Parkland Educator to CNN: Armed Teachers Will Shoot Students of Color ‘At a Higher Rate’

A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher told CNN that students of color could be shot at by teachers at a higher rate than whites if educators across the country are allowed to get armed.

During a Friday evening appearance on CNN, Diane Wolk-Rogers said President Donald Trump’s suggestion that teachers should be armed “horrifies” her.  She then wanted to address “the white elephant in the room”—racial injustice.

“If what you’re telling me is that we have trained professionals who weren’t able to follow protocol, then I can’t imagine my teachers—overworked, underpaid, exhausted— carrying a sidearm, and then being able to perform that protocol,” she said. “And I also, I want to talk about the white elephant in the room. Because what we know is that students of color get suspended and get expelled at a higher rate than white kids. So, now, what are we going to say, Mr. Trump? We’re going to say that now students of color are going to be shot at by teachers at a higher rate? It’s absolutely ludicrous. It horrifies me.”

Wolk-Rogers made her comments after some left-wing pundits and Never Trumpers immediately brought up race when discussing Trump’s proposal to arm teachers. An editor at the “Above the Law” blog, in a widely-shared article on the left, argued last week that America is too racist to arm teachers, and instructors should not be armed because cops “murder civilians all the time,” and many of the “innocent” victims have been people of color.

“America is entirely too racist to arm teachers. Our legal system is INCAPABLE of holding public employees to account for murdering minorities,” the article argued. “Black and brown students should not have to die because disgruntled white boys are shooting up their schools.”

Never Trumper David Frum has said that arming teachers “would constitute a huge public-sector affirmative action program for white men.”

Gun owners almost 2/3 male. https://t.co/s7VE7PF3gI Whites 50% more likely to own guns than blacks, more than 2x Hispanics. https://t.co/RGy15U9YC0 If teachers are hired & promoted for gun adeptness, would constitute a huge public-sector affirmative action program for white men.

— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 22, 2018

Trump said on Monday that he wanted teachers to “start with training” and “have additional training every year” that would lead to teachers getting bonuses.

“I want highly trained people that have a natural talent, like hitting a baseball, or hitting a golf ball, or putting,” Trump said. “How come some people always make the four-footer, and some people, under pressure, can’t even take their club back? Right? Some people can’t take their club back.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students are scheduled to return to school on Wednesday. One student activist, David Hogg, though, has proclaimed that he will not go back to school until more gun control legislation is passed.