"It's difficult to engage a student who arrives in class feeling endangered" - Ta-Nehisi Coates

I may be slightly misquoting as I don't have the book (The Message) in front of me but I thought of this quote and a few other lines of wisdom from the book this morning. I teach HS Spanish and I've noticed just in the last few weeks the increase in students who feel that way - endangered. Why put a target on their backs? I wish we could just let these kids be kids, they have enough on their plate as it is. 2 weeks in and it feels like hatred has just been so amplified and emboldened.