The danger of silence | Clint Smith | TED
Summary
TLDRIn a powerful speech, a teacher reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s message about the consequences of silence. Emphasizing the importance of speaking out against discrimination and violence, the teacher shares their journey of challenging students to explore and break their silences through poetry. They highlight the significance of honesty and courage in addressing social issues and personal experiences. The teacher resolves to live every day using their voice to fight injustice, encouraging others to do the same, and creating a safe space for students to express their truths.
Takeaways
- 🗣️ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized the importance of addressing the silence of friends over the words of enemies.
- 📝 As a teacher, the speaker encourages students to explore and voice their silences through poetry.
- 🔍 The classroom culture focuses on four core principles: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, and tell your truth.
- 🗯️ The speaker emphasizes the importance of telling one's truth and being honest about personal failures in speaking up.
- 🛑 The speaker shares a personal story about giving up speaking during Lent and realizing the value of using one's voice.
- 😔 The speaker recounts moments of silence in the face of injustice, like ignoring a bullied classmate and avoiding interaction with a homeless man.
- 💬 The speaker criticizes the societal tendency to remain silent in uncomfortable situations, equating silence with complicity.
- ⚖️ Silence is described as a consequence of fear and privilege, leading to the perpetuation of discrimination and violence.
- 📢 The speaker resolves to break the silence by actively engaging and speaking up in the face of injustice.
- 🙏 The final message encourages living with the courage to speak up, using one's voice as a tool for change and human connection.
Q & A
What message did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. convey in his 1968 speech that the teacher internalized?
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends, emphasizing the importance of speaking up against injustice.
How does the teacher challenge students to confront silence in their lives?
-The teacher encourages students to explore the silences in their lives through poetry, working together to fill those spaces and understand that they don't have to be sources of shame.
What are the four core principles the teacher has posted on the classroom board?
-The four core principles are: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, and tell your truth.
Why did the teacher give up speaking during Lent?
-The teacher believed that the most valuable thing to sacrifice was their own voice, not realizing that they had already been silent in many aspects of their life.
What personal failures did the teacher admit to their students?
-The teacher admitted to failing to speak up when Christian was beaten up for being gay, ignoring a homeless man's need for affirmation, and biting their lip when a woman at a gala made a derogatory comment about their students.
How does the teacher describe the consequences of silence?
-The teacher describes silence as the residue of fear, a manifestation of discrimination, violence, genocide, and war, and something that can endorse ignorance without words.
What does the teacher plan to do differently instead of giving something up during Lent?
-Instead of giving something up, the teacher plans to live every day as if there were a microphone under their tongue, ready to speak up and use their voice.
What does the teacher believe about the power of speaking up?
-The teacher believes that speaking up is powerful and necessary, as it can validate the existence of issues and help fight against injustice and ignorance.
How does the teacher plan to support Christian after his incident?
-The teacher plans to tell Christian that he is a lion, a sanctuary of bravery and brilliance, acknowledging his courage and strength.
What does the teacher intend to do when encountering the homeless man again?
-The teacher intends to ask the homeless man his name and how his day was, showing empathy and recognizing his humanity.
How does the teacher respond to the woman's comment about their students at the fundraising gala?
-The teacher plans to correct the woman's misconception, informing her that their students are intelligent and knowledgeable, and that watching one episode of a TV show does not make her an expert on their lives.
Outlines
📚 Embracing Silence in the Classroom
The speaker, a teacher, begins by reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words about the impact of silence, particularly the silence of friends during times of struggle. The teacher emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing silence in various forms of discrimination and violence. In the classroom, they encourage students to explore their own silences through poetry, aiming to create a safe environment where sharing personal experiences is encouraged. The teacher has four core principles posted in the classroom: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, and tell your truth. The speaker acknowledges the need to live by these principles themselves, sharing personal experiences of failing to speak up in the past.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Silence
💡Fear
💡Voice
💡Truth
💡Discrimination
💡Sacrifice
💡Empathy
💡Injustice
💡Conscience
💡Education
Highlights
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote on the importance of remembering the silence of friends over the words of enemies.
The teacher reflects on the consequences of silence in the form of discrimination, violence, genocide, and war.
Encourages students to explore the silences in their lives through poetry, working to fill and understand those spaces.
Four core principles posted in the classroom: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, tell your truth.
The teacher shares a personal story about giving up speaking during Lent, realizing they had already sacrificed their voice.
Admits to failing to speak up against ignorance and discrimination in the past, including not defending a gay classmate.
Emphasizes the importance of using one's voice to challenge ignorance and support those in need.
Reflects on the impact of silence in various tragic events like the Rwandan genocide and Hurricane Katrina.
States that silence is the residue of fear and that it allows ignorance and injustice to persist.
The teacher resolves to live every day as if there were a microphone under their tongue, ready to speak up.
Plans to engage with marginalized individuals, like the homeless man, by asking their name and showing humanity.
Commits to correcting misconceptions about their students, challenging stereotypes with evidence of their intelligence.
Expresses the belief that one doesn't need a soapbox to make a difference, only their voice.
Highlights the importance of telling one's truth, both for the teacher and the students.
Concludes with a powerful message about the value of speaking up and using one's voice to create change.
Transcripts
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
in a 1968 speech where he reflects upon the Civil Rights Movement,
states, "In the end,
we will remember not the words of our enemies
but the silence of our friends."
As a teacher, I've internalized this message.
Every day, all around us,
we see the consequences of silence
manifest themselves in the form of discrimination,
violence, genocide and war.
In the classroom, I challenge my students
to explore the silences in their own lives
through poetry.
We work together to fill those spaces,
to recognize them, to name them,
to understand that they don't have to be sources of shame.
In an effort to create a culture within my classroom
where students feel safe sharing the intimacies
of their own silences,
I have four core principles posted on the board
that sits in the front of my class,
which every student signs at the beginning of the year:
read critically, write consciously,
speak clearly, tell your truth.
And I find myself thinking a lot about that last point,
tell your truth.
And I realized that
if I was going to ask my students to speak up,
I was going to have to tell my truth
and be honest with them about the times
where I failed to do so.
So I tell them that growing up,
as a kid in a Catholic family in New Orleans,
during Lent I was always taught
that the most meaningful thing one could do
was to give something up,
sacrifice something you typically indulge in
to prove to God you understand his sanctity.
I've given up soda, McDonald's, French fries,
French kisses, and everything in between.
But one year, I gave up speaking.
I figured the most valuable thing I could sacrifice
was my own voice, but it was like I hadn't realized
that I had given that up a long time ago.
I spent so much of my life
telling people the things they wanted to hear
instead of the things they needed to,
told myself I wasn't meant to be anyone's conscience
because I still had to figure out being my own,
so sometimes I just wouldn't say anything,
appeasing ignorance with my silence,
unaware that validation doesn't need words
to endorse its existence.
When Christian was beat up for being gay,
I put my hands in my pocket
and walked with my head down as if I didn't even notice.
I couldn't use my locker for weeks because the bolt on the lock
reminded me of the one I had put on my lips
when the homeless man on the corner
looked at me with eyes up merely searching
for an affirmation that he was worth seeing.
I was more concerned with touching the screen on my Apple
than actually feeding him one.
When the woman at the fundraising gala
said "I'm so proud of you.
It must be so hard teaching those poor, unintelligent kids,"
I bit my lip, because apparently we needed her money
more than my students needed their dignity.
We spend so much time
listening to the things people are saying
that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.
Silence is the residue of fear.
It is feeling your flaws
gut-wrench guillotine your tongue.
It is the air retreating from your chest
because it doesn't feel safe in your lungs.
Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina.
It is what you hear when there aren't enough body bags left.
It is the sound after the noose is already tied.
It is charring. It is chains. It is privilege. It is pain.
There is no time to pick your battles
when your battles have already picked you.
I will not let silence wrap itself around my indecision.
I will tell Christian that he is a lion,
a sanctuary of bravery and brilliance.
I will ask that homeless man what his name is
and how his day was, because sometimes
all people want to be is human.
I will tell that woman that my students can talk about
transcendentalism like their last name was Thoreau,
and just because you watched one episode of "The Wire"
doesn't mean you know anything about my kids.
So this year,
instead of giving something up,
I will live every day as if there were a microphone
tucked under my tongue,
a stage on the underside of my inhibition.
Because who has to have a soapbox
when all you've ever needed is your voice?
Thank you.
(Applause)
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