A MSNBC panelist railed against the Trump administration’s plan to arm teachers with guns, arguing it could lead to innocent Black and brown students being shot.
PBS White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor made her argument during a Thursday morning panel discussing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos‘ questionable decisions since becoming head of the Education Department. Their conversation stemmed from a recent New York Times report revealing the Education Department is considering allowing states to use federal funds to purchase guns for educators.
The department is reportedly eyeing Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants that would essentially allow DeVos “…to use her discretion to approve any state or district plans to use grant funding for firearms and firearm training — unless Congress clarifies the law or bans such funding through legislative action,” according to the report.
Alcindor criticized the idea, saying she’d spoken with several advocates who feel arming teachers could pose an increased risk for nonwhite students.
“If you start arming teachers, and you look at the statistics that there are Black and brown students who are being disciplined more than their white counterparts, you could then start seeing statistics where potentially Black students are getting shot … or in accidents when their teachers are trying to shoot or do gun safety measures,” Alcindor told fellow panelists.
Earlier this year, the NAACP also issued a statement opposing the idea, which was put forth after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A total of 17 people were killed after a teen gunman walked into the school and opened fire.
“The NAACP finds the very idea of arming teachers as a solution to gun violence utterly absurd and misguided,” the organization wrote. “We know that children of color are portrayed and seen as more dangerous, more culpable and less human than children viewed as white. Given this background, how can parents of Black children feel comfortable sending their children to a school where guns abound and where the perception of threat could have deadly consequences?”
Watch more in the clip below.
