In Beaufort classroom, students reckon with Capitol insurrection from 556 miles away
When Beaufort High School U.S. history and Constitution teacher Jon Miller woke up Thursday morning, he said, he was livid. A former U.S. Army infantry officer, Miller had watched right-wing rioters break into the U.S. Capitol the previous afternoon to contest the certification of former Vice President Joe Biden’s election to the presidency. The breach of security forced members of Congress to go into hiding.
Like hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country, he knew he would be talking to his students about this. Coincidentally, uprisings were already on the class agenda for Thursday, part of a lesson on violent protests in the 1960s.
“We’re talking about Black Power, and how they used violence to get their message across,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, I really couldn’t have scripted it any better because of what is going on in the real world.”
Miller noted that was the first mass breach of the U.S. Capitol since the British destroyed the Capitol in 1814 during the War of 1812. He said his students stayed engaged throughout their virtual class and were aware of what was going on, feeling just as ashamed of America as he.
“That’s not the image that we as Americans should let other countries see.”
Yet in class, Miller laid bare what had happened 556 miles to the northeast, what his students had seen on television and on Twitter in real time.
“You can sugarcoat anything bad, but what’s at the heart of it is still bad,” Miller said. “I’m a realist. I will say and expose all the warts the United States has had.”
He said he knew not all teachers chose to teach history way. But the students he taught would lead America soon, and their actions would have consequences for generations to come.
“I would much rather leave our generation with the tools to know how to fix something than give them the false hope that everything is great, because we’re not there yet,” Miller said. “And if I let our children believe that everything is great, then when they become adults, they’re not going to have the tools to fix things. And then those same problems are going to come back again to their children.”
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow can I cope in the aftermath of the riots at the Washington, D.C. Capitol?
The January 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob incited by President Donald Trump to contest the results of the November election. Mental health experts say the events may be a “trauma cue” for those who have already endured mass violence, criminal victimization or other life trauma, and may worsen distress or impede recovery from other experiences of victimization.
Experts at the Charleston-based National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center offer these tips for how to help South Carolinians bounce back mentally from these stressful events. For a full list and more resources, please visit https://www.nmvvrc.org/.
Tips have been edited for length and clarity.
First, recognize that any feelings you are having – as long as they are not destructive to self or others – are okay.
Accept that what you witnessed on January 6th may have been frightening, and that it might have felt like a threat to the security of our nation, to you, or to someone you know.
Limit your exposure to television and social media. Repeated exposure to images of the violence at the U.S. Capitol is not helpful.
Limit children’s exposure to media (even if you think they are not listening or watching, they take in more than we suspect, and it can frighten them).
Try to focus on something other than the difficult emotions you are experiencing. Helpful coping strategies can be found here.
If you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, no-cost professional crisis assistance is available. The National Disaster Distress Hotline at 1-800-846- 8517 is available 24/7 to provide crisis support. If you feel you are in immediate crisis, call 911. Additional services related to mass violence, including the Crisis Text Line, can be accessed via the NMVVRC website’s “Get Help Now” button.
The National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center is an initiative of the Medical University of South Carolina’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime. It was established in 2017 to improve the nation’s capacity to assist victims recovering from mass violence, its mission states.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 4:07 PM.
