Horror Show

 For those of you who read the story about a teacher being beheaded, I want to put your mind at ease: It was not me. The teacher in that story was from France. I am still a teacher, but I do not work in France. I work in Oakland, California. 

Which may take some of the ugly sting out of the story for you, but it still rings in my ears, nearly a week later. History teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by a teenager with "possible ties to Islamic extremism." The quotation marks are there to point out the diligent police work that must have been involved in coming to this conclusion. Mister Paty was killed because he showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his students. The "suspect," Abdoulakh A, is an eighteen-year-old man born in Moscow of Chechen origin. He came to France with refugee status as a boy and had no apparent connection to the school or Mister Paty. Except that he ended up cutting his head off. And then taking a picture of it with his cell phone. Which may be the ugliest redefinition of intimacy that I can imagine. TWitnesses are said to have heard the "suspect" shout "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Greatest." and then posted photos of the victim to a Twitter account, along with insults to Mr Macron and French "infidels" and "dogs."

You may recall back in 2015 when the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were shot up by two al-Qaeda associated gunmen, killing twelve and injuring another eleven. Samuel Paty showed the cartoons as part of a lesson on free speech that used the Charlie Hebdo massacre as an example. Mister Paty undertook this lesson plan even as the trial for fourteen individuals associated with that crime began in Paris. He did suggest that Muslim students to look away if they thought they might be offended.

Apparently, this did not have the effect Mister Paty had hoped for, otherwise his head might still be connected to his body. 

Please understand that I am horrified by this incident, but at the same moment I am reminded of the words of my former colleague and card-carrying communist who once reminded me that "teaching is a political act," echoing educator Paulo Freire's assertion that no pedagogy is neutral. I wonder how a lesson in an American high school that featured cartoons of Jesus Christ might be received in this climate which seems to encourage extremist plots sprung from fear and outrage. 

Perhaps not so coincidentally I received an email reminder from the school district for whom I work that there are guidelines for political activity for its staff. The memo suggests that I  "take a moment to familiarize yourself with the revised Guidelines if you might want to engage in any political activities in the lead up to Election Day."

I suppose I should be relieved that there is not, as yet, a section regarding sharing cartoons of prophets.