Now
that Black History Month has ended we should remember that the war on
Black history has reached new heights in America. At the start of the
month, a Montessori school in
North Ogden, Utah,
sent a letter to parents allowing them to opt out of having their
children participate in Black history lessons. The school later
backtracked on the plan after receiving backlash. Then came news that
a counselor in Brown County, Indiana, had sent a memo to parents with
a similar
message.
The superintendent for Brown County Schools said that the letter was
“unauthorized” and called it erroneous.
It
should be noted that Brown County, Indiana, is 96.8
percent
white, and North Ogden, Utah, is 94.2
percent
white.
Despite
the walking back of these policies, they are still evidence of theHow
can kids expect to figure out the world and solve its problems when
they are clueless about what is happening now and have no knowledge
of the past? attempts to erase Black people from society and damage
the psyches of children. Such proposals are the tip of the iceberg.
They come after months of states enacting
laws
against critical race theory and the 1619 Project, “anti-woke”
laws that allow parents to sue schools for curricula that purportedly
cause white discomfort and tear-shedding, and green-light the banning
of books on race, sexuality
and the Holocaust.
In
a country where the teaching of Black history, African history and
ethnic studies is woefully inadequate
and often nonexistent, Black History Month is the bone that is thrown
to Black people, almost like a concession. It is relegated to the
sidelines and treated like something that only Black children should
learn. It is an afterthought, far removed from the “real”
history, which centers white people, is taught year-round and is
required for all children to learn.
According
to a 2015 study
by the National Museum of African American History and Culture,
American history classes spend merely 8 to 9 percent of total class
time on Black history. Further, there are no federal requirements or
standards, and teachers often do not receive training
or support
to create lessons. Whether in February or throughout the school year,
a society that fails to teach its children Black history speaks
volumes about what it deems important.
Even
when U.S. students do learn about that history in small and limited
amounts, it is relegated to discussions on enslavement, with no lines
connecting the past and the present. Yes, it is vital that students
learn about the intergenerational trauma that is slavery, Jim Crow
segregation and institutional racism. However, that history on its
own is inadequate. If slavery is the first and only takeaway about
Black people, think about what that messaging could do to students -
of all races.
Ultimately,
the teaching of history becomes empty, lifeless, irrelevant and
something that happened a long time ago, which explains why
two-thirds of people surveyed in a 2020 national poll “considered
history to be little more than an
assemblage of names, dates and events.”
As
a Black man and a journalism and media studies professor who majored
in East Asian studies in college - before going to law school and
studying subjects such as critical race theory and international
human rights - I find myself teaching lessons on Black history and
ethnic studies in my classes from time to time.
Even
when U.S. students do learn about that history in small and limited
amounts, it is relegated to discussions on enslavement, with no lines
connecting the past and the present.
And
while I appreciate the Black history I learned in school, I also
remember learning much more outside of it. My parents made sure that
I read about the African empires, Queen Nzinga, Queen Yaa Asantewaa,
Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Dr. Charles Drew, George Washington
Carver, Benjamin Banneker and many others.
It
changes your perspective to learn that, as the late scholar Ivan
van Sertima
taught, ancient Africans had contact with the Americas before
Christopher Columbus. Or to find out that King
Abubakari II
of Mali, who ruled perhaps the largest and richest empire at that
time, led an expedition to what is now Brazil in 1312.
What
about the history of Haiti? It came into being when enslaved African
people overthrew Napoleon, defeated the French army and formed the
first Black republic and independent Caribbean nation.
And
even something as mundane as macaroni and cheese has a backstory. A
Black man named James Hemings introduced the dish - known as macaroni
pie
-- to America. Enslaved by Thomas Jefferson, Hemings - the older
brother of Sally Hemings and half-brother of Martha Jefferson, the
president’s wife - was trained as a French chef in Paris, where
he learned to prepare the dish.
The
students at Rutgers where I teach are diverse,
with students of color comprising a majority of the student body.
However, I am sure many did not learn this history in school. History
to me is important when it informs us about the present. Otherwise,
its use is limited. And as Mark
Twain
once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often
rhymes.”
Students
lose context and understanding about present-day realities when they
do not learn the whole history. Black students, in particular, lose
self-esteem, while white students may come away with not only a false
sense of superiority and a warped view of the past and the present
but also narrow perspectives and a limited sense of what is possible
in the world. And it makes it easy for people to whitewash history
for their own purposes if no one has ever studied it.
Learning
Black history liberates all children. Studies have shown that
culturally relevant curricula
boosts attendance and academic achievement
in high school. At the college
level,
students who take ethnic studies courses are affected positively and
have a higher commitment to civic and political affairs and community
engagement. The introduction of these studies also allows people to
learn
critical thinking skills
and cultural competency, and build a commitment to social justice.
Some
students are lucky enough to get that experience before college.
Philadelphia
became the first major city to require Black history for high school
graduation in 2005. In 2021, California
enacted a law that would make ethnic studies a high school graduation
requirement starting in the 2025-2026 school year. New
Jersey
and Connecticut
made it a requirement to offer such classes as an elective. While
it’s not mandatory to take them, the fact that the states offer
them is better than school districts that promote an opt-out option
for arguably the only month people get to learn anything about Black
history.
The
fight to ban or allow students to opt-out of learning about Black
history reflects a greater effort by conservatives and white
supremacists to eliminate
public education
and academic freedom and kill a fragile multiracial
democracy
that never had time to grow. As educator, strategist and advocate
G.S.
Potter
has written, it attempts to “weaponize [the 14th Amendment] in
the name of reverse racism while using it to destroy any efforts to
negate the effects of White racism – including reparations.”
Meanwhile,
how can kids expect to figure out the world and solve its problems
when they are clueless about what is happening now and have no
knowledge of the past? Giving parents the option to whitewash the
history their children learn is insidious. We should not have to
discuss this in the 21st century, and yet here we are.
This
commentary is also posted on NBCnews.com.