I usually sit out front on fair weather days and drink coffee first thing in the mornings and try not to watch the news until later. I pray for all the men, women and children in war torn countries, the impoverished, hungry, and homeless.
I ran into a friend of mine in the store last week, reminiscing about high school and our kids. My memory was not as keen as hers as I was almost embarrassed, I could not remember certain things as well. Today I am sure this is why history for People all over the world should be documented accurately.
History helps us as a people to understand how societies have evolved. In general, how we got to where we are. But sometimes my story is not told, is it too colorful? Does the color of one’s skin denote their history any less important? Why is the history of African Americans manipulated by Europeans (Whites). Civilized nations (as they call themselves) have maimed, killed, enslaved, and stripped people of their history, leaving behind torrid history.
Everywhere Colonizers have traveled, people have suffered and been demoralized. In the 1800’s, Germans put Africans on Display in Zoo’s for re-enactments of their culture, this would be the gateway to German Africans social inequality in Germany. African Germans would continually be demoralized and denied citizenship. African Brits are told to go back, to which they reply, “We’re Here Because You Were There,” referring to European Colonist in Africa. Australian politicians try to gloss over the brutal colonization of the Aboriginals even today. Countless stories of massacres are handed down from generation to generation. Settlers’ letters and records found in old journals give grave insights into some of the worst crimes against the Aboriginal people in the early years. Complete Aboriginal communities wiped out by gunfire, herded off cliffs, burned alive and poisoned using strychnine which is widely regarded as one of the most excruciating ways to die. On Queensland Station, the owner had forty sets of Aboriginal ears nailed to a wall. But these are civilized people (Europeans) coming to uncivilized lands to annihilate and civilize whoever remains in servitude. What an Oxymoron. History today whitewashes how enslaved Africans endured.
(122) Racism in Germany | DW Documentary – YouTube
If our children are to remember their history, African American History must be taught truthfully in K-12 public schools. Chuck Yarborough, a U.S., and African American Teacher for 26 years, (White) teaches at the Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science in Columbus. He surveyed 1400 of his students, five out of 18 in class have some basic knowledge of the Civil War and the role slavery played in the war. Very few know the role that slavery played in it, or the connections between the war, white supremacy, Jim Crow laws, and how this legacy continues to uphold racial segregation and inequities in Mississippi, the entire country.
“In theory Yarborough stated students are supposed to have been taught Civil War & Reconstruction before arriving, the vast majority of students have not been taught Reconstruction. They’ve been taught the horrors of slavery, but not taught the complexities of those systems that developed and their continued effects to this day. So, he starts teaching with the end of the Civil War—1865—and then Reconstruction for several weeks of the class. But mind you, this is not a public school”.
To find true African American history you must seek books, (not in public schools), visit museums, magazines and watch documentaries that air. Children of Color in K-12 will not be taught their truthful African American history, nor Native American. In the last few decades, social media, radio, local papers, and now, the internets, as George Bush once referred to it offers a plethora of information on African American History. People of color around the world can now struggle less because, just a click offers history that is not toauhgt in schools.
In Florida, Ron DeSantis approved the removal of hundreds of books from K-12 schools. George Washington Carver “What do You See,” was put on the ban list of Brevard County Florida’s lower elementary schools; in summary, the book tells the story of George Washington Carver’s life, a unique and gifted scientist who made some of the most unusual discoveries. He saw things others overlooked, born as a slave, and rejected as a student; he triumphed over incredible obstacles in his quest to become educated.
According to the new teaching guidelines in Florida, new State Academic Standards, teachers in middle schools are required to teach children, “Slaves developed skills which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefits”. What an Oxymoron. Then why ban George Washington Carver, “What Do You See” for children 8-10 years old banned.
What’s so sad, many white Americans will buy into this because they know African American History here is harsh, they don’t want their children exposed and are in denial about the atrocities placed on humans.
Florida Statute 1014 now exempts children from coursework or classroom material their parents deem objectionable. Any parent can challenge material according to the statute, simply by informing the school administration. The tiniest minority in a Florida community, a minority of one sometimes can decide what’s unacceptable for their child by extension, becomes unacceptable for all students. Book Bans in Florida Schools: The Complete List | Miami New Times
The new standards of teaching bans teachers in 5 states. Arkansas, North Dakota, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia, are among the 18 states that have passed “anti-CRT” laws, which impose restrictions on lessons about race and racism that make students feel “guilt or anguish” for past actions of their race.
Florida Board of Education approves new Black history standards that critics call ‘a big step backward’ | CNN
Ron DeSantis ban forces Florida teachers to remove books from classrooms | The Independent
The White majority was comforted in St. Charles County MO, when an all-white Francis Howell School Board met, December 2023, they voted to remove AP Black History Electives for High School Students in their last two years along with other course material. Where was the Diversity on the St. Charles County school board. Shouldn’t school board members have a child in the race and be diverse representative of all the community. Why are people with no children allowed on school boards?
Parents, both white and black demonstrated outside the MO board meeting before the meeting, chanting, “Let Them Learn”.
Francis Howell School District board ends Black History electives | ksdk.com
Schools around the country are removing African American courses at an alarming rate. The Arkansas department of education has warned state high schools not to offer Advanced Placement courses on African American history. In Arkansas, new legislation, passed in March, prohibits “teaching that would indoctrinate students with ideologies” such as critical race theory. Truth in Theory, Slavery in America was not ideology, or a system of ideas. Secondly, Slavery was a cold hard fact, and pushed forward a political policy that gave slavery its roots. Advocacy groups are outraged after the warning.
Arkansas Warns School Districts Not to Offer A.P. African American Studies – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Outrage as Arkansas tells high schools to drop AP African American course | Arkansas | The Guardian
Arkansas, North Dakota, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia, are among the 18 states that have passed “anti-CRT” laws, which impose restrictions on lessons about race and racism that make students feel “guilt or anguish” for past actions of their race.
People of Color all over the world must go to public libraries, museums, watch documentaries to name a few outlets to get their history. Books on African American history are being banned in schools and libraries even today. I applaud the National Park Services, they continually put on display local history accurately according to the area, Pretty, Ugly, or Cruel, they focus truthfully on the original cultures that lived in their areas, telling the complete story.
During the civil rights movement some public schools across the country closed to avoid segregation. Freedom Schools were opened mostly in the south, especially in Mississippi (1964) to educate African American children. The Freedom Schools are one example of Remediation. How do we rebound, teach all our history in schools. What’s our children’s chances of truly learning their history in schools K-12.
Freedom Schools (spartacus-educational.com)
Freedom Schools were often targets of white mobs. Over 80 volunteers were beaten by white mobs or racist police officers. Maybe this history would change the mindset of some to think more clearly.
We seldom see the entire history of how Africans truthfully evolved in America becoming a race of many shades. The first African Creoles, indentured servants, worked with European indentured servants in the British Colony of Jamestown 1619. These African Creoles would lose all rights and freedoms in this new world as European indentured people would be free eventually. In Africa, the term Creole refers to any ethnic group formed during the European Colonial era, with a mix of African and non-African racial or cultural heritage. Creole indentured people were formed from race intermingling, emerging from the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British becoming African Creoles. This was the case before the African Atlantic Slave Trade took full force in the Newly formed country.
We can look around every day and see battles in this country over how the history for people of color is taught. When a civilization knows their entire history, from the Sublime to the Wicked, humans are better.
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec civilization, Spaniard soldiers remained in the country marrying native women. These marriages created a new race, Mestizo, a combination of Mexican and Spanish blood. This is their unique way of identifying themselves. Yet Mestizo’s are identified as Mexicans by most, disregarding their race. It seems there is no gray area for race. While stationed at Lackland Airforce base I learned some of the culture, especially the food. The Mestizo race identity is more biological in roots.
Are Mexicans Native Americans? The Answer Might Surprise You! (talkradionews.com)
In the 1800’s “Fire Eaters” (Rich Planters and Politicians) from the South pursued the continued use of slavery. in 1808 African Slaves were banned from entering the country through a congressional enactment. Slaves were still being shipped into the country through the Gulf of Mexico illegally. Some Fire Eaters sought to revive America’s Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, (Shipments of enslaved people from Africa) for King Cotton. This is the true nature of African American history in this country, and we must teach our children their origins here in this country and around the world.
In today’s society we see truthful history for people of color mostly through print, public libraries, documentaries, museums and especially National Park Services. Park Services I must tip my hat to continually focus on events from the past, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, focusing truthfully on the original cultures that lived in their areas, telling the complete story of all. Not just the victorious Europeans, but of those conquered.
Is the European History of Colonizers our only history necessary, seems like it. How do we instruct children of all cultures, tell true lineage. White parents and Educators are calling African American history Indoctrination. Let’s define indoctrination. Education vs. indoctrination is a topic that’s been debated for decades. While both words are often used interchangeably, they have vastly different meanings.
Education is the process of acquiring knowledge and skills through various forms of learning, such as schooling, training, or experience. It involves critical thinking, analysis, and the development of independent thought and ideas.
On the other hand, indoctrination is the process of teaching a specific set of beliefs or ideas to someone without allowing them to question or think critically about those beliefs. It involves the imposition of a particular ideology or belief system onto an individual or group, often through propaganda or manipulation.
Is this what teaching Reconstruction is. Propaganda?
What about Native history, the people originally here. How do we teach their children that thousands of Bison were destroyed to extinction to continue slavery in the south and starve a nation of natives at the same time? These animals sustained their ancestors’ lives in so many ways, a source of food, warmth, and ecological resurgence. Killed by European Americans to push forth a slave expansion in the west. European Colonist have destroyed many things, not concerned about the waste left behind or how others will survive.
Hard News today focuses on events, incidents considered timely, consequential to people, regionally, nationally or internationally, these events give concept to events of today, like the George Floyd story. George Floyd’s hard news break was consequential to people worldwide. Why do you think people around the world rallied around Floyd’s death? Because these types of incidents are happening all over the world to people of Color.
If we genuinely want to understand the present times we live in and ourselves, we must begin with history, past and present, truthfully. History is not simply a study of the past; it is an explanation of the past and how we arrived at the conclusions and lifestyles we live in today. I took an African American Literature class at Copiah Lincoln under Frances Doss. I learned more about my culture than I’d ever learned or never learned in K-12.
Education.com is an official Blog that gives 8 recommendations on ways parents can teach children of Color their history year-round. One of their most profound recommendations I have used myself. When my children were in their pre-teens, I purchased the “Eyes’ on The Prize Civil Rights Series”. My children learned Civil Rights from the comfort of our home, documented and true. This was a purchase worth my money. This was truthful education for our children, not indoctrination, or glossed over information which European Whites withhold and alter.
Education.com recommends 8 ways to inform and educate your children.
- Don’t wait until Black History Month to teach your child black history.
teach them year-round.
- Learn more about black history yourself. it will be easier to explain.
- Think locally. You don’t have to travel far to give your children black-history experiences. Find local black history events start participating.
- Watch movies about Black history and/or the Black experience during family movie night. Movies like The Great Debaters
- Donate books about Black History to your child’s classroom.
Because of State Standards, Of Course, some books are forbidden..
- Incorporate learning about Black History into family vacations.
Add museums, Historical sites and trivia to trips. Make learning fun.
- Explore black culture through food.
Add some traditional African dishes to your menu to spark conversations about black history, explore Creole cooking,
- Listen to podcasts and books about black history while you’re commuting with Children. Download books and podcast for the ride to work. Easy picks at first, so they will become more inquisitive.
On Jan 26- April 1, 2024 The National Park Service at the Melrose Antebellum Estate in celebration of Black History Month, presents compelling photographic images. “Critical Places: Sites of American Slave Rebellion”; the exhibit focuses on how revolts in the United States are remembered. These images will be in the South Slave Quarter, it is temperature controlled, chairs are also there for those needing seats while reading. While there you can walk the grounds for free, each building has a green placard that links you to the history of that building.
Not ideology
