Week 11: Fear itself

As with much of the rest of the world, Paris, Beirut, Syria, and the United States were on our minds this week. 

When we left school on Friday, the news from Paris was just starting to break, which meant that we hadn't discussed it at all at school. By Monday, almost everyone had already talked about the terrorist attacks with their families, which allowed us to talk about some of the fallout of these tragic events, as well as some historical context.  

An example of the fallout was the domino effect of United States governors declaring that Syrian refugees were unwelcome in their states. 

Article: More than half the nation's governors say Syrian refugees not welcome

Our kids have been raised to believe that being charitable and kind is a core value, so this development required some conversation to understand. We talked about why so many people might object to the arrival of these immigrants, and we eventually got to the idea of fear. What follows is a stream of images that we had conversations about: 

First, I introduced them to the following very famous quote: 

Everyone had heard the quote, but no one knew who had said it or why. When told that it was a quote from FDR's inaugural address, some people guessed that it might refer to World War II.  

In fact, it was in reference to the Great Depression. The economy had crashed, unemployment was up, and people were scared and desperate.  

Though there was some help available, it was far from enough, and people weren't always welcoming. Many Americans had to travel far and wide in search of food, shelter, and work. The images of Hoovervilles, breadlines, and groups of desperate people looked very similar to images that we're seeing in the news of late. 

Not long after, something happened that really stoked fears in the United States. 

When the Japanese attacked the United States base at Pearl Harbor, fear and suspicion reigned, with drastic consequences for many Americans. Though many Japanese Americans had lived as citizens of the United States for their entire lives, they were distrusted and ostracized. 

Despite their protestations, their allegiances were suspect to their countrymen. Xenophobia and fear led to Executive Order 9066 (signed by President Roosevelt, apparently giving in to the fear that he had earlier warned against), which laid the ground for the internment of over 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent. 

We talked about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Again, the camps looked familiar. 

Every wave of immigrants has generated some degree of backlash. We're also seeing evidence of this in Esperanza Rising, our current read aloud novel. 

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The kids who are in 5th and 6th grade today were born after 9/11. They are coming of age in a world where terrorism is a looming specter. Those of us who are older were raised with a different fear. 

The fear of nuclear war was a potent one for many who came of age from the 1950s through the 1980s. In addition to a cultural anxiety, it also inspired a wealth of literature. We delved deeper into the idea of metaphor by reading a short story called 'The Wheel' by John Wyndham. On the surface, the story seems to have nothing to do with nuclear annihilation. Upon reading it a little more closely, we found a portrait of a culture crippled by its own fears. We are finding that each generation is confronted with issues unique to its time. How will these young citizens react to the challenges of their time?