Mr. James Edward Tucker, Superintendent for Maryland School for the Deaf [MSD] announces that he will retire on September 4, 2020, so he could avoid the justice and accountability, and knows how to be a master craft of denial and refuses to listen to the arguments, the charges, the awareness, emotional facts, of racial hatred is often a dominant role in educational politics and assisted in a fearsome system. 

Showing no remorse and refusing to apologize has long been part of the repertoire by which dominant professionals like Superintendent Tucker have reinforced his position of social, political, and white superiority. Racism has become a way to assert power as a sign of privilege. Racism has been a common staple and part of our livelihood. To this day, the white superiority in the chronicle of education is still a problem in full force. 

The basic trust of the ‘Superintendent’, we need to learn from the etymology of Superintendent, from Latin, Superintendere, “oversees”–with a great deal of community accountability, but when the Superintendent Tucker encourages bullying, it starts with the Superintendent Tucker himself, and did not choose to stop the unnecessary cruelty because it reinforces more power to bullying who are likely to continue to oppress, it is also part of hate that becomes a powerful force, and escape from holding accountability. 

Superintendent Tucker, who becomes an ‘undeniably initial aggressor’ by power-tripping Deaf BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and White Deaf individuals from hearing families have documented plenty [series] of academic struggles perpetrated by Superintendent Tucker’s leadership in full force.

There are PLENTY of stories, repeatedly, PLENTY of stories from the Deaf BIPOC community, White Deaf individuals from hearing families, and other marginalized communities, and it cannot be ignored. If ignorance continues, then what does it mean? Contagious? You know the old saying, “Speak your mind even if your voice shakes”–Maggie Kuhn. Their stories are courageous!

Amid failure to address systematic racism under a national spotlight has shown lack of remorse, quite frankly, for almost three decades, did not promote the appreciation of intersectionality and the only difference is people from all walks of life are standing up now and Superintendent Tucker, with the highest privileges, did not want to change the policy back then. Was he too lazy to do so? Perhaps.

If the White Deaf community ever is an inhuman denial of whether educational racism is alive in every corner, then it is an epic failure in the system, is it not? Be honest! Now it is the time! Healing is what we need right now! 

It is time to hold Maryland School for the Deaf Board of Directors accountable as well, ignoring the decades of pains and allowing Superintendent Tucker to ram through bullying in the name of elitism, racism, and it is also time humanity needs to start looking at what is right as opposed to what is legal. The Board of Directors does bear responsibility for the divisions of the Deaf community, and they are incapable of avoiding any accountability. 

Whiteness, which carries power across the educational racism in America, and how the educational racism has become a normalized and authoritative practice, is a big problem now and then, even in the Deaf community. That is where the buck stops right there because we need to confront educational racism machine in higher education, for example, Gallaudet University, the stronghold of White supremacy.

Unfortunately, a scholar friend of mine makes an excellent point that Superintendent Tucker’s retirement benefits are protected and says that it is solid enough and settled law in the United States. 

Racism is the foundation of the society we breathe in and out, and learn a good example from the book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, written by Robin DiAngelo herself, quoted, “it is comfortable for me, as a white person, to live in a racist society.” and that is why Superintendent Tucker gets away with a comfortable pension because he knew he lives in a racist society.

Would it be too obvious to acknowledge that they are invisible and entirely ignored?

-JT

Copyright © 2020 Jason Tozier

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