Branded - Eric Walters [21]
“Perhaps. Just t r y to avoid using that word or any other negative terms,” Mr. Roberts cautioned.
“We’ll be very respectful,” I replied.
Mr. Roberts nodded slowly. He looked like he was thinking things through.
“And you are prepared to get suspended for a day, correct?”
“We all know the consequences,” Julia said defiantly.
“And if the board doesn’t agree to your demands, are you prepared to be suspended, again, for longer tomorrow?”
“We are,” Julia snapped.
She sounded confident. Oswald didn’t look so confident.
“And all of the other students, are they prepared to take a three-day suspension, or two weeks or even an expulsion?”
“We can’t speak for anybody else,” I said.
“Are you prepared?” he asked.
“I’m prepared to do what’s right. That’s what you taught us, what you talked to me about…doing the right thing even when there’s the possibility of something bad happening.”
“Ian, this isn’t a possibility. This is a certainty,” Mr. Roberts said.
“I’m prepared,” I said. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“When you showed us that YouTube clip, when we had all those discussions in class, did you know who made the uniforms?”
“No, it wasn’t until a few days later,” he said.
“If you knew, would you have shown us that clip?” I asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“Even though it could lead to us doing this?”
“If I compromised what I taught you, then I wouldn’t be much of a teacher, would I?” he said. “I wanted you to know the—”
He was silenced by the bell.
“It’s time for us all to do what we have to do,” Mr. Roberts said.
He started up the stairs.
“So,” I said. “We’re really going to do this…right?”
“Not exactly a quote that would make Gandhi or Dr. King proud, but good enough,” Julia said.
I took off my jacket, and pulled off my tie over my head as Julia and Oswald and kids all around us did the same. There were a lot more than twenty-three people. The stairs were covered with students.
On the sidewalk below, a camera crew was already filming the scene on the steps. It was time to tell people why we were doing this. Maybe some of them wouldn’t understand or agree. Maybe my parents would be among them.
I looked up at the steps and caught Mr. Roberts’s eye. He smiled and nodded his head ever so slightly, giving me a look of approval that maybe nobody else saw. He was telling me I was doing the right thing. And that’s all that mattered.
Eric Walters is no stranger to social justice issues. His book When Elephants Fight (co-written by Adrian Bradbury) takes on the subject of the effect of wars on children, and War of the Eagles and Caged Eagles are novels about Japanese internment in British Columbia. A passionate literacy advocate, Eric enjoys visiting schools to talk about the power of books. Eric lives in Mississauga, Ontario.