Back on Feb 16, 2022, Makya Little, a long-time education equity advocate and candidate for the newly drawn 19th District House of Delegates, spoke on the need for the Prince William County School Board to reconsider ending the mask mandates for public schools. She spoke about the need for the board to think about the plight of teachers and students who do not feel comfortable returning to schools with the parental option in place, which was one of Governor Youngkin’s executive orders that was passed last month.

Little started by quoting 19th century pioneer Hoarce Mann, who famously referred to education as “the great equalizer of the conditions of men.”

“If you want your child to learn alongside my child, and breathe freely,” she said, “my child should have the ability to learn alongside your child without developing a life-threatening illness that negatively impacts their ability to breathe.”

“I’ve had discussions with elected officials, teachers and staff being forced to return to the classroom without proper protections in place. My question to them at the time was, can you guarantee no child will die?” She referred to the tragic death of the first child in the state last year as people attempted to interrupt her. 

“Can you guarantee that no educators or staff members will die? The answer is no. In this out of control pandemic, we cannot guarantee that but that is not the job our educators signed up for, to risk their lives to teach our children.”

Immediately after her comments, an eighth grader from Gainesville spoke vehemently about ending mask mandates, including reportedly hurtful comments made by teachers to mask-less students. In addition, the student questioned the board’s intent, using pointed statements that could be perceived as reprehensible. However, the student was cheered by agreeing adults within the chambers of the Kelly Leadership Center. 

“A month ago, our governor signed an order that gave parents the right to choose if their kids should wear a mask at public schools, and you all chose to ignore it,” she stated. “If you choose to follow a Democratic executive order but not a Republican’s, then maybe I should follow your lead and tell my friends that rules are optional if you don’t like the people that wrote them.” 

On March 2nd, Little posed an overarching question to the superintendent and members of the school board during the public comment period by asking, “What kind of citizens are we trying to create?” She referenced the implications and tone of the eight-grader’s comments and subsequent response as a symptom of a larger problem, in that children should be encouraged to address adults who are also leaders and elected officials in such a contemptuous manner.

“An eighth-grader facetiously and disrespectfully questioned the motives of the School Board’s efforts to protect students like mine, educators like my sister and staff members like members of this community that I’ve grown to love and care for, and was cheered on by adults for doing so,” she said. 

She continued with, “the only question I have for the fellow co-parents this week is…if my son had registered to speak and spoke to the members of this board with the same level of disrespect and facetiousness as one of your daughters did last week, would you have cheered him on?”

“Or would you have had a completely different set of adjectives to describe him and his behavior? I think we all know the answer to that question.” 

Recently, InsideNova reported that the student’s mother has challenged Little’s candidacy while praising her daughter’s willingness to speak on an issue that she had strong feelings about. Little spoke with the publication, stating that her comments were in effect designed to point out that while many who oppose prioritizing health and safety are also discouraging discussions about race and gender, they absolutely impact how people are perceived and treated in the world and should, in fact, be discussed in public schools.  

Padreus Pratter, who attended both meetings and spoke prior to Little, spoke with the PW Perspective and provided a cultural context for how comments such as Murphy’s could be misinterpreted if stated by different persons.

“My attendance at the School Board meeting rested on speaking to support the ESSER Fund for Homeless Children and Youth Grant Award,” said Pratter. “While there I witnessed Makya Little’s citizens comment time.”

“On a certain level, the discussion Makya brings up is universal. Every parent on the planet has to figure out how they want to raise their children. But when you have children of color, there’s an extra dynamic that parents have to consider. For one culture, speaking up to an adult removed of yelling and vulgarity could translate into praise, for another they could view the same as patronizing, which could and often translates into disrespect.”

He continues. “As an African American parent on the eastern side of the county, Woodbridge’s Neabsco School District, active in the community with our youth and an advocate for education, I think everyone can agree parenting is a tough balancing act because you want them to be kids. You want them to go out and express themselves, have fun and not stress. However, you also don’t want to set them up for a rude awakening.”

It is the last statement that has not been considered, given the original comments. The social structure often extols the bravery of young voices speaking out, however, that lauding is very selective across cultural lines. Where one could be called a virtue of justice for using such verbiage, could the same be said a member of the global majority made if those same comments? Could a young Black male be able to say the same thing to a white person of authority, and end with the words, “I’ll pray for you?” Highly doubtful. 

Another point that needs to be made is the pointed ferocity in which they point these comments towards leaders of color. One does not have to look deep within history to see in which the social structure has used children to advance their extremist agenda, and to target any voice/individual that does not look like them or has a shared belief. 

One more question to ponder: Would this outrage have existed if Little was not currently running for office? The targeted attacks would be minimal, if at all. Also, a larger discussion needs to be had about how different things are in this time for global majority parents, as they are dealing with reduced access to health care facilities and are more likely to experience severe financial challenges. 

Perhaps this broader discussion could include both sides of the argument for parental choices, and lead to a unified understanding that one person’s reality is not the standard for others.