V. P. WALZ, FOMENTING STUDENT ACTIVISM/Winthrop R. Holder

November 5, 2024

“The optics from Tim Walz is still an old white male…
I think this country does not want to see old white males right
at the forefront right now… The language of politics is dead.”
— Charlemagne, The God*

As such, Tuesday’s presidential election underscores the need for activism among GenZ voters and high school students. This focus is essential since the V.P. candidate, Timothy James Walz, a former high school teacher, Social Studies, and coach, is extending the presidential catchment area beyond the dominance and stranglehold of lawyers and opening up the system to other, more noble, service-oriented professions. Though, as he said, his classes and instruction aimed to empower students to understand their worth and potential effect on politics by engaging in it, Walz reports that the tables turned in that his former students [from a few decades past] encouraged him to enter the vice-presidential ring/theatre.

Who is Timothy Walz, and from which well springs his source and appeal? Is he like Charlemagne, The God who pondered if Walz was just another “white male at the forefront right now?” One who “got the job because of vibes?” Or is Charlemagne conflating chronological age and looking presidential? Is grey hair a disqualifier in Charlemagne’s eyes? Or did he go against his better instincts and, as he wondered, “get [himself] into trouble” because of his response? Perhaps. 

Charlemagne’s critique raises the additional question: Who is Charlegame the God? As a popular radio host whose shows get millions of listeners daily and who has interviewed presidential candidates and rappers who speak on politics, he is well-positioned to engage the vexing issues of our times. Indeed, his is a resonant voice that can’t be ignored.

High school activism has a long history in U.S. education, yet most of it is confined to the finite walls of schools. Very little that students ever say or write goes beyond the confines of the school. It’s almost impossible to compare what yesterday’s students wrote with today’s. A limited/myopic conception of the essence of education often silences yesterday’s voice—teachers and all—rendering them mute beyond the dustbins of history. 

As a retired high school teacher in Brooklyn and the Bronx, NY, for thirty-plus years, I am delighted by VP Walz, a lowly and unlikely teacher’s presence in the democratic derby. I have also been moved by students’ struggle in the 1980s through 2007 to connect with the day’s issues and make informed and impactful decisions while extending their views to future travelers, as those in Walz’s classrooms have done by embracing critical consciousness and demonstrating an in-depth understanding of the world around them.

VP Walz’s entrance into the vice presidential arena advances and illuminates civic education’s presence as a transformative growth engine. Indeed, writing in this issue, Martin Felix, a Brooklyn teacher in “Haiti, I’m Sorry,” “underscore[d] the need for more engaging civic education and a deeper appreciation of American history” rather than railing against the racist tropes that are fashionable in too many uncritical spaces.

Another significant aspect of Walz’s selection is that Kamala’s team recognizes the need to remember and celebrate a community that has not been previously acknowledged. That VP Walz stayed connected with students from four decades-plus ago–since their graduation–and to draw from their influences speaks volumes of his mettle as a human and solidifies his position in the new administration as a connector/influencer. It sets the stage for the opening up of both the Presidential and Vice Presidential Derbies. Being a lawyer will no longer be the default position.

It’s hard for anyone to watch Walz’s former students’ tributes and dismiss him as “just another white male who got the job because of vibes.” The heartfelt and powerful testimonies speak otherwise. Based on Walz’s students’ presentations, it is evident that he has what it takes to connect with people and assist Kamala Harris in a tight contest.

Perhaps the saliency of Walz’s ruminations in the classroom can be gleaned by three Brooklyn students’ reactions to a 1990 event when the Haitian community was under attack–as a fellow Brooklyn High School Social studies teacher notes–by Donald Trump “employing the typically divisive white supremacist rhetoric characteristic of his and other xenophobic campaigns of the mid-twentieth century that have led to genocide and other war crimes.”

II. Impact Lingers to Infinity?

“Mr Walz got us all the information we need to form our opinion.” —Former Student

“The tables turned in that [Walz’s] former students…
encouraged him to enter the vice-presidential ring/theatre.” Timothy J. Walz

Writing in a 1990 student journal, Crossing Swords, around the same time that many of the supporters in the video testimonial  graduated, junior Garfield Fontaine, a Brooklyn student, employed poetry to call for unity and the valuing of humanity:

UNION

by Garfield Fontaine

Brother, don’t look at me like that.
Don’t try to humiliate me.
Could you not treat me as a ne’er’do-well?

On the contrary, let’s unite.
There’s no difference,
Between you and me.

Not because I’m Haitian
And you’re American
You have to devalue my personality.

Remember, we are Blacks,
Children of the same mother
Africa–Mother of Love.

Brother, don’t try to persecute me.
Violence will drive us to nothing.
It’ll give us a bad image.

To find the way to progress
Let’s unite, Let’s love
This will save us from discrimination
And open the door of happiness.
Then our motherland, Africa, Will be proud of us.

Indeed, in the dialogical classroom, students responded to the issues of the day, so it was no wonder that after reading Fontaine’s poem, Patricia McGlashan, a Jamaican student in the same school, wrote:

“Rise Against F.D.A. Ruling!”

Back in the 1870s, the Jim Crow Laws were used to discriminate against Blacks. Blacks protested those laws. In April 1990, the Food And Drug Administration issued a directive saying that Haitians shouldn’t be allowed to donate blood because of Aids within the Haitian Community.

[Indeed,] like the Jim Crow Laws, this F. D. A.  ruling or law is unconstitutional. It is also an attack against all Africans in America. Many Blacks (perhaps many in the African diaspora) fail to understand that once they attack one segment of our population, the attackers will continue to move up until we are out of everything. Perhaps, if we don’t protest, it may seem as if we were on the road to slavery again. Blacks need to get together and stop laughing. We should start complaining and protesting against these issues. This F.D.A. attack is not only against these issues. This F.D.A. attack is not only against Haitians; it is aimed at all of us.

What makes those Blacks who did not oppose the ruling believe they would not be excluded and labeled in the future? Before it’s too late, we must unite and not allow the oppressor to keep us down. I think that the government should strike down this decision because this society is supposed to uphold equality; unfairly barring one group of people is unfair.”

In facilitating a classroom without borders that connect communities, as Waltz fashioned within his practice, we welcomed views from beyond the school. In this context, James O’Neal, an attorney, wrote, “Ms. Glahaan demonstrates that she is not a near-sighted individual. It takes a keen mind to see how one simple ruling could negatively impact an entire race. Perhaps unity would not be such a struggle if more of us had this insight.”

Student activism and determination to assert their right to write knew no end, so once, when, like now, attempts were made to corrupt and scapegoat Haitians, students resisted in the boldest way possible, presenting views that linger through time like V.P. Walz’s life-long reach.

Another student, Jose Augustin, a senior whose article was published both in the school journal Crossing Swords and the N.Y. Daily Challenge, offered:

ACCUSED

Jose Augustin

Food and Drug Administration
Responsible for the health
of American Society,
Unable to tell the truth,
Of where AIDS came from,
So they accused Haitians as its carriers.

O.H.! What a lie!

Aids may be made in American laboratories
to destroy Blacks, some say.

Alas! We can’t be destroyed.
Haitians, knowing who we are,
Stand and fight, and we’ll always succeed.

Now they deny accusing us.
Oh, these people need to be educated.

Who knows why they accuse Haitians?
Maybe they don’t know Haiti’s past.
Haitians are the first to fight white colonization,
And win!…
Haitians, one day, shall rise again, very high!
Peace shall reign for Haitians someday.

We can’t give up; We’re the light!

In the darkness that engulfs the Donald Trump campaign, students from yesterday who anticipated the recurring insults against Haitians and other immigrants are pointing the way forward to nobler propositions. Indeed, V.P. Walz is a refreshing breath of fresh air whose improbable activism permeates the soul of his students and the nation! As some assert, “The language of politics…” is no longer dead! It thrives in the hallways of the nation’s schools and beyond.

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