- Mar 11, 2015
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Recently there has been a trend on college campuses to create courses that discuss the concept of whiteness. Once that began, the usual suspects crawled out from under the rocks and started whining about racism against whites. Never mind that black studies departments exist; the American right must whine. Hence the current right-wing movement to cleanse our history books of everything they believe makes European descendants look bad.
In the 21st century, we must move beyond memes created by mostly far-right loudmouths. These types have some whites believing we all chose to come over here on the Mayflower. Some believe it is unfair how whites get portrayed in modern teachings. Unfair is revising history to leave out the factual record. Teaching our children the mistakes we made should not mean we are teaching them to dislike whites or being white. I and generations of other blacks endured the annual K-12 section of history about black slavery, and it did not make me hate being black. In recent years we have seen a consistent well-funded, politically supported movement by the right-wing to enforce gaslighting as a way of educating today’s students. In this movement, anything that negatively shows whites must be censored.
By Lonnie G. Bunch III
One can tell a great deal about a country by what it chooses to remember: by what graces the walls of its museums, by what monuments are venerated, and by what parts of its history are embraced. One can tell even more by what a nation chooses to forget: what memories are erased and what aspects of its past are feared. This unwillingness to understand, accept, and embrace an accurate history, shaped by scholarship, reflects an unease with ambiguity and nuance—and with truth. One frequent casualty of such discomfort is any real appreciation of the importance of African American history and culture for all Americans.
Why should anyone fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals—to “make good to us the promises in your Constitution,” as Frederick Douglass put it? But too often, we are indeed fearful. State legislatures have passed laws restricting the teaching of critical race theory, preventing educators from discussing a history that “might make our children feel guilty” about the actions and attitudes of their ancestors. Librarians around the nation feel the chilling effects of book bans. Some individuals who seek to occupy the highest office in the land fear the effects of an Advanced Placement class that explores African American history—a history that, as education officials in Florida have maintained, “lacks educational value”; a history that does not deserve to be remembered.
Rather than running from this history, we should find in it sustenance, understanding, and hope. In the end, we can’t escape the past anyway. What Joe Louis said of an opponent applies to the legacy of history: You can run, but you can’t hide.
www.theatlantic.com
In the 21st century, we must move beyond memes created by mostly far-right loudmouths. These types have some whites believing we all chose to come over here on the Mayflower. Some believe it is unfair how whites get portrayed in modern teachings. Unfair is revising history to leave out the factual record. Teaching our children the mistakes we made should not mean we are teaching them to dislike whites or being white. I and generations of other blacks endured the annual K-12 section of history about black slavery, and it did not make me hate being black. In recent years we have seen a consistent well-funded, politically supported movement by the right-wing to enforce gaslighting as a way of educating today’s students. In this movement, anything that negatively shows whites must be censored.
WHY IS AMERICA AFRAID OF BLACK HISTORY?
No one should fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals.By Lonnie G. Bunch III
One can tell a great deal about a country by what it chooses to remember: by what graces the walls of its museums, by what monuments are venerated, and by what parts of its history are embraced. One can tell even more by what a nation chooses to forget: what memories are erased and what aspects of its past are feared. This unwillingness to understand, accept, and embrace an accurate history, shaped by scholarship, reflects an unease with ambiguity and nuance—and with truth. One frequent casualty of such discomfort is any real appreciation of the importance of African American history and culture for all Americans.
Why should anyone fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals—to “make good to us the promises in your Constitution,” as Frederick Douglass put it? But too often, we are indeed fearful. State legislatures have passed laws restricting the teaching of critical race theory, preventing educators from discussing a history that “might make our children feel guilty” about the actions and attitudes of their ancestors. Librarians around the nation feel the chilling effects of book bans. Some individuals who seek to occupy the highest office in the land fear the effects of an Advanced Placement class that explores African American history—a history that, as education officials in Florida have maintained, “lacks educational value”; a history that does not deserve to be remembered.
Rather than running from this history, we should find in it sustenance, understanding, and hope. In the end, we can’t escape the past anyway. What Joe Louis said of an opponent applies to the legacy of history: You can run, but you can’t hide.
Why Is America Afraid of Black History?
No one should fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals.
www.theatlantic.com
