In late 2023, I had the opportunity to work for an author and poetry professor deeply committed to social justice and the transformative power of art in activism. While serving as his teaching assistant, I was introduced to a topic I wish I had learned about much earlier—the Los Angeles Riots. As the class viewed a documentary on the riots, I found myself at the back of the classroom, there to grade papers but instead engrossed and moved by the film. This experience sparked the poem below, “Dear History Teacher,” a message to my American history teacher from 2014.
Dear History Teacher
Dear history teacher
Why didn’t I learn about Rodney King?
I was in your class in 2014
You watched me,
and the three other Black students in the class
Suffer through white students’ justification of Mike’s murder
And condemn the Ferguson “looters”
When the pain, the frustration
and the fear
bubbled over
You watched as YOUR media labeled my response as a riot
You didn’t teach me about Rodney King
Because you are an agent of the state
With knees on the necks of my people
Tightening chains around the minds and throats of Black youth
Ensuring we read novels about southern white sympathizers
Instead of resilience and resistance of people who look like me
You didn’t teach me about Rodney King
Because just like the cops,
You follow King, Brown, Floyd, Bland, Taylor, and me
Waiting for your chance to beat the resistance out of us
But you did it with books instead of bats.
About 10 Years Later: Reflections on the Ferguson Uprising
To create our series, “10 Years Later: Reflections from the Ferguson Uprising,” we invited our staff to share their reflections and document their journeys following this pivotal event. The Ferguson Uprising not only reverberated through St. Louis but also sparked crucial work across the nation to address inequities. With the 10th anniversary of the uprising, we encourage readers to delve into these personal stories and think about their own experiences, fostering a deeper understanding of the ongoing journey toward health equity and social justice.
