To Whom This May Concern:

(Please disregard the following message if it does not pertain to you.)

Dearest Gangbangers,
I was just writing to ask a small favor from you. Could you please keep your anger, violence, and guns away from my students and the public in general.
Your little episode at the Martin Luther King Parade yesterday completely changed the attitude of my students who were watching and participating in the parade. I came to school today expecting to hear students excitedly talking about the horses, floats, cars, and friends they saw as they watched or marched. Instead, the conversations were focused on the fact that they saw you threatening their cousins, shooting a gun into the air, making the police pull their guns, and causing panic throughout the crowd of 10,000 people.
Thank you for at least waiting until our school's entry had completed the parade route and we were all safe and sound back at the school. At least those of us in the parade only had to hear about this on the news, and not watch this incident happen like some of the other kids.
Now of course I don't know the whole story. Maybe you think you were justified in your actions (although I can't imagine what would ever justify traumatizing 8-year-olds). But I do know that you keep making my job harder than it already is. I realized that reading lessons were not the priority of my kids today. After finishing a seemingly engaging lesson on cause and effect, I asked my students if they had any questions. The only question that came out was "Did you hear what happened at the parade?".
I just wanted to remind all of you that the purpose of this parade was to honor Dr. King who spoke these words: "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."
Could you do me a favor and search your soul as well as recognize the worth of the other souls that are around you. It would really help me out.
Love Always,
Ms. Childz