To the editor:

I’ve been a teacher for 15 years. I’ve taught in multiple locations including Chicago, Texas, and the suburbs of the Twin Cities. For the longest time, I thought that the way people were treated had more to do with their merits rather than their skin color. Throughout my experiences teaching in various locations, I learned I was wrong. At one of the schools I taught at (not New Ulm High School), the students coined the phrase “Walking While White.” Now the specific school was a diverse school with about 30% of the students being Caucasian, 40% being Hispanic or Latino, and the rest were Black. What the students told me was that if a White kid was walking down the hall, they were never stopped by a hall monitor and asked for a pass. In fact, many times they didn’t even have a pass and no one stopped them. However, for my students of color it was a different situation entirely. I can’t tell you how many times an administration member or a home monitor sent an email to confirm I had written a pass for a specific student. And always, that student was a student of color. If a Black or Brown kid walked the halls, not only was their pass checked, but it was scrutinized as well.

I don’t want to reveal which school it was because I don’t think it’s important. The important lesson from this is to recognize this situation is not isolated to a high school hallway. The experience a Black or Brown person has in our society is fundamentally different than the experience a White person has. When White kids walk into a convenience store, no one ever gives them the side eye or hovers over them like they are going to steal. However, if a Black or Brown kid walks in, oftentimes they are asked to leave their backpack outside or to only come in a few at a time to prevent stealing. We are treating these kids like criminals before they’ve had a chance to figure out who they are going to be.

It’s easy to bury your head in the sand and think that our state, our county and our city don’t have a race problem. It’s easy to look at yourself and say “I have no problem with people of color.” But the truth is, as a society, we treat people of color differently than we do white folks. And we always have. That is the first step in recognizing how to move forward. It’s a hard truth and an embarrassing truth. But once that truth is recognized, we can start to listen and create the change needed so that walking or driving while Brown no longer leads to that individual being taken removed in a body bag.

William Skar

New Ulm