*The Fraternal Order of Police is using it’s bully tactics against a bunch of eighth graders in Wylie, Texas because of a class assignment that portrayed some cops as present-day white supremacists. Now Governor Greg Abbott has called for the teacher who assigned the project to be fired!
It happened earlier in August. It was a social studies assignment for eighth graders at Cooper Junior High School. Students were told to discuss a political cartoon that shows the evolution of slave traders, to slave owners, to hooded Ku Klux Klan members, to Civil Rights era police, to present-day cops who kneel on the necks of Black men until they die!
The cartoon in question originally was published on an Arizona media platform. Apparently some parents of the 8th grade students in the class thought the social studies assignment was a bad idea and reported it to the Fraternal Order Of Police.
Joe Gamaldi is national vice-president of FOP. In a letter addressed to the Wylie Independent School District Superintendent, Gamaldi called the comparison of cops to slave holders, white supremacists and KKK members ‘disturbing.’ And he said the worst part is there were no responsible adults around with better judgment than to assign this project to begin with.
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The letter goes on to say police are a diverse group of individuals working to have conversations with communities and children. And he offered to sit down with teachers and students to “be a part of positive resolution to this horrible situation.”
Let’s dissect this issue of the cartoon assignment and responses to it: First the assignment was for a social studies class of 13-year-olds – not 6 -year-olds! They are closer to adulthood than to adolescence, so it was age-appropriate. Today’s social climate is one of civil discourse that includes racial injustice at the hands of law enforcement officers. Teens should not be expected to ignore social realities that effect their families, friends and the world around them. If we want future generations to be part of the solution parents should stop trying to hide life’s truths from their children and instead help them through it. If parents don’t like their reality, they should be examples to their children – and anyone else watching – on how to deal with it. Be the change you hope to see.
To Gamaldi and the Fraternal Order of Police: Whether or not the cartoon turned into a social studies assignment for 8th graders is not the point. The point is the FOP and local unions by many accounts are known more for defending acts of unjustified deadly force by police against unarmed Black people than for anything else. So don’t take out your frustration about your negative image on a bunch of 13-year-olds and school administrators. Your image problem is not their fault. It’s your fault. Your disdain for the citizens of Houston where you’ve served as police union president before your recent election to national V.P. is indicative of why your membership is made up of more bully, liar, killer cops than the diverse group of individuals you speak of like the words on a marketing brochure. Your letter to the school superintendent sounds good, but it’s billy clubs and bullets that break our bones and kill us! It’s no wonder you got elected to a FOP national office, because you fit right in.
If the FOP wants to talk about solutions with anyone talk to your membership nationwide to condemn continuous violence against unarmed Black and Brown people. Stop defending them. Don’t try to push skewed narratives on students and teachers who know systemic racism and bad behavior when they see it! It is what it is.
Lastly, there is no better lesson than our current situation for 8th graders to focus on in social studies class. Whether or not you agree with the cartoon, no book or guest speaker seems more appropriate under the circumstances. The governor’s call for termination of the teacher who assigned the project shows a lack of forethought and a rush to judgment under pressure from an organization known for bullying politicians, unarmed citizens on the streets of America and now 8th graders just trying to make sense of the world around them. Just because some adults want to ignore what’s really going on doesn’t mean our children should too.
Steffanie Rivers is a freelance journalist living in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. Email her at [email protected] with your comments, questions and speaking inquiries.
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