February, Black History Month 2022! Right now, when people should be insisting that more truths must be told about the ugly history of the lives, exploitation and oppression of Black people in this country, there is a big uproar and vicious campaign against this. The Republican-fascists aim to prevent the teaching of what they term and lump together under the rubric—banner—of “Critical Race Theory” (for more on this go to “The Fight Against the White Supremacist Whitewash and Fascist Suppression of Historical Truth,” Parts 1, 2, and 3, by Rafael Kadaris). What is really under attack is any teaching of the true history of this country, and in particular the truth that Black people were forced into horrendous slavery for centuries, making their very physical being legally enshrined as less than human, and this permeates U.S. society up to the very present, in a thousand different ways.
A very aggressive movement is sweeping the country, launched first by Donald Trump in 2020, and now headed up by state governors and politicians in at least 26 states. There are multiple proposals of new laws—some of which have been passed—that regulate telling any of this truth—and a mass mobilization to terrorize school boards, teachers and students who stand in the way of these white-supremacist fascist measures. This has unleashed a movement of “outraged parents,” in particular white parents, who fear that their children will be made to feel “bad” or “guilty” if the real truth about this country is allowed to be taught. For them, love of this country must be promoted and any “negativity” or criticism—no matter how truthful—must be suppressed. While much of the heat behind this has been spurred by anger at and opposition to the discussion of the history of racism and institutionalized white supremacy against Black people in this country, it is also directed at broader discussion of the history of racism against immigrants and Chicanos, at genocide against Native peoples, as well as discussion of sexual orientations that go against traditional gender norms.
See accompanying article:
Censorship of Books and Speech About Race and Sexuality Getting “More severe … more ambitious … more draconian”
The campaign to purge schools of the realities of the oppression of Black, Brown and Native people, and of LGBTQ people—or even of their existence as full human beings—is reaching tsunami proportions.
In 2021, 52 laws were proposed in 33 states—and at least 10 were enacted—that would “regulate how and what educators may teach about race, history and sexuality in schools.”
That was already extremely alarming. But in just the first three weeks of 2022, another 71 such laws have been proposed in 27 states.
The language of many of the laws and policies being pushed through hides the real intent, by distorting what is actually being taught. But the real purpose and goal comes out in the arguments being made, and statements made—that drive home to reinforce the cohering norms, “myths” and “narratives” of this country and society. Here are just a few examples:
From Tennessee Governor Bill Lee: “We need to make sure that our kids recognize that this country is moving toward a more perfect union, that we should teach the exceptionalism of our nation and how people can live together and work together to make a greater nation, and to not teach things that inherently divide or pit either Americans against Americans or people groups against people groups.”1
A Texas Law passed in December 2021 would, according to the New York Times, “...limit teacher-led discussions of current events … [and] limit how teachers in Texas classrooms can discuss the ways in which racism influenced the legal system in the state... and the rest of the country.”2
“Do you want our Texas kids to be taught that the system of government in the United States and Texas is nothing but a cover-up for white supremacy?” Steve Toth, a Republican legislator from the Houston suburbs, asked when he introduced the bill banning the teaching that the United States is defined by racism.3
At a special Texas state legislature session, people protesting bills limiting the teaching of the history of slavery and continuing, systemic racism demand: “Allow teachers to teach the truth.” Photo: AP
Let’s be real: In the United States there has never been a time when anything remotely close to the full truth about the actual history of this country has been taught. No, and the truth that from its very beginnings , throughout history and up to the present, white supremacy and horrendous oppression of Black people has been stitched into every institution and the very fabric of this society—that truth—has been hidden and lied about in history books, in the culture and in every institution.
But some of the ugly truth of the roots of this country in slavery and genocide has been forced to be confronted and talked about in schools, workplaces and in the public square. We saw this most recently as a result of fierce struggle of millions of people in the spring and summer of 2020 in the protests that erupted all over this country after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police. All kinds of people began talking about the fact that this country’s roots and founding were based on slavery and genocide and that racism is deeply built into the system and society we live in today.
People were being forced to confront and question institutionalized racism, and the legitimacy of the claim—a blatant lie—that this country is “the land of freedom and democracy.” And people questioning this can also seriously threaten the legitimacy of the underlying system that is responsible for all of this suffering, and its cohering norms proclaiming the so-called exceptionalism and “greatness” of this country. The potential for this questioning is what is now directly under attack by the white-supremacist fascists, under the rubric—the banner—of “restricting or even banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory.” In a sleight of hand, these fascists have recast their attacks on the very teaching of Black History as a whole in the frame of “preventing the teaching of Critical Race Theory.” This has become a rallying cry of these fascists, and part of the sharpening polarization and divides in this country.
First, teaching the actual history of Black people in this country is absolutely essential and foundational to any serious understanding of U.S., and indeed world, history. It is not some “add-on.” As Bob Avakian (BA) puts it in BAsics 1:1: “There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.” There is no way to understand the nature of this society or what goes on in this country without a firm grasp of this. Some of what has been fought for, especially resulting from the struggles of the 1960s and now taught in schools and universities, does contribute to that understanding. Because of those struggles, there has been important research and scholarship that strengthens a deeper understanding of the real history of this country. While some “woke insanity” is present in some teaching of Black history—for instance, notions of “checking individual white privilege” in a way that diverts people from grasping the systemic character of racism and racial oppression—in the main Black history courses are absolutely necessary, do much good, and must be whole-heartedly defended.
But, second and more critically, you have to follow that all the way through and scientifically, go deep enough to get to the heart of the problem—that racism and the oppression of Black people are interwoven with and a necessary part of this vicious system of capitalism-imperialism, working to reinforce this system. BA goes deeply into why this is so in the article “Racial Oppression Can Be Ended—But Not Under This System”—and the solution. Racism and capitalism—you can’t get rid of the one without getting rid of the other. We need to make an ACTUAL revolution to overthrow this whole system, and this essential truth must be sought out, spread and fiercely fought for right now. People in the field of Black history have been making critically important and even path-breaking contributions to our understanding; but even the best of what’s taught in academia as Black history does not come close to this understanding of problem and solution.
Third, every effort to prevent the teaching of the real truth of the history of this country must be vigorously opposed, and every effort to intimidate teachers—and students—from discussing and digging into the truth about this country and this system—must be met with fierce resistance by teachers, students and everyone who refuses to be cowed by these reactionary forces. Fascist efforts to terrorize school boards, teachers and others striving to “do the right thing” must be opposed, and those under attack defended! There are many who are fed up with seeing these fascists running loose, leaving a trail of intimidation where they go, confusing people and spreading disinformation. It is important that a force came out and said hell no to all this!
If people do stand up, the contention over this can become a motor driving people to get to the bottom of why things are the way they are, what kind of system keeps producing such horrible treatment of whole peoples, here and around the world, and can lead people to challenge the very legitimacy of such a system. This can and needs to be part of bringing forward revolutionary forces especially from the youth who reject that this is the kind of society we should accept, and who want their lives to count for something that can really break humanity out of this system.
