Me and my mother at my father’s funeral. He wasn’t assassinated because he said he wanted his children to be judged “by the content of their character.”
He was gunned down because he was courageous and strategically working to dismantle racism, poverty and militarism. He was speaking truth to power about the Vietnam War, about economic injustice + racial injustice, about ‘The Other America,’ about the violence of the U.S. government.
Today, people who don’t want the truth shared about these things are using one quote (from a speech that my father gave about injustice and his dream that we’ve eradicated injustice, including racism) to ban honest history, under the guise of banning #CRT.
But banning CRT, which many who are zealous about banning don’t fully understand, isn’t actually the goal. Instead, books about freedom and freedom fighters, including my father, who was a nonviolent warrior, are being banned. And teaching on racism is being banned.
Truth about the past and the continual fight for justice and freedom is only a threat if a person considers the freedom of others bondage for them. Transparency about how racism and white supremacy have devastated and continue to devastate is necessary for humanity.
Misuse of a murdered man (who was then among the most hated men in America by white supremacists for talking about and doing something about what many want us to shut up about today) for the benefit of banning even him is unconscionable.
We must teach our children the truth about history and about what we must do now to conquer hate and injustice. We must do that at home, in school, via books and art, etc.
Anyone unwilling to do so cannot humanely claim concern for hurting white children as a reason.
Black children are human.
Brown children are human.
Racism is destroying the world that all children live in.
And if adults are not courageous enough to confront it, what are we teaching our children?
What are we leaving our children?
Finally, what is the intentional focus on CRT distracting those who have fallen prey to the fear mongering from really focusing on?
What’s not being corrected when history is not being taught correctly?
