Shortly after Alabama’s state board of education passed a resolution last August to ban public schools from teaching or purchasing materials that “impute fault, blame,” or cause students “to feel guilt or anguish” about the legacy of slavery or ongoing racial injustice, members of the Birmingham, Alabama, school board pushed back by passing a resolution of their own.
The sharply worded statement, “A Resolution to Advance Equity for All Students,” emphasized that city educators will continue to be proactive in “dismantling the pillars of unequal justice, bigotry and oppression” and affirmed that the city of Birmingham will provide resources and professional development to educators who “teach about, celebrate, uphold, and affirm the lives of all races and that support critical dialogue among students, staff and community members about the impact of bias and racism” both within and outside of school house doors.
Terri Michal, a member of Birmingham’s school board from 2017 to 2021, told Truthout that the resolution makes clear that “Birmingham will do what is right” to give all children what they need to excel. “We’re working to ensure that equity is not a dirty word,” she says.
Birmingham is not the only locale that is standing up to efforts to ban everything the right deems as critical race theory, as well as efforts to ban school-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which attempt to present to students an accurate history of the United States and contend with — and change — the many ways that racial and gender injustice have structured classrooms across the country.
A Growing Demand for Progressive Curriculum
Deborah Menkart is codirector of The Zinn Education Project (ZEP), a national organization working to inject accurate accounts of U.S. and world history into classrooms across the country, says that demand for ZEP materials has continually increased since the project’s 2008 founding. “The right wing would not be going on the attack if there was nothing to attack,” she told Truthout.
Teachers can download lessons from ZEP’s website. These lessons, Menkart explains, go beyond what is found in traditional textbooks and examine all subjects — art, history, literature, math, music, science — with an eye toward omissions and distortions. We ask probing questions: Who is included in the historical account of? Who is the narrative beneficial to? Why is it that female mathematicians and scientists, as well as queer people and people of colour, are often left out of the narratives we read or hear discussed?
“Students are not just learning facts,” Menkart says. “They’re learning about the choices that are made in the telling of history. They also gain a sense for the role they can have in shaping the future. In this way, we’re equipping youth with a sense of hope, giving them the tools to think strategically so that they can address the gravity of the situations we’re facing.”
She continues to say that demand for lessons comes from all corners of the country and not just urban centers. She quickly ticks off curricula requests received from teachers in Taylor (South Carolina), Holland, Michigan, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Columbia, Missouri. Menkart says that materials covering the following topics are most requested. Reconstruction era, redlining, environmental crisis the color lineIt was imposed during the colonial period.
“When children begin to think critically, they begin to understand that it is not that their parents and neighbors have not worked hard enough to get ahead, but that something systemic has held people of color, women, the poor and the disabled back,” she says. “The right wing says that this makes white, able-bodied children feel guilty, but when students learn that some white people have challenged injustice, it complicates the narrative and prompts them to question their assumptions.”
Denisha Jones is coeditor of this book Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, As a member of its steering committee. National Black Lives Matter at School coalitionShe also notes the importance education efforts that recognize resistance to the status-quo and support inclusive historical accounts. “About 60 percent of the population will not go to college and they will probably never learn this information if it is not taught in middle and high school,” she told Truthout. “For many people, programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion are their first encounter with material about race, class, gender, gender identity or ableism. This can spur them to a new place of understanding and inquiry.”
Jones admits that school-based diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are often just window dressing. This is done to deflect criticism, give the appearance of racial/ethnic, gender, or disability inclusion. However, she believes that meaningful diversity and equity programs are possible, particularly if they’re led by teachers who are committed to helping children build a positive racial identity.
“Children need a solid foundation on which to build ideas about race, gender and self,” Jones says. “Helping kids feel good about themselves will enable them to function in a global world. If kids encounter silence about race, religion, disability or gender differences, this silence gets internalized and their identity formation can be negatively impacted.”
Jones suggests that every K-12 school should have a mandatory Black and ethnic studies class. She says that this is not limited to curricula. To protect vulnerable students from feelings like inadequacy and ennui, other concrete changes must be made to the way schools operate. These include ending zero tolerance policies that suspend or expel students who misbehave; increasing the number available school counselors; and removing school police officers.
Jones also wants to address the racism at the heart of the attacks on school-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs and on anything deemed by the right to be “Critical Race Theory.” “The idea that the right wing is promoting, that we have to bring in ‘all sides’ of every issue, is funny to me,” she says. “What is the ‘other side’ of Black Lives Matter? Is it that Black lives matter? don’t matter? We need to examine that.”
Research supports this assertion.
According to a child psychologist Jacob Ham, “It is hard for kids to learn when they feel unsafe or threatened,” or feel as if they don’t matter or fit in. But if they feel supported and connected, they enter into what Ham calls “learning brain,” a state in which they are open to new ideas and new information, are able to handle ambiguity, and feel confident enough to share concerns or ask for clarifications.
A Stanford University study confirms Ham’s conclusions and underscores the importance of diverse representation in curricular materials. The study found that both white and black students benefitted from taking one ethnic studies class. It also increased their sense of belonging and helped them graduate faster. This made them more likely than ever to enroll in college.
The importance of asking questions
Emily Ladau is the author of Demystifying Disability:What to know, What to say, and How to be an Ally.She agrees that children need to see themselves in course material. In addition, she says that they need to be encouraged to ask questions — respectfully — about people who are different from them, including those with genetic and acquired disabilities. “Disability is not a niche issue,” she told Truthout. “There are more than 1 billion disabled people in the world. This means that there are schools with disabled students, disabled faculty, and disabled staff. Nearly everyone has a disabled family member. But you should not have to have a personal connection to disability to recognize that an inclusive environment benefits everyone.”
Ladau also argues that disability is a universal identity and should be considered in all aspects of learning, including pre-K classes and teacher training programs.
Many people, however, don’t want this. As the past year has shown us, there is a growing backlash against curricula dealing with equity, diversity, inclusion, and equity. “There is pushback against any conversation about how we can be more inclusive because this requires us to admit that we have not been doing everything possible to be equitable and incorporate everyone, regardless of their gender, race, sexuality or disability,” Ladau says. “If we can’t admit this, there can’t be progress.”
Jennifer Lima, a member of North Kingstown’s school board since 2020, and the founder Toward an Anti-Racist Kingstown,This phenomenon has been witnessed up close by Lima. Lima has been pushing North Kingstown’s school board to approve an education audit of the nine schools within the district. “Basically, we need to know what we are doing well and what we are doing poorly when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion,” she told Truthout. “How are we doing when it comes to retaining teachers and students of color? Are all students subject to the same dress code? What about advanced placement classes? What holidays are recognized? Do disabled, queer and trans students and staff face discrimination?”
Lima believes that outside auditors will be required to conduct an honest reckoning. Focus groups will be held for all people involved in North Kingstown’s public education. “We’ve received two estimates from outside reviewers and know that a thorough investigation will take about six months. This is not what the local right-wing considers necessary. They also argue that it can be done in-house, and they are really, really loud about this,” she says. “I disagree with them, and feel strongly that a neutral third party needs to come in. The administration can’t interview people and expect truthful answers. Our goal as a school system should be to serve every student equitably and we can’t formulate a strategy to improve what we do until we know exactly where we are.”
The school board will vote to hire an outside auditor sometime in the spring.
But even if the audit gets approved, educators in North Kingstown — and in every other part of the U.S. — will likely still face pushback from some parents and astroturf groups (organizations that are funded by deep-pocketed donors whose money enables the groups to maintain a visible presence despite having few actual grassroots supporters). These are some of the most prominent astroturf organizations in this area. Moms for Liberty, No Left Turn in Education Parents Defending EducationThese groups oppose school-based diversity and equity programs. While many educators will continue reaching out to the Zinn Education Project, and will continue teaching materials that are culturally accurate and historically accurate, those who oppose antiracism initiatives, and broader equity efforts, will make their work more difficult.
This is where progressive can be a major player.
Cassie Schwerner, executive Director of the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility (a New York City-based organization that promotes school based social and emotional learning), told Truthout Teachers and progressive educational groups need strong supporters. “We live in a global economy and a world that gets more and more interconnected every day,” Schwerner says. “We need to learn about each other. No one should be raised without curiosity and the ability to think critically. This applies to Jim Crow, slavery, disabled, trans access to bathrooms, and gym classes, as well as Jim Crow, Jim Crow, and disability. As progressives, we have to defend the teaching of critical thinking and the promotion of classroom equity.”
Schwerner pivots to ask a critical question: What do schools want to be? And who do they want to serve? “None of us know exactly how to fight the right wing, but we know that we need to stop pretending that racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism don’t exist. We know we need to create a culture where we can have hard, even uncomfortable, conversations.”
Schwerner also believes that we must challenge the “zero-sum mentality” that states that if one child has a positive racial identification, all children will have a negative. “I know this sounds Pollyanna-ish, but schools need to help students feel cherished because, in truth, we all benefit when children grow up feeling safe, secure and valued.”
