Warnings We Have Not Heeded: The Incarnation of Hate Speech and an Educator's Response

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Creative Antiracist Activisms: Critical Race and Feminist Interventions

Abstract

This paper is a personal response to the massacre that occurred in El Paso, Texas, on August 3, 2019 at a local Walmart store. The youngest victim, 17-year-old Javier Amir Rodriguez, was my former second grade student. I use critical race theory to analyze how hate speech moved from the realm of words into life, schools, and curricula. Through the concept of counterstory as a response against hate speech, I challenge majoritarian stories that position Mexican people, residents of my border town of El Paso, and immigrants in general as abusers and criminals. Finally, I reflect on the role of teaching and the need for a revolutionary pedagogy in order to address the deadly effects of hate speech.

Author

• Marisol Diaz, California Polytechnic State University