Saturday, January 21, 2017

On the day of evil augury in the 'hood

Ever since the bombastic Tangerine intruded himself on the national scene, parents have wondered: "how do I explain to the children that a man who lies and bullies can be President?" Many kids, including children who have a perfect legal right to be here, know that this President has promised to round up people who look like them and send them to foreign countries. "Will he send me away?" a friend's daughter asked.

The public school across the street from my house serves many Latinx children and families where these fears fester. Some do not have legal status, so they really are at risk. Others just fear they might be. Inauguration day was an anxious time.

And so, in late afternoon yesterday, teachers helped the kids write out the messages they wanted to send to the new President and tie them to the playground fence. Out in the yard, dance music blared.

Tying the cloth strip on properly was a painstaking task for this little fellow.

No one could consider this message inflammatory ...

...any more than any healthy human would be repulsed by this one.

Buena Vista/Horace Mann school did its best to promote kindness and community, as we all must in the hard times ahead.

Thanks to Erudite Partner for some of these images. We both went running out, delighted, waving our cameras, when the music drew our attention.

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