Momma, They Use Tear Gas

This past week, my eleven year old daughter and I was having one of our usual FaceTime conversations which consisted of an array of topics from what kind of things she wanted for the new school year to her asking me to cash app for things she doesn’t need. You know, the usual dialogue between a mother and a child who thinks money grows on trees but then our conversation took a turn and a more serious tone. She changed the topic from fun things like cute accessories on Amazon to protests.

“She changed the topic from fun things like cute accessories on Amazon to protests.“

I can’t exactly recall how we made the shift nor what could have prompted her to bring up the topic but I do remember her correcting me when I mistakenly said that officers were using pepper spray as she interjected to say, “Momma, they use tear gas.” I then almost immediately asked her how did she know what the officers used and what did she know about the numerous protests around the world and her response was Tik Tok (yes, the app that is typically known for dances with a zillion steps). She said that on the app, people were explaining the protests and showing footage of them participating in them. Simply put, I was in awe! As a millennial, I definitely consume almost all of my information about current events from Twitter and Instagram but I had not considered that my daughter could also be using her social media, Tic Tok, to do the same.

She went on to ask me if I had participated in any protests to which I shared my concerns with Covid being the only reason why I hadn’t recently participated. I also took this opportunity to share with her some of the protests I had participated in in the past. Then, I hit my educator switch to fact check the posts she consumed via Tik Tok and asked her what had she concluded as the reason behind so many protests occurring simultaneously right now. Of course she intially began with the surface level response of the killing of George Floyd to which I pointed out that it was unfortunately not the first instance of police killing to push her thinking further. Next, my eleven year old stated very clearly, “People are tired.” This was followed with me asking her, “How do you feel about all of this?” to which she said something to the effect of it was sad mixed with hints of I don’t know.

“People are tired.”

This candid conversation with my daughter highlighted a couple things for me beginning with how parenting is hard work; both physically and mentally and this work does not pause during racial unrest and a global pandemic. This is particularly true considering all of the extra leisure time our kids and us have to consume all of the things that are happening around us. It also shed a brighter light on the access to information that so many kids have that we did not have growing up. Our kids do not have to watch the nightly news, read the newspaper, or simply eavesdrop on a conversation among adults to gain knowledge about the world around them. Everything is literally at their finger tips.

I’ll be the first to say that this generation of kids, Generation Z, are arguably way more aware about social justice issues than we were at their age and I credit it to their access to technology. I also want to believe that if we foster dialogue with them about race, social justice, and other pressing issues we can indeed have a positive impact on their perceptions of the topics as well as position them to continue the fight for justice and let’s not forget that a number of them have already demonstrated their ability to be activists through Tik Tok. We actually just seen it happen this past week when a large number of them signed up for free tickets to the most recent Trump rally in Tulsa with no intentions on attending which left the venue with hundreds of empty seats that had been projected to be full with Trump supporters.

If you are a parent or someone who has a close relationship with kid(s) and have the capacity to orchestrate a conversation around the current climate, I think this is an opportune time to do so around a simple conversation about what has been posted on social media.