It was a difficult day and night yesterday in Baltimore. I want to talk to you about it because our students may resonate with the anger that is driving the violence in Baltimore and because the issues that are plaguing Baltimore are not terribly different than issues that we and the rest of the United States are facing.

I’m sure you’re aware by now that Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man died in police custody last week. He had made eye contact with a police officer and had taken off running. The police ran him down and, while shackled in cuffs, he suffered a spinal cord injury and crushing of his voicebox that ultimately killed him.

Yesterday was his funeral. When school let out at 3pm, riots began in Baltimore. By the end of the day yesterday, at least seven police officers were injured, and there was violence around the community in the form of fires and looting that lasted well into the evening. There is now a curfew in place and many adults taking to the streets to protect young people from doing and experiencing harm. Schools are closed in Baltimore tomorrow.

What does this have to do with us? Many of our students, and in fact, many of us, are carrying accumulated sorrow and anger about the seemingly never-ending news about unarmed men of color being killed by police officers. Many of our students are unarmed Black males! The ongoing news makes them scared and us scared for them! Freddie Gray made eye contact with police and took off running. That was the offense that led to his death. There is tremendous anxiety among our Black men about behaviors that could be perceived as threatening or dangerous. For those of us old enough to remember or to have read history books, there are echoes back to Emmett Till, the young Black man who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14 in 1955 for talking with a white woman. Sixty years later, we are still living in a time when Black men are quickly perceived to be dangerous and the consequences for even the most benign actions can be deadly.

Part of what young people are so angry about in Baltimore is the lack of communication from the police department about what happened to Freddie Gray—what his autopsy revealed, who was involved, and what, if any, charges are bring brought. The police department’s silence is feeding the fire, so to speak, of anger and fear that no one will be held accountable for this young man’s death.

The situation in Baltimore is still unfolding as we talk now, but I want to remind us that our young people may share the anger of the young people in Baltimore because they are young and, hopefully, their entire lives are still before them. That our students with dark skin face a future with so much fear and caution, with such different conditions than our light skinned students, is WRONG.

Please be open to listening to our students today—create space for them to talk about what’s going on—give them space to talk about their fear, their anger, and their hopes. We know that learning is difficult when fear and anger are at the forefront. Rationally, we know that burning buildings and turning over police cars doesn’t change the conditions that are affecting our young people, but give our students space to think about what’s happening in Baltimore—with your guidance. There are no easy or right answers—don’t preach—hold space, ask questions, and listen as authentically and thoughtfully as you can. Our young people deserve to be heard—their futures are at stake.