MINNEAPOLIS - Five days after protests rocked Charlottesville, Virginia, the rest of the country continues to deal with the conflict and controversy.
And that conversation continues as students throughout the country return to classrooms.
KARE 11’s Karla Hult sat down with Minnesota’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, Abdul Wright, to talk about how to broach the tragedy and engage students returning to school.
Wright’s bottom line: see where unity exists and keep the door open to communication.
“Divisiveness is learned. Those are learned behaviors. You’re brought into this world to love. You’re brought into this world to be loved. And so we have to go back to understanding what does it mean to give someone unconditional love,” he said.
As for the Charlottesville conflict specifically – and what it suggests about ongoing divisions within the country – Wright also urges students to see all the colors of the picture.
“You saw white people. You saw black people. You saw people of all religions standing together, saying, ‘you know what? We’re not standing for anything that’s about hatred on any level,’” Wright said.
To read more about what the Minnesota Department of Education recommends for teachers trying to address tragedy, click here.