Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

“Teachers at Arms.”

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in America, for they perform one of the most challenging jobs: teaching the young, and do so while being woefully underpaid. The recent Trump cartoon bubble calling for the arming of teachers in the face of high-powered massacres in school betrays a profound ignorance of what teachers do and whom they are.

Good teachers are people who sacrificed considerable amounts of money to do what they love: teaching, for people who love: kids. Are teachers are going to be armed with automatic weapons to confront young men with semi-automatic weapons? But it does give insight into the paranoid fantasies the Trumpists who want to militarize teachers in a dystopian fortress America.

When teachers want resources like better books, better computers, or heaven forbid, better pay, they get slapped down by the same politicians now demanding they be equipped with Glocks or AR15s. This is madness. Teachers aren’t commandos, nor should they be asked to be. Can you imagine that dangerous potential kids may face with armed, stressed teachers, overworked, underpaid, and disrespected?

It’s not easy to teach, but it’s infinitely rewarding when students discover the joy of learning. Yes, teachers need help doing what they do, but not more weapons of war. They need books, space, respect, and better pay. To the Trump regime, such things as this are not on the table.

From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.