Dear LREI Community, 
I write this week thinking about the anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, wondering how to remember the event in a thoughtful and generative manner? How do we explain the insurrection to our four year olds? What do we ask of the seniors? What might conversations at home look like?
In order to understand the January 6 insurrection, I think it is important for the children to have some level of understanding of how our democratic republic is supposed to work. For the young ones, this might be their first conversation about our government. Maybe all they have to hear is that adults vote to elect representatives who will then make decisions that they think reflect the needs of the people who voted for them AND that reflect the needs of all people in the country (or city, etc.) regardless of who they voted for. That is the real lesson for the younger children, government is for all of us and we all have to take care of each other.
This is both quite simple and very complex. Simple as we want to think that everyone has a baseline understanding of basic human needs yet complex as we don’t always (maybe rarely) agree on how to meet those needs. It is also hard as we struggle with making decisions that care for others if it means that we may not get all that we think we want and need. This is the key – we will never all agree yet the government must work, it cannot or maybe should not shut down due to our disagreements. Our better selves have to lead the way. Lastly, the transition from one leader to the next, at all levels, is supposed to be a peaceful one.
What caused the results of the past presidential election to move some of us from anger to violence, from “We will prevail next time” to “Stop the steal”? Fear? Anger? The truth or dishonesty? What role did social media play? How organized was the insurrection? What role did intolerance, racism, and other biases play? Was the insurrection an orchestrated event or a spontaneous movement? What actually happened? That is a lot of questions! One place to find answers to these questions is in this short piece from NPR, an audio timeline, and another is in this updated Frontline documentary.
It is important for all of us to recognize that some of what we saw a year ago – a group of people actively denying the right of others to participate in the most fundamental act of a democracy – having their vote counted – is not new, nor is the use of violence as a tool to deny someone the right to vote. Nor is what we have seen in the past 12 months, a series of federal and state efforts to structurally impact voting rights and the outcome of elections more broadly. While it clearly has a specific point of view, I found this editorial’s argument to be quite persuasive. As a country, we have always had “sides” and unfairness and exclusion. This is not new. Maybe what is new is the movement of protests from threatening our legislative bodies to challenging public health officials and school boards. These bodies that seek to work for the common good are quickly becoming ground zero for challenges to representative governance.
What about the January 6 insurrection felt surprising? For some, likely nothing. For others, everything. To me, at least a few things.
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Citizens stormed the seat of power of the federal government, some were armed, many people, including police officers, were injured and the group was actively seeking out leaders, threatening to murder the Vice-President, and to disrupt the certification of a presidential election.
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The President was involved or at least did not actively work to end the insurrection.
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A few people died and many were injured. Again, this is not the first time that people died or were injured in a struggle over an election or voting rights, yet I still found it surprising.
As we consider this conversation with our children, it is important to remember that while we may make a point of talking about the insurrection on January 6, we need to engage with our children about our country, about democracy, about their roles in our democracy, on a more regular basis, not just once per year. It is important for parents, for all of us, to regularly engage in conversations about democracy, fairness, getting along with those with whom you disagree, listening, clearly articulating your thoughts, etc. Let’s add reading and discussing the news and making sure that we understand how to evaluate sources. That is hard work. We need to begin to develop these skills early on or we will forever be playing catch up.
With older students, in addition to the suggestions above, we must engage in active debate about a range of topics both in order to help them understand the issues and also to help our children to develop a level of critical reflection that will help them learn to listen to the views and experiences of others and to be open to ways in which their views might grow and deepen over time.
And with our oldest students? Vote, in every election, every year, every time, or clearly articulate why you won’t. Literally, use it, protect it, or lose it. Maybe this is a conversation to have with our younger students as well. As most of you do, take your children with you to the polls, or sit with them as you fill out your absentee ballots, and talk about why you are voting, why it is important, and how you made your decisions. Celebrate Election Day as a holiday for democracy.
This is a link to some additional thoughts about ways to have this conversation with our children.
In summary, one way to protect our democracy is to teach our children about its fragile nature. We need to speak openly about current challenges and about the ways in which our democracy has been flawed since its inception. Finally, and this will not come as a surprise coming from me, learn by doing – read, write, protest, vote, work, argue, learn, listen.
And finally, click here to read the far more eloquent and knowledgeable thoughts about the state of our democracy as written by President Jimmy Carter.
Peace,
