André Watson stumbled across a broken pool guard rail as he and a friend played in the common area of a Far North Dallas apartment complex.
Watson, then 10, picked up the rod and swung it, pretending to be King Arthur after pulling Excalibur from the stone, a scene from one of his favorite childhood stories. It was summer break and the boys were bored with being inside.
They’d found the broken equipment as it was, Watson said. But when two police officers walked up, they assumed the worst and asked, “Why are you destroying property?”
They didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt, Watson said, because black children are rarely extended that courtesy. It was the first time in his life he felt police officers racially profiled him.
The 30-year-old biology teacher at Richardson’s Berkner High School often shares life experiences with students to help them understand the double standards that black people and other communities of color face in the U.S.
The nationwide protests that kicked off when George Floyd died ― after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes — show why it’s more important than ever to have honest conversations about race in schools, Watson said.
He believes that education can root out racist beliefs that students often learn at home, and that schools need to build cultures that allow for open discussion about racism and close educational achievement gaps between students of color and their white peers.
“You need to address what they’re talking about and understand why they think that,” said Watson, who joined peaceful protests in downtown Dallas at the end of May. “You can’t leave it alone, otherwise kids will fall through the cracks and that racism will fester.”
Paying it forward
Watson, a graduate of Baylor University, grew up in Far North Dallas and Richardson. He attended Prestonwood Elementary, Parkhill Junior High and J.J. Pearce High School.
He didn’t notice much as a kid that he was one of maybe two black students in his elementary school classes. But that changed as he aged and experienced microaggression and overt racism from other children.
Students called him an Oreo — black on the outside and white on the inside — because he didn’t match up with their racist stereotypes of black people, Watson said.
“Well, you don’t count as black,” students would say and tell him that they were blacker because of how they acted.
“I remember crying to some friends who would say ‘Why don’t you just get over it?’” Watson said. “And I got into a lot of fights, especially in ninth grade.”
After one such fight, a teacher sat him down and told him that it was OK to cry and that he didn't need to express himself with his fists. “That’s what inspired me to be a teacher,” Watson said.
He decided to come back and teach at Richardson Independent School District after graduating from Baylor in 2012 because he wanted to be a figure in the community where he grew up. He joined the district in 2013.
“If I can help other little black boys deal with some of the same pain I’ve felt, then I know I’m making something of a difference,” Watson said.
And his students have appreciated his approach.
“He’s not just trying to get you to pass the test, he’s trying to get you to be a better person,” said Isabela Marcano, who recently graduated from Berkner.
Others like Monique Mitchell, who was a student of Watson’s during her freshman year, said his experiences were relatable.
“I’ve also been called an Oreo, and it made me feel really good to have a teacher who’s had the same experience,” Mitchell said. “He’s like a counselor to students, and I really respect him for that.”
Limitations for teachers
Watson said he’s felt limited by bureaucracy and fears that cultural sensitivity training is often treated as a formality rather than an actual opportunity for staff to improve. And he’s tired of seeing moments like this one, sparked by Floyd’s death, lead to no reform in policing or systemic racism.
On the first night of protests in Dallas against police brutality, Watson stood at the edge of the crowd gathered at police headquarters. He said he was there because he had written to his senators and representatives but felt his words fell on deaf ears time and time again.
As tears streamed down his face, Watson said protesting was his last resort.
“I just don’t know what to do anymore. I came out hoping that something will change,” Watson said that night.
As an educator, Watson said that there needs to be open dialogue about inequality in society and how schools can fail children who aren’t white.
In 2019, 95% of white students graduated from Richardson ISD, while black and Hispanic students lagged behind at 88% and 85.6%, respectively, according to the Texas Education Agency. The rates were similar across the state.
He believes students need to be taught history outside of a white lens and teachers and administrators must become aware of their unconscious biases against students of color.
“It starts with teachers and administrators. We have to be willing to call it out and do more,” Watson said. “I admit I’ve been afraid to stand up out of fear of being ostracized.”
Schools systems have fallen short of improving environments because it requires acknowledging that both racism and inequities exist in education, and leadership is often slow to do that, said Keffrelyn Brown, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas’ College of Education.
“When [racism] is addressed, it’s positioned in the curriculum as something that happened in another time and that we’ve progressed past it,” Brown said. “But there’s plenty of space to talk about racism in the contemporary sense.”
Beyond that, teachers are often limited by curriculum and aren’t required or trained to teach to address racism in their classrooms, Brown said, so often many choose to not talk about it out of fear that they will do it wrong.
More teachers like Watson, who can approach students in an honest way, are needed in the educational system, Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone said.
“Teachers have such a strong influence because of the relationships they form with students,” Stone said.
Making an impact
The school district adopted a racial equity policy last year, and Stone announced just a few days ago that the district was going to put action behind that policy and would need to evaluate its curriculum and assess how accessible opportunities are for students of all backgrounds.
Beyond that, Stone said, the district must build a culture where teachers like Watson and students can report shortcomings and racist incidents that happen at school.
“This time in history has really put a new meaning as to why this is so important to engage in a more meaningful way than before,” Stone said.
Some of Watson’s former students seem to be moving in that direction, and they credit Watson with helping them gain the confidence to speak up about racism. A handful of them organized a June 3 demonstration against police brutality at Berkner Park.
To their surprise, the short notice and sweltering heat didn’t keep away the more than 400 people who joined the protest.
Though mostly students attended, neighborhood residents also showed up in support. They marched around the park and chanted “black lives matter” as well as the names of victims of police brutality.
“Everybody goes about living their day-to-day lives afraid to speak out. We need to be the ones to make it happen,” said 19-year-old MacKenzie Mitchell, one of the organizers.
After the protest, Watson stood on the soccer field at Berkner Park, wearing his school polo shirt. Behind him stood hundreds of students who had just finished their demonstration.
Several came up and greeted him and posed for photos with him. He spoke with some about how their summer was going so far and how they were doing in college.
Teachers don’t often know what impact they’re actually making, Watson said, but seeing so many students turn out to support equal rights for all was proof of what’s possible.
“It’s the proudest moment of my life,” Watson said.
