MorganAnn Malone
Contributing Writer
Education is not only vital to strengthen your own knowledge and intelligence, but also to enforce it and bring it out in others. I had the incredible opportunity to take part in the recent #ScholarStrike teach-in. From Sept. 8 through Sept. 9, 2020, educators across the nation stood in solidarity with activists in professional athletic fields — namely, Colin Kaepernick and Naomi Osaka — to “underscore the urgent importance of addressing racism and injustice in the United States,” from the #ScholarStrike homepage. They did this through means of teach-ins, strikes and protests.
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, Professors of Political Sciences Michelle Leiby and Désirée Weber at The College of Wooster held a combined class with their Human Rights and Intro to Political Theory courses, respectively, and hosted a teach-in about the modern civil rights movement condemning police brutality and racial discrimination. Through a discussion and question-and-answer format, we discussed what the movement meant to each student and how the atrocities committed against victims of police brutality violated various treaties outlining inalienable human rights.
We examined documents such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR), statements from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture, as well as Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham” and his notable “I Have a Dream” speech. Through these documents, we learned about the right to strike, the right to freedom of association and the right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, especially not by order of a state official. These were the rights that came up regularly in our class discussion and had to do with the current epidemic of police brutality.
Through this discussion, our professors provided information designed to challenge anti-Black sentiments and actions, as well as historical documentation that presented linkage between current events and constitutional laws and violations. We learned that the human right to assemble — as seen in the ICCPR — grants people the right to peacefully protest, much of which we have seen recently. Additionally, we deduced that the epidemic of racial profiling and police brutality faced by the Black community is an example of cruel and unusual punishment as seen in the Convention against Torture.
I greatly appreciated being a part of this portion of the #ScholarStrike movement. Professor Leiby and Professor Weber used their position as educators to emphasize the importance of education within activism. We gathered that education is truly the key for society to improve. Though we all came from a variety of backgrounds, we were all encouraged to think of different solutions to the problem at hand.
The education surrounding human rights as a whole is a great starting point for examining the injustices faced by various groups, and this is what the #ScholarStrike aimed to do. Not only was it very informative and eye-opening, but it was also very energizing. By getting a better idea of what the current movement entailed and what human rights were being violated, we were very inspired to think about whatever we could to add to the movement.
One of my biggest fears about this movement is that it will lose momentum and will become a passing moment just as other iterations of the Black Lives Matter or anti-police brutality movements in the past. Through my small participation in the #ScholarStrike, however, I am determined to keep the momentum going in whatever way I can. I also hope that the Wooster community — both on and off of campus — will acknowledge the work that needs to be done and do their part to contribute to the movement so its power does not dwindle.