Critical Race Theory Does Not Teach Children That America Is Racist, America Does
As a teacher, I can simply let this country’s past and present speak for itself
A white man willingly goes into the streets with an assault rifle and kills two people while injuring a third. He is painted as a hero, a young innocent man, and is acquitted of all charges. A 16-year-old Black youth is accused of stealing a backpack. He refuses to plead guilty and is awaiting a trial. He is painted as a criminal and is sent to Rikers where he is tortured for three years. A few years after his release, he commits suicide.
As a teacher I do not need an “agenda”, “propaganda” or “an angle” to highlight the inherent racism and white supremacy in America. I can simply let this country’s past and present speak for themselves.
Let’s start with the Declaration of Independence. In elementary school, children are introduced to the document. Many of us most likely remember the famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
We’ve read these words hundreds of times, we’ve been taught to be proud of them, to celebrate the “equality” and “freedom” these words contain. But we are rarely asked to read the entire document. Going down just a few lines from the “equitable” words we all know, we see the authors of the Declaration of Independence list their top grievances with the King. Among them is their frustration that he has helped the native people of these lands fight against the white men. “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
First, we can observe and examine the term used to describe the people living in their own homeland: “merciless Indian Savages.” Do I need an agenda or propaganda to teach that America’s founding fathers were racist? Nope. They proudly say it themselves. Wrote it down in an official document. And we teach and celebrate this document today.
Next, we see that the white Americans were angry that the King would dare to incite the inhabitants OF THEIR OWN LANDS to fight against invaders. Obviously, we know the King’s motives were to destabilize the “Americans” and thus, continue colonizing on behalf of Great Britain. But still, that is your grievance? That the people living on their own lands are daring to fight their invaders? I need no angle on this story to highlight just how problematic it is.
Continuing on, we move to arguably the most important document in American history and government: the Constitution. Most of us also remember the famous words we were taught from this document, “We the People, in order to form a perfect union…” But just a few paragraphs down, we see that “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned…determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.”
When assigning my students to read the entire document, they pause here and ask a lot of questions. “What does this mean? What is ‘three-fifths of all other Persons’?” I need no angle. I need no propaganda. I simply point to the debates held at the Constitutional Convention. The states with large populations of enslaved people wanted the enslaved to be counted as whole people when it came to representation but as property when it came to taxation. And the opposing states wanted the opposite. So as a compromise, they agreed that enslaved people would count as three-fifths of a human being. By simply stating those facts, using words from the founding fathers, I “teach” nothing, I have no opinion. I have simply allowed America’s racism to speak for itself.
Students often ask me who was given the right to vote in the original draft of the Constitution. Technically, the answer is no one. The specific right to vote was left out of the Constitution because, as James Madison said at the Constitutional Convention, “the freeholders of the country would be the safest depositories of republican liberty.” Note that “freeholders” meant “property owners”.
Who had the right to own land at the time of the Constitutional Convention (1787)? Though many opposed this idea at the debates, the voting rights were restricted to white men who owned property and were at least 21 years of age. It took specific amendments in the coming hundreds of years to give suffrage to more people.
Lastly, we can conclude this American history lesson by showing paintings of the founding fathers. I simply ask my students: Who was invited to help create the new laws for this country? Who was excluded? Describe the people you see in the paintings. Describe who you do not see. These are very simple and direct questions and prompts. The answers and responses are facts. There is no opinion, there is no angle. America shows its proudly white face. And learners can draw their own conclusions.
The very foundations of our government highlight the problematic, racist, and exclusionary beliefs of those who founded it. And this continues in every aspect of American life until today. No “agenda” is needed to discuss Andrew Jackson, Executive Order 9066, the GI Bill after WWII, poll taxes, the legal practice of redlining, or the atrocious imbalance in the American “justice” system. What is required of me is to share the entire story, the good and the bad. I present ALL the facts and allow learners to draw conclusions. This is not propaganda, an angle, an attempt to make “white children feel bad”. This is teaching history in its complex truth, in its entirety, and letting America’s racist past and present speak for themselves.
Subscribe to Insights from Educate for a biweekly dose of professional learning and inspiration from authentic voices in education.
