January 7, 2021

Thursday

I didn’t have time to think about the news before Catherine A swept me away to Charvieu for the day’s classes. I spent the morning presenting New York to my 4ème and 6ème students.

I made the main focus of my presentation Broadway. I shared clips from Wicked, Hamilton, and West Side Story again. The kids were always excited to hear that singers from Frozen were in both Wicked and Hamilton. I swear, they love that movie more than anything. West Side Story attracted a lot of attention from both groups. The older students were more interested in the style of dancing in the clip that I shared. I told them that it had Puerto Rican influences and that’s why the style was so unique.

The younger students focused more on the lyrics. The line they found particularly striking was “things are alright in America, if you’re all white in America.” They immediately started asking questions and declared the line “racist.” I was a little apprehensive to have the conversation with them in front of their teacher because the French aren’t super fond of talking about diversity and equity issues. We did end up having a fruitful conversation. I told them that many immigrant experience discrimination in the States because of their skin color or ethnicity. That many people are pressured to assimilate to American culture while giving up their own native language and culture. I argued that the line wasn’t racist and was instead pointing out a double standard present in the US. They were disappointed to hear that discrimination happens in the US. Many of them view it as some sort of utopia where everyone is rich and no one struggles. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

I sat in the staff room during the break and joined the other teacher for a coffee before Catherine took my back to Anthon. Some of them hadn’t even heard about the news from the States. Their mouths hung open as one of the other English teachers described the riot. I shared some of the photos on my timeline, like the man stealing the podium. They were saddened.

I arrived home for the day and spent a lot of time decompressing. I got to chat with a friend on the phone and we went over everything again. As we talked, more news developed. Representatives started calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked, others promised to draw up articles of impeachment, and still more shared resolutions to bar Tr•mp allies from remaining in their seats as a consequence for their actions.