Freedom of Speech is Not Without Consequences
Speak up anyway
The problem with freedom of speech is that it doesn’t protect you from the consequences. In fact, a common misunderstanding about freedom of speech is that it only protects you from censorship, retaliation, or punishment from the government. That last part is important. As a union rep, I once represented a colleague who told her boss to “fuck off.” She was appalled that she was in trouble because she had “freedom of speech.” I reminded her, freedom from government censorship, not disciplinary action!
Those of us with big mouths can speak to the prevalence of consequences that come with this freedom. You have the right to criticize your employer online, but you might get fired. You have the right to cuss at a board meeting, but you might be asked to leave. You have the right to put a progressive sign in your yard, but your mailbox might get smashed.
This has been my experience at least.
I have a long history of failing to keep my big dumb mouth shut. It’s probably why I eventually ended up in advocacy, but what I’ve learned is that speaking up can be messy and sometimes dangerous.
I’m no longer in the classroom, but as Trump continues to rack up his threats against public school employees and with the release of his new “tattle on woke teachers here” website, a lot of school employees are panicking. And rightfully so. The problem with the world we’re in now is that facts are offensive to MAGAs and what is considered “indoctrination” by one group is actually basic human decency. So trying to alter what you teach, what you say, what you post to keep an ignorant, ever-changing group of sheeple happy is impossible.
We’ve all been sharing Snyder’s advice, “Do not obey in advance,” but now I’m seeing teachers quietly changing their curriculums, libraries quietly changing which books they put on display, and school leadership quietly shifting the focus of their professional development. THIS is obeying in advance. And I know school employees are doing it because they're afraid. Snyder forgot to tell you that. That you’ll be afraid. When you fight fascism, you are going to be afraid. You are going to put yourself at risk. That’s the “fight” part about it. It’s not easy.
I got myself in mild amounts of trouble over the years by running my mouth (I once criticized the curriculum director’s obsession with standardized tests and ended up with weekly visits from admin because, suddenly, my teaching was “concerning”), but when I really started to feel the target on my back was during Covid. I taught in a conservative county with a school board that barely had a majority when it came to following health department orders. As a result of angry, anti-science parents, the district became weaker and weaker when it came to standing up for science. In addition, the expectations placed on teachers continued to ramp up and criticisms and evaluations of teachers offered no grace.
During this time, posting health department recommendations (that contradicted what the district was doing) was apparently controversial. One of my Facebook “friends” took to screenshotting my posts and sending them to admin. Once I posted, “From a Zoom meeting, the school board has voted to return students to in-person learning.” As a result of that, I was required to send an apology to the board because it looked like I was saying they were hypocrites (well, I was). I was never in “real” trouble. I was never written up, my job was never threatened (probably because of my union role and also because no one could afford to lose a teacher during Covid), but I was getting called in to the office weekly and scolded. The bigger offense, to me, was that someone I knew and thought was a friend was doing this to me. And, even though a LOT of people were messaging me to say, “I’m so glad you spoke up,” no one was publicly supporting me.
Things got worse when we returned to school. I had been the club advisor for the Gay Straight Alliance for 13 years, but now that Trump was in office, the conservatives of my town were empowered to stop “tolerating” whatever made them comfortable. The first few months back from the Covid lockdown were a blur of kids calling me a libtard when I enforced mask requirements, weekly calls to the principal’s office about something new someone said about me on Facebook, and a rotating door of GSA kids coming to my room to cry or escape because of the bullying they were receiving from their classmates.
A student took a picture of another teacher’s pride flag and that circulated all around social media. I spoke up in defense of this teacher and her flag and, guess what, another trip to the principal’s office (this one included the superintendent too). A student took a picture of my pride flag and my Black Lives Matter sticker and, again, I was in the office defending myself. A student told their parent that on my “Getting to Know You” survey, I asked for preferred pronouns and the next thing I know, I’m the topic of conversation in a conservative parent group. I received no support from my admin (some of whom I knew agreed with the conservative parents) and no public support from colleagues either. Once, one of my weekly scoldings was about the books I had in my classroom library. Books I had purchased with my own money, of course, but a picture of one shelf had led the crazy parent group to spread that I was teaching an “anti-Christian agenda.” A colleague wrote me a nice “stay strong” email, but never thought to send a similar show of support to our principal.
I finally left. It was the hardest decision of my life, but twice-weekly counseling wasn’t helping and my husband-of-few-words finally said, “I’m worried about you.”
After I left, I spoke at the school board meeting with some of my GSA kids about the parent group that was reeking havoc on the community. As a result of that, a parent in that group posted my full name, the full name of my then 7-year-old, his school, which class he was in, and accused him of assaulting female students and me covering it up. She played the old trope “mom supports gays, so son must be a pedophile.” He was seven. The district offered no help or plan to help protect my son. I can say, in that instance, the elementary teachers at that school flooded me with support. I received messages and emails that they would keep an eye on him. They would speak to his character. And the principal set up a meeting, allowing me to tell the mom of that group EXACTLY what I thought of her. That was amazing.
About two months after I left teaching, another local hate group posted a list of 10 area teachers who support CRT. They posted full names, cities where these people lived, and the district in which they taught. I was on that list. The man who posted it has close ties with the county sheriff who is a notorious election denier and had a hand in a local plot to kidnap and kill our Democratic governor.
I’m recounting all of this so you know I understand that freedom of speech comes with consequences. And I’m telling you to use your voice anyway. There are some ways you can protect yourself, but you need to go into it knowing that there may be consequences, but that speaking up is more important.
Protect Your Identity - eliminate any voluntary personal information you can in online formats. Make your social media accounts private, remove details like birthday, place of employment, address. I no longer use pics of myself or my kids for any profile pictures. For a while I didn’t use my full name on my Facebook page. In this day, no one is impossible to find (especially if you’re speaking out), but you can make it harder.
Use your Words, but Use them Carefully - When the parents in my district were attacking my colleague’s pride flag, I wrote a post asking anyone who SUPPORTED this teacher, to email the board in her defense. Unfortunately, I started my post with “Parents are losing their shit about….” That phrase is what got me in trouble and became the thing I had to atone for instead of the issue at hand. Keep your statements on topic, fact-based, not emotional. Be sure they don’t sound threatening or insulting. It’s a lot easier to defend yourself when what you’ve posted is simply a fact.
Keep your Message Positive - in the example above, it was a lot harder for admin to discipline me when I was simply asking for the public to send emails of support. This was a much safer social action than asking people to bitch about what the district was doing. And, most importantly, as an employee, I was not violating that nebulous expectation “will represent the district/company in a positive light.” Think about how you structure your statement so that you can use positive action to help your cause.
Focus on Facts - I know facts aren’t really the language of MAGA, but we stay on the high ground when our messaging is fact-based. Whenever I find myself in a back-and-forth with a community member about trans kids, for example, I always throw out LGBTQ+ suicide rates. I remind them that we are talking about the lives of KIDS. They won’t back down publicly, of course, but it keeps the conversation focused on the important part.
Be Prepared for Verbal Attacks - Something I’ve learned is that MAGA men love to send liberal women threatening messages. My local Facebook group was all in a tizzy about a road project that was taking too long. Some ding dong ranted that it was Biden’s fault and I simply responded with a few statements that explained how local funding works and did say, “you can’t blame Biden for everything, good lord.” As a result of this, he sent me THREE private messages calling me a c*nt. Another time, a person was spamming that same group with really offensive anti-Harris posts (I mean, full on racist and sexist stuff). I commented “enough already” and reported him, and he proceeded to message me, “you should die you ugly c*nt.” Once I was listening to an interview with a female investigative reporter (I cannot remember who!) and she was talking about how she is, daily, bombarded with hateful messages from mostly men. Always calling her ugly, a c*nt, or urging her to die. It’s how MAGAs respond to strong women. It’s scary and unnerving, but I’m learning they are just trying to scare you into complacency. However, it’s also why #1 is important.
Find some Allies - it’s definitely better to take on a fight with support. I say that as someone who didn’t have any. If you are a school employee, finding a parent who can make statements is a lot safer than you doing it yourself. If you are a parent, put together a group of like-minded parents who will help you support school employees. We always seem to expect the people on the inside will do the whistleblowing, but it’s the most dangerous for them. They have families and rely on their paycheck, their health insurance, and their pension. They can’t afford to get fired. Customers and parents have the real power.
Decide if It’s Worth It - there are a LOT of awful things happening right now. You simply don’t have the energy to fight them all. Choose what is most important to you and invest your energy there. If you’re going to speak out, weigh the pros and cons. I was not willing to lose my job over mask mandates, but I was willing to lose my job defending my LGBTQ+ students. Once I decided this, I felt a renewed energy to keep fighting. Before you post or fire off an email, take a breath. Walk away for an hour or so then reread what you have written. Come from a calm, collected place, not one of emotion and you’ll feel much more comfortable with your actions, should you find yourself needing to defend them.
Again, it’s not easy to be a lone voice. I spent many months feeling afraid, angry, and out of control. It’s only now that I look back and am able to see things I did right and things I should have done differently. I hope you can learn from my experiences and take on your fights with confidence and community support. You will get push back because, while MAGAs love to use their voice, they really don’t think you should be allowed to use yours.
1722 letter to the editor of The New-England Courant, Benjamin Franklin wrote, under a pseudonym, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." If anyone would understand this, it was our founding fathers.
Excellent!