8 The Nation. September 23, 2019
“outsmarted” Obama when it annexed Crimea.
August 23: Trump says he was being sarcastic when he
called himself “the chosen one.” On Twitter, he orders
US businesses to find “an alternative to China, including
bringing your companies HOME.”
August 25: As the Iranian foreign minister makes a
surprise appearance at the G-7 conference in Biarritz,
France, Trump tweets to TV host Regis Philbin, “Happy
Birthday Regis, a truly special man!” Trump suggests that
his Doral resort in Florida is an ideal venue for the next
G-7 meeting and insists it does not have bedbugs.
Axios reports that Trump suggested using nuclear
bombs to keep hurricanes from hitting the United States.
August 27: The Washington Post reports that in order
to complete the border wall before he’s up for reelec-
tion, Trump instructed aides to approve billions of dol-
lars in construction contracts, use eminent domain, and
eschew environmental review. He has told them that hewill pardon them if they break any laws.
August 28: Trump rages at Fox News after daytime
anchor Sandra Smith interviewed Democratic National
Committee official Xochitl Hinojosa, tweeting, “We
have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn’t
working for us anymore!”
As Puerto Rico braces for a possible hit by Hurricane
Dorian, Trump tweets, “Puerto Rico is one of the most
corrupt places on earth” and “I’m the best thing that’s
ever happened to Puerto Rico!”
Trump nominates 12 federal judges, bringing his total
to 209, with 146 confirmed to date.
August 29: The EPA proposes rolling back curbs on
methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change.
September 1: Trump hikes tariffs on Chinese goods,
from 10 to 15 percent.
None of this has significantly damaged Trump’s popu-
larity, which remains just above 40 percent. Happy fall! QAs Puerto
Rico braces for
a possible hit
by Hurricane
Dorian, Trump
tweets, “I’m the
best thing that’s
ever happened to
Puerto Rico!”
this way in a school attended by signif-
icant numbers of black kids; in such an
environment, the white boys likely would
have known that their behavior was rac-
ist. At the very least, they probably would
also have feared (correctly) that such
wannabe antics would reveal them to bethe white nerds that they actually are.
In a school setting without the possi-
bility of such social consequences, it was
up to the teacher to set limits. Saying, in
effect, that boys will be boys was a
“complete missed opportunity,” says
Alexandre Jallot, a high school teach-
er in New York City. Not only was
your teacher the only person with any
authority in the room; Jallot, who is
black, points out that it would have
been powerful for the boys to hear
that what they were doing was wrong
from “someone who looks like them.”
The teacher should have stopped
them during their performance with
the textbooks, told them that their
shenanigans were not acceptable, and
arranged to have a longer talk with
them later on about why.
You’re the only person in this sit-
uation who did the right thing, Woke
Belle. And paradoxically, you’re proba-
bly the only one who feels bad about it!
For the future, Jallot says, you
might suggest to the administration
that they convene a schoolwide as-
sembly on racism or incorporate some
more thinking about race into the
curriculum. The fact that these white
kids don’t attend school with many
people of color allows their behavior
to go unchecked, but someday (one
hopes) they will have to live or work in
a more diverse environment. For the
sake of the rest of the world—and for
their own good—it’s urgently in their
interest to develop better social in-
telligence. Your experience illustrates
just one of many reasons segregated
schooling is bad for everyone. Q(continued from page 5)
COMIX NATION JEN SORENSEN