President Donald Trump's plan to arm some school teachers is receiving a cool reception from some black parents in Florida, who fear that armed teachers would be more likely to shoot their children.
As reported by local news station ABC 17, 35-year-old parent Sulaya Williams believes that racial biases against black students could lead to deadly confrontations in schools if teachers are given firearms.
"They're going to be targeted," she said. "It's going to be target practice."
Rep. Cynthia Stafford, a Miami-area Democrat, similarly worries that armed teachers' implicit racial biases would make them much more likely to open fire on students of color.
"I'm worried a black or brown boy running down the hall like anybody else to get to safety reaches in his pocket to pull out his cell phone could be mistaken for [a] shooter," she explains.
And 59-year-old parent Auburn Ford, whose son attends a high school in Tallahassee, says he would consider removing his son from any school that would back arming its teachers.
"That's a definite concern, because racism is still here," said Ford, who is a retired law enforcement officer. "We're talking about life and death situations and as a parent, I would minimize the risk to him. You have to have the temperament to judge a situation whether to shoot or not to shoot."
