America’s Faults Are Ours To Fix, Not To Curse

The recent gubernatorial election in Virginia underscored the current intense public focus on what is being taught in our nation’s schools with regard to matters of race. Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin made the issue a centerpiece of his platform and polls show that he received decisive support from parents who feel strongly that public schools’ teaching of our nation’s history on matters of race and racism are somehow harmful to White students and “dishonors America’s legacy.”

According to one poll, roughly half of Virginia voters believed parents should have “a lot” of say in what their child’s school teaches, and of those parents, 77 percent voted for Youngkin.

Unsurprisingly, this belief and concerns about what is being taught in schools with regard to race and racism is voiced by some White parents who feel that their children are somehow being demonized and labeled “oppressors” by public school instruction that addresses the hideousness of racism in the United States. A USA Today poll found that only about a third (37 percent) of White parents support the teaching of what is being labeled “critical race theory,” compared with a majority (83 percent) of Black parents who support it. (Fifty-nine percent of Hispanic parents and 71 percent of Asian parents also support teaching about systemic racism.)

The notion seems to be that teaching about racism involves telling children that all White Americans should be blamed for and must claim ownership of the barbaric institution of enslavement that is a shameful part of our nation’s history. None of this is true.

These misconceptions are being orchestrated and fueling a movement that should and does generate serious concern among those of us who believe in a United States of America, and the necessity of educated, civil, and honest discussions about our history in order to continue to build that more perfect union. In addition, there is a movement that is pressing for political insurgencies in the governance of public education by targeting local school boards.

As Bethany Little, a principal at EducationCounsel points out, “These are not separate movements, but a tightly orchestrated effort to use the difficult issues of race and racism to divide Americans and threaten to remove, replace, or even physically harm school board members who stand against banning books or ideas and for the honest teaching of American history. All of this does a disservice to parents who want honest teaching of history, a rich curriculum of diverse books, and an education system that is safe, supportive and inclusive for all students. Only by elevating the voices of those parents – across the political spectrum – can we make our way out of this mess.”

In local communities throughout the nation, school board meetings that normally focus on budgeting, hiring the next superintendent, extracurricular activities, and similar issues are turning into sideshows reminiscent of Jerry Springer. Individuals who describe themselves as outraged parents are appearing at these meetings, loudly protesting the teaching of our nation’s history on matters of race and sometimes threatening school board members.

At the same time, efforts are being made to elect to school boards individuals whose intention is not the optimal management and governance of our schools but the advancement of an agenda to revise American history as it relates to centuries of enslavement of Africans. And further, to deny the implementation of dehumanizing laws (such as Jim Crow laws in the South), and the ways the vestiges of these inhumane institutions continue to affect us all. The teaching of the history and legacies of race and racism should not be used by left-leaning individuals to damn and curse America. Nor should it cause Americans who align themselves politically on the right to seek to deny our nation’s embarrassing history of enslavement and dehumanization of individuals of African descent or indigenous people.

General Colin Powell once said to the graduating class of Howard University, when speaking of some of the darkest days in our nation’s history—when slavery was a recognized and legal institution—“Above all, never lose faith in America. Its faults are yours to fix, not to curse.” I take those words to heart and I would encourage all others who see America’s faults to do the same.

America is a great country, but as no individual is without his or her faults and sins, neither is any nation. It is a dangerous naiveté to suggest that we live in a nation without faults that has never committed evil acts under the sanction of government, or that those acts do not continue to have important impacts on the world our children live in and will govern. We must be honest with ourselves and with our children about our nation’s history, good and bad, for we cannot fix that which we pretend is not flawed.

This nation is currently engaged in many mini-civil wars that have immense destructive possibilities. The time for people of good will and respect for humanity to seek common ground is long overdue. We must find a way to fight for and return to the ideals and values upon which a democracy can flourish and people can live together in community as citizens of one nation. This is particularly important as it relates to the education of our young people. It has never been an easy thing to do but we should not make it more difficult by engaging in blind, misguided, and manipulated causes that don’t bring us together as a nation but only serve to further divide us.