You Have a Right to Remain Silent!

A PRIMER FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WHO MAY FACE I.C.E. OR POLICE INTERROGATION

My last blog post generated some excitement on social media. Here in the Free State of Florida and among MAGA controlled states all over the country teachers are being ordered by administration and their district officers NOT to teach students their fundamental human rights. This is the world that MAGA voted for, one in which children are terrorized to the point that they are afraid to go to school.

Those of us who see this as dystopic must fight back against trespasses against EVERYONE’S rights. Henceforth, that is the mission of what is not Mr. Andoscia’s Underground Classroom.

It starts with this primer on exercising the right to remain silent. Every teacher knows that it is one thing to teach kids about their rights, but it’s quite another for kids, facing an adult authority figure, to exercise those rights. This primer provides a simple script for young people, their parents, their peers, and those teachers who are in a position to help, to practice “remaining silent.”

Remaining silent in the face of often intimidating authority, many of whom are specially trained to get a suspect to talk, is extremely difficult. It is much easier to have something to say in response to interrogators that reinforce one’s right to remain silent, and demand the respect of that right.

Below is a PNG that can be downloaded and made into cards that can be given out to young people. It is in English. I have Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Brazilian Portuguese versions coming soon. Please feel free to use these images and pass them around. Share this post with your teacher friends as well as any young person who looks like or associates with those who look like they may be subject to ICE interrogation. Parents, please use these images to help your child practice the scripts. The more people practice the script, the easier it is to remain calm and use it when the time comes.

It is a shame we live (still live when it comes to young people of color) in a world where such a skill must be practiced, but this is the world that MAGA voted for. And more of them showed up to vote than those who think like us.