatest legacy we listen so that we can
respond to conflict rather than react we
listen so we don’t miss the incredible
messages in this powerful social
movements that we see today
what an incredible age we live in so
I’ll leave you today with an acronym we
listen so that we can learn we listen
through inquiry by asking questions to
understand we’re able to listen only
when we stop talking when we listen we
gain empathy we understand the
perspective of others and when we listen
we negate ignorance bias prejudice
and hates so join me today in launching
hashtag listen thank you very much [Applause]
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