From 2012 to 2016, American news headlines were dominated at various times by the killing of black men either stopped by police or presumed to be engaging in suspicious activity, and protests that spread through the Internet social media hashtag #blacklivesmatter. In this piece, the author revisits his time in teaching at an historically black university (HBCU) during this era, as a White professor. In so doing, the piece analyzes how teaching and using strategies and tools borrowed from the teaching of political science research methods, and active learning strategies generally, can help political science instructors at all weary of taking on similarly explosive issues in their classes--especially, but not exclusively, when the backgrounds of students and faculty differ considerably. Issues are analyzed through a literature review that focuses on issues and matters including: Whether to keep current events discussion and related activity and the emotional reactions they can provoke out of the classroom, incorporating research methods into and promoting scientific thinking in undergraduate classes, and the need for critical thinking and active learning in the political science classroom.