UoDEdushare | Dougie's Blog

On Tuesday, I participated in a lecture about the Racism that occurs in our community. The lecture contained the stories about Emmett Till, lynching and the progress we’ve made as a community during the past century whilst also highlighting the work we’ve still to do.

Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy (who was black) who travelled from Chicago to Mississippi for a holiday. During his holiday he was accused of flirting with a shop owner (a white female) this lead to the woman’s husband and brother-in-law kidnapping and torturing Emmett, then eventually killing him. This case was so widely spread by the media and throughout history because the accused murderers were given a very light sentence due to the entire jury being white men (black men and all women weren’t allowed to be in a jury at this time). Later on the woman came clean and admitted that Emmett did not flirt with her.

During this time, lynchings also occurred. This was a horrendous act where white community in America would kidnap and publicly execute black men and women for being black.

Obviously, we’ve made great progress with racism in our community as we have passed intense violence and hatred towards other races. However- we also still have work to do to focus on our subconscious bias against people.

It’s funny how one passing comment from someone can change the entire trajectory of your life. Up until that moment I had no idea what I wanted to do career-wise in my life. All throughout primary school and the majority of my secondary school I was clueless and juggling between anything from architect to a café owner.

One day, I got an amazon package in the post. It was a massive bag of fake vines that I’d ordered to make my room into the jungle that I’d always wanted it to be. I was putting these vines up in my room, twisting them up my walls and along my roof when my mum walked into my room, saw the vines and said one thing.

“You should be a primary teacher.” Then she left.

My entire life I’d been clueless to my dream job. However when my mum said that, a spark ignited inside me that I’d never experienced before. The burning desire to teach children, the desire to have a jungle as my classroom. Each table have a different plant to care for and look after. This idea of a classroom filled with children learning their education whilst also learning how to care for something and learn how to respect nature for what it is, excited me. It excited me beyond belief.

That’s why I decided on primary teaching.

Racism in our Society

A small comment, A big impact