“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Alyssa Reynoso-Morris is an Afro-Latine/x Dominican and Puerto Rican award-winning storyteller, author and motivational speaker. Multicultural and bilingual, she works with students, teachers, and nonprofits to tell compelling stories that inspire readers and writers, through interactive author visits, encouraging manuscript critique services, and knowledgeable author development consultation.

On Dec. 18, Reynoso-Morris was a guest at Elk Ridge Elementary School, where she shared her Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage with the schoolchildren and read her book, Plátanos Are Love. The book is a beautiful love letter to the power of her Latinx heritage and tells the story about the ways plantains shape culture, community, and family – all told through a young girl’s experiences in the kitchen with her abuela. With every pop of the tostones, mash of the mangú, and sizzle of the maduros, a little girl learns that plátanos are her history, they are her culture, and—most importantly—they exist as symbols of love.

On Dec. 19, just one day removed from Reynoso-Morris’ visit, one writer used an Oxford Area School District online platform to excoriate the school district’s Superintendent Dr. David Woods “and the radical liberals” on the district’s school board for inviting Reynoso-Morris, in what she called a commitment “to immersing your children in through desensitization.” The writer referred to Reynoso-Morris as “a radical left activist grooming elementary children,” and called the author’s visit “psychological warfare.”

The writer was not alone.

Another writer wrote, “I would NOT want my child exposed to ANY sexual preference or practice. It is NOT up to the school to educate our children on these matters. It’s the responsibility of the parents. Elementary or any other age school children DO NOT need to be taught the acceptance of trans, pan, furry, or any other sexual group. You can call me a bigot, argue with me until our heads explode and you’ll NEVER convince me that ANY of that is “normal.

“I have no problem with not discriminating for sexual preference, but don’t you DARE tell me that it’s ‘normal,’” the writer continued. “It’s not; people with these issues need mental health help.”

The comments rendered by these two individuals did not reflect the majority of the online voices in response to Reynoso-Morris’ visit to Elk Ridge, but it was the short-sided ignorance of these two submissions that continues to magnify across social media. Poignantly - catapulted by the power of the medium - the racism, bigotry, homophobia and fear of some now shines like a statue to the bottom feeding trolls of the American society, whose keyboards have merely come to serve as the conduit to such expression. 

These dispatches have become a microcosm for our nation’s growing myopic secularism, its sincere ignorance and its conscientious stupidity. Yet, as we continue to scroll, we begin to read the responses made to these poisonous posts – submissions in the overwhelming majority that denounce the rantings and give clear evidence that the majority of our nation still tilts toward integrity and inclusion.

They are the quiet armies in the night, typing, recoiling from the ugliness, and their responses have become our nation’s submissions of hope.

One such post written in response to the negative comments about Reynoso-Morris’s recent visit to Elk Ridge Elementary School seemed to perfectly encapsulate the emotions expressed by dozens of other writers on the feed.

“Education is not ‘psychological warfare,’” the post read. “It is the process of teaching children how to think, not what to think. Exposure to different cultures and stories builds critical thinking and empathy—skills that are highly valued by universities and future employers. Characterizing educational inclusion as ‘desensitization’ overlooks the academic necessity of preparing students to function in a diverse society.”