The Silence of Fear: Making Sense of Student (Mis)behavior

The purpose of this personal narrative is to retrospectively analyze the actions and reactions of a young, female, white teacher who was faced with the reality of the dichotomy of race and power in a large school system. When an African American male student brings a gun to school, the teacher's personal assumptions come to the forefront, bringing confusion and fear. Simultaneously, the power exerted by the administration to keep the situation out of the public eye maintains any pervasive racial tensions that exist in the school. This piece reflects on and deconstructs the complexities of this situation through the lens of critical race theory.