Central Kitsap High School Teacher Erik Randall on Retaining Common Humanity During Election Season
As political tensions peak on election night, Erik Randall weighs in on the importance of remembering fellow citizens are also human
Erik Randall is a history teacher for freshmen and sophomores at CKHS.
As the 2020 presidential election ensues, political tensions run high throughout America. Erik Randall, a Central Kitsap High School history teacher, urges people to look past such differences.
“In order for good things to happen to people, you need to believe in the common humanity of people,” Randall said.
Randall highlighted the flaws of a two-party system; although America has several minor parties, the duopoly of the Democratic and Republican parties has led to a black-and-white view for many people.
“It’s a very simple narrative, and the reality of the world is much more complicated than [Democrat versus Republican],” he said. “[Americans] have [different] reasons to vote for [different] people…but really, the ideology in this country is very inconsistent. I don’t think that there’s really one narrative that fits people right now; it’s true that to vote for certain candidates is to excuse away some bad behavior. That’s the nature of a two-party system.”
He believes that in order to truly support a right or a solution to a problem, someone must be willing to give said right or solution to the people that oppose their opinions.
“I think that you can judge someone’s ideology about how much they believe in the things that they say they believe if they [think] those things should be given to their enemies, the people who hate them,” he stated. Randall also wanted to remind students that other kids with differing opinions can still “be loved” and valued. He thinks that the way someone votes shouldn’t affect how they are treated.
“[To think that] ‘this group of people don’t deserve [something] because they voted “wrong”‘…I just think that’s a wrong way to view things,” he said. “[You can think] ‘I..don’t like what I like [what you believe] at all, and I still want to help you.’”
Overall, Randall believes that Americans should treat each other with kindness and respect throughout the election and political unrest; with so much conflict within the nation, division may grow as an issue.
“What I really want to teach kids and I want to demonstrate is…a compassion for human beings, because I think that there’s far too little [of that right now],” he said.
