Here's why this is important: 

What would you think some if the most compelling efforts to catalogue the experiences of people of color in American society were banned from school curricula? What if young people of today were forbidden to read texts like Beloved by Toni Morrison; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou; Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; and Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin, because some parents found it inappropriate, offensive, or, shockingly, racist? (1). What if entire Ethnic Studies programs were legislated out of existence because decision-makers believe that learning our history encouraged resentment among children of color and guilt among white students?

If you think this doesn’t happen, think again. It is happening right now, in school districts and campuses across the country. And it’s not just literature that is being banned. Just this month another educational tool joined the list of material banned for being “racially divisive” -- the African American Policy Forum’s Unequal Opportunity Race video (2).

Join us in rejecting the censorship of our history and experiences from our nation’s schools!

As part of Black History Month, the Unequal Opportunity Race, a short animated video produced by AAPF, was shown to students at Glen Allen High School in Henrico County, Virginia. The clip was included as part of a program to facilitate a conversation on structural racism. Despite accurately illustrating historical events and contemporary racial inequities, a few conservative activists labelled the educational tool as a "white guilt video," and the story was picked up by national right-wing outlets such as Fox News (3).

The Board of Education heightened the controversy by denouncing the video as “racially divisive,” (4). Micky Ogburn, the School Board’s Chair, apologized for showing the video and stated that "school leaders have been instructed not to use the video in our schools.”

Let us be clear: labelling multiracial visions of American society as “divisive” is nothing new. The Civil Rights Movement was called divisive. Martin Luther King, Jr. was called divisive. Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court’s landmark school desegregation case, was labelled as divisive.

What is truly divisive in America, however, are the ways in which rampant racial disparities continue to shape the life chances of individuals living in this society. What is truly divisive is Henrico County’s blatant censorship of material teaching students about structural racism, furthering the dangerous myth that Black people’s suffering can be blamed on individual or cultural shortcoming rather than systemic flaws. What is truly divisive is the miseducation of millions of children, leaving them ill-equipped to understand race and racism in ways that encourage deeper reflection and insight.

We cannot stand for an education system in which European history is presented as “neutral” while Ethnic and Racial Studies that focus on other experiences are labelled as “divisive” and thrown out of our classrooms. We cannot stand by as our stories are labelled as irrelevant to our country’s social reality, while anything that lifts up the struggles of people of color are deemed racist!

This country has a continued legacy of banning educational content deemed as threatening to the status quo. This cannot be allowed to stand.

The Unequal Opportunity Race video and other Ethnic/Racial Studies material that educate students on our country’s history are essential to understanding how our society operates today. As the American Studies Association put it, “The facts of past and present impacts of racist practices cannot be placed beyond the limits of permissible discussion in our classrooms,”(5). Learning about the systemic roots of modern-day racial inequality -- from mass incarceration to employment discrimination to underfunded schools -- is critical for not only Black students, but for everyone. Censorship of this material in response to conservative agitation is a direct expression of racial repression being translated into official policy. And just like in the past, suppressing knowledge about inequality is a tool to prevent us from coalescing to fight against racial injustice.

We can’t stay silent in the face of such censorship. We need to know our history in order to change our future!

Thank you,

Ravi K. Perry and Luke Charles Harris

References:

(1) http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5897?ak_proof=1&t=10&akid=5415.2088301.EtzSxG

(3) http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5899?ak_proof=1&t=14&akid=5415.2088301.EtzSxG

(4) https://act.colorofchange.org/go/5900?ak_proof=1&t=16&akid=5415.2088301.EtzSxG

(5) http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5901?ak_proof=1&t=18&akid=5415.2088301.EtzSxG

Email Address: afampolicyforum@gmail.com
Phone Number: (212) 854-8041
Mailing Address:

African American Policy Forum, Inc.

435 West 116th Street, Rm. 827

New York, NY 10025