My kids’ school held some debates last week about police brutality and racial injustice in the US. My kids did not participate. Don’t get me wrong, these are events that need to be discussed. The killing of an innocent man at the hands of police, the culture of policing in the United States, the underlying social and economic issues. The fact that the way of life of the economically suffering has been criminalized to a substantial degree. All that and more needs to be discussed, just not by 11 year old kids in Peru.

I lived in the US for the better part of 15 years, came of age there really. Unlike most people outside looking in I have a pretty good idea of the realities in the US. I also have a good idea of the realities in Peru. Decades of institutional failure, corruption, incompetence and yes, racism. You could argue that the institutional failures in Peru are in no small part due to racism among Peruvians. Institutional failures that are now painfully evident in hospitals all around Peru.

If kids in Peru are to have debates on the big issues of our time, let’s start with the issues right here in our own back yard.