0:00:01.100,0:00:02.750
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

0:00:02.750,0:00:06.636
in a 1968 speech where he reflects[br]upon the Civil Rights Movement,

0:00:06.636,0:00:09.330
states, "In the end,

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we will remember not the words of our enemies

0:00:12.413,0:00:15.280
but the silence of our friends."

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As a teacher, I've internalized this message.

0:00:17.800,0:00:19.780
Every day, all around us,

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we see the consequences of silence

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manifest themselves in the form of discrimination,

0:00:23.893,0:00:27.701
violence, genocide and war.

0:00:27.701,0:00:29.897
In the classroom, I challenge my students

0:00:29.897,0:00:32.328
to explore the silences in their own lives

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through poetry.

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We work together to fill those spaces,

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to recognize them, to name them,

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to understand that they don't[br]have to be sources of shame.

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In an effort to create a culture within my classroom

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where students feel safe sharing the intimacies

0:00:47.301,0:00:49.135
of their own silences,

0:00:49.135,0:00:51.216
I have four core principles posted on the board

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that sits in the front of my class,

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which every student signs[br]at the beginning of the year:

0:00:56.370,0:00:58.543
read critically, write consciously,

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speak clearly, tell your truth.

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And I find myself thinking a lot about that last point,

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tell your truth.

0:01:06.871,0:01:08.665
And I realized that

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if I was going to ask my students to speak up,

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I was going to have to tell my truth

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and be honest with them about the times

0:01:15.280,0:01:16.848
where I failed to do so.

0:01:16.848,0:01:18.908
So I tell them that growing up,

0:01:18.908,0:01:21.576
as a kid in a Catholic family in New Orleans,

0:01:21.576,0:01:24.438
during Lent I was always taught

0:01:24.438,0:01:26.246
that the most meaningful thing one could do

0:01:26.246,0:01:27.788
was to give something up,

0:01:27.788,0:01:30.080
sacrifice something you typically indulge in

0:01:30.080,0:01:32.479
to prove to God you understand his sanctity.

0:01:32.479,0:01:35.281
I've given up soda, McDonald's, French fries,

0:01:35.281,0:01:38.183
French kisses, and everything in between.

0:01:38.183,0:01:42.071
But one year, I gave up speaking.

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I figured the most valuable thing I could sacrifice

0:01:44.674,0:01:48.375
was my own voice, but it was like I hadn't realized

0:01:48.375,0:01:51.286
that I had given that up a long time ago.

0:01:51.286,0:01:53.105
I spent so much of my life

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telling people the things they wanted to hear

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instead of the things they needed to,

0:01:56.758,0:01:59.174
told myself I wasn't meant to be anyone's conscience

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because I still had to figure out being my own,

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so sometimes I just wouldn't say anything,

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appeasing ignorance with my silence,

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unaware that validation doesn't need words

0:02:09.547,0:02:11.167
to endorse its existence.

0:02:11.167,0:02:12.955
When Christian was beat up for being gay,

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I put my hands in my pocket

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and walked with my head[br]down as if I didn't even notice.

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I couldn't use my locker for weeks[br]because the bolt on the lock

0:02:19.535,0:02:21.796
reminded me of the one I had put on my lips

0:02:21.796,0:02:23.540
when the homeless man on the corner

0:02:23.540,0:02:25.320
looked at me with eyes up merely searching

0:02:25.320,0:02:27.502
for an affirmation that he was worth seeing.

0:02:27.502,0:02:29.607
I was more concerned with[br]touching the screen on my Apple

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than actually feeding him one.

0:02:31.170,0:02:32.857
When the woman at the fundraising gala

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said "I'm so proud of you.

0:02:34.049,0:02:37.120
It must be so hard teaching[br]those poor, unintelligent kids,"

0:02:37.120,0:02:39.719
I bit my lip, because apparently[br]we needed her money[br]

0:02:39.719,0:02:41.699
more than my students needed their dignity.

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We spend so much time

0:02:43.640,0:02:47.540
listening to the things people are saying

0:02:47.540,0:02:50.878
that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.

0:02:50.878,0:02:54.139
Silence is the residue of fear.

0:02:54.139,0:02:55.689
It is feeling your flaws

0:02:55.689,0:02:57.615
gut-wrench guillotine your tongue.

0:02:57.615,0:02:59.437
It is the air retreating from your chest

0:02:59.437,0:03:01.429
because it doesn't feel safe in your lungs.

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Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina.

0:03:04.553,0:03:07.661
It is what you hear when there[br]aren't enough body bags left.

0:03:07.661,0:03:10.062
It is the sound after the noose is already tied.

0:03:10.062,0:03:13.409
It is charring. It is chains. It is privilege. It is pain.

0:03:13.409,0:03:15.164
There is no time to pick your battles

0:03:15.164,0:03:16.897
when your battles have already picked you.

0:03:16.897,0:03:19.960
I will not let silence wrap itself around my indecision.

0:03:19.960,0:03:21.927
I will tell Christian that he is a lion,

0:03:21.927,0:03:24.287
a sanctuary of bravery and brilliance.

0:03:24.287,0:03:26.683
I will ask that homeless man what his name is

0:03:26.683,0:03:28.393
and how his day was, because sometimes

0:03:28.393,0:03:30.340
all people want to be is human.

0:03:30.340,0:03:32.826
I will tell that woman that my students can talk about

0:03:32.826,0:03:35.391
transcendentalism like their last name was Thoreau,

0:03:35.391,0:03:37.426
and just because you watched[br]one episode of "The Wire"

0:03:37.426,0:03:39.665
doesn't mean you know anything about my kids.

0:03:39.665,0:03:41.338
So this year,

0:03:41.338,0:03:43.485
instead of giving something up,

0:03:43.485,0:03:45.897
I will live every day as if there were a microphone

0:03:45.897,0:03:47.820
tucked under my tongue,

0:03:47.820,0:03:51.825
a stage on the underside of my inhibition.

0:03:51.825,0:03:53.968
Because who has to have a soapbox

0:03:53.968,0:03:58.207
when all you've ever needed is your voice?

0:03:58.207,0:04:00.712
Thank you.

0:04:00.712,0:04:04.712
(Applause)