{"id":3090,"date":"2015-02-01T18:12:59","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T18:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=3090"},"modified":"2015-02-02T18:10:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T18:10:10","slug":"parents-weigh-ferguson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2015\/02\/parents-weigh-ferguson\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents Weigh in on Ferguson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Lucas Philips: ECF parents and students march together at the Millions March in December<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In recent weeks, members of the Fieldston community have come together to discuss, process, and protest the recent grand jury decisions in the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. There have been teachers leading breakout sessions, students giving speeches, and alumni protesting, but throughout all of this a very important voice is missing- that of the parents. As vital and wise members of the ECFS community, their perception of these events is helpful to gaining a deeper understanding on what has been happening and how the community can make a difference. In a place as diverse as Fieldston there is obviously a wide range of beliefs and views.<\/p>\n

Several parents from the ECFS community were interviewed. Some parents felt that these two cases were a clear illustration of our damaged criminal justice system, manifesting itself through its reluctance to indict cops.<\/p>\n

Kim Emile, a Fieldston alum and mother of a 7th and 6th grader said as a country and a city we are in a pretty bad place in terms of the legal justice system.<\/p>\n

Howard Ravikoff, a father of an 7th and 5th grader had a different opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a society where we need to respect the decisions of the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Parents made a clear distinction between these two cases. In regards to the Eric Garner case, Diane Wallach, a mother of 10th grader, affirmed, \u201cthey have a clear video showing that he didn\u2019t resist arrest and I can\u2019t understand how they cannot prosecute something that nobody can dispute.\u201d Kim Emile reiterated this, \u201cwe all saw it happen.\u201d As far as Ferguson, Robert LoGiudice, a father of a 10th grader said, \u201cthere are so many different stories and nobody saw what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parents interviewed said that while these particular cases are deeply upsetting, these types of incidents are not unusual. When asked the question of why they thought these specific cases produced such national reactions, they explained their views. Most parents interviewed felt that these cases were part of a long pattern of police discrimination and brutality against young black men.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been happening to brown boys,\u201d Wallach said, \u201cand after years of being mistreated, it was the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, others felt that these two cases\u2019 close proximity in time to each other is what sparked the powerful reactions.<\/p>\n

Some parents supported how the Ethical Culture community has been handling the issues surrounding these deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found it amazing that the administration supported the march,\u201d Emile said. \u201cI was so happy to march with my community and I think Felix Adler would have been proud. \u2018Injustice to some is injustice to all.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Others disagreed with the school\u2019s official response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with their leading a group of people that went to the march,\u201d Ravikoff said. \u201cThere is a huge difference between taking a leadership role and supporting something that comes from the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents were asked about their conversations with their children concerning the police, and many have had discussions with their children about what to do if they encounter a cop. Most parents of kids of color felt it was necessary to help their children learn how to manage any possible encounter with a policeman.<\/p>\n

Francesca Thomas, a mother of three, explained that she feels it is crucial for her children to only provide minimal information without an attorney present.<\/p>\n

Many parents acknowledge that these ongoing discussions have been a painful conversation. After recent events, the dialogues about cops within families of color have not altered.<\/p>\n

In asking about what the Fieldston community and communities committed to change around the world can do, parents felt that bringing about change will require altered and improved education for the police and a greater sense of community policing. One parent said that \u201cpeople simply need to treat others as humans, not animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents of color, parents of kids of color, and white parents all expressed that these two deaths are only a few examples of the nationwide issue that has a more complex, more racist, and more systematic narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am trying to raise my son with as much optimism as possible,\u201d Emile said, \u201cbut I need to provide him with the reality that he needs to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent weeks, members of the Fieldston community have come together to discuss, process, and protest the recent grand jury decisions in the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. There have been teachers leading breakout sessions, students giving speeches, and alumni protesting, but throughout all of this a very important voice is missing- that of the parents. As vital and wise members of the ECFS community, their perception of these events is helpful to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":3109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"coauthors":[219],"class_list":["post-3090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ferguson1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3090"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3108,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090\/revisions\/3108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3090"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}