American History, Race & School

There's a lot being said about teaching racism and slavery and its place in American history in schools.

The primary criticism of that by a lot of parents and right-leaning legislatures ruling on this is that (they believe) it's a form of white guilt. Their argument is that teaching students - especially elementary school-age students - about racism and slavery in America is supposed to make white children feel guilty, and that isn't remotely true at all.

The first thing about that is, if the topic of slavery and racism makes you uncomfortable, it should. This was, at its core, torture. They worked days and nights in fields. They were whipped and beaten. Their physical, mental and emotional conditions never mattered. They were auctioned and sold like animals. Families were split and torn apart by that. Many of them were shipped overseas and forced to abandon their own culture and customs to serve white, Christian families. They were stripped of their birth names and given new, "American" ones. And that was all because of the color of their skin.

Now, I have to single this out specifically, when I mention the culture and customs. Consider everything you believe. Every time you say "Thank God," or cross yourself, every significant item you wear or object of significance in your home.

Now picture a group of people breaking into your home, probably in the middle of the night or even while you're enjoying a moment with your family. The next thing you know, you're on a plane or a truck or a boat being shipped overseas, and told the only way you're going to get by is by abandoning every semblance of your identity. Your name. Your religion. Your beliefs. You are not you anymore, you are who they say you are. Meanwhile, your family are auctioned off, probably in front of you, and you aren't likely to ever see them again.

Imagine that hopeless feeling. Imagine the thousands, hundreds of thousands of human beings that was inflicted on.

If that disgusts you, it should.

Now, I didn't say any of that to make you feel ashamed of it, and I frankly don't ask you to or expect you to.

But you should feel one of two things: disgust, and a resolve to ensure that doesn't happen to other people.

The goal of teaching about racism and slavery in America isn't to sling guilt at children. The generation of today and tomorrow had nothing to do with it, even if their ancestors did. They should be disgusted by the treatment Native Americans and Africans in the early centuries of American history and the role in continues to play into the present.

But in no way, shape or form should they ever feel like they're responsible for it. They couldn't have stopped it. They weren't born then, and neither were you.

That is where the matter of banning the teaching of this matter from schools is a problem. Our children should be taught that it was wrong, and nothing but.

Banning the teaching of it doesn't erase or solve the problem, it only hides it, and obscuring that truth will only do more harm than good.

It begs the question: How will children learn that slavery and racism is bad if they aren't told about it in a direct but age-appropriate way?

How can they make that distinction if they learn, possibly from other sources or even family members, that tell them there's nothing wrong with treating someone poorly because they have a different skin color?

Now, this message is not intended to shame people that are worried about their children being exposed to the violent imagery involved. In truth, elementary school is far too young for that subject to be broached in detail; ideally middle schools or even high schools would be more appropriate sources to learn about the topic in detail.

But learning the key thing about slavery and racism in America - that it happened and has played a significant role in the history of our country for better and worse - is extremely important in solving the once again growing racial divide in the country.

We can only do better if we know not to make mistakes. But to do that, we have to know what mistakes were made in order to avoid them.

Reality and history are seldom pleasant to learn about. We can't fix the past. But we can learn from it and do what we can to ensure that the travesties of the past don't become travesties of the future.