Opinion: History must not be denied | Lorrie Irby Jackson
Every African American I know, peripherally or personally, has endured a similar circumstance; racism, after all, is no respecter of age, gender, social status or salary range. As soon as we learn to speak, most of us receive an explanation, are told to accept ourselves nonetheless and to keep moving. After all, as the late poet Langston Hughes once penned, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
In the second half of 2020, just in time for close and contentious elections, many in the Republican Party seemed to drum up campaign dollars and votes railing against the prospect of critical race theory being taught in public schools, despite it actually being a graduate-level course. Since then, such resistance has practically become a shorthand dog whistle for wanting to cherry-pick actual history.
Several elected officials who touted respect and reverence for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday last month, for example, are restricting and outright banning mention of the Nobel Peace Prize winner in this year’s curriculum. When Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted praise for King’s “vision of freedom, equality & opportunity,” many were quick to point out that laws he signed negated the higher population of Blacks, Latinos and other nonwhite groups residing in Texas in the past 10 years with voter suppression tactics, which are facing multiple lawsuits.
Seriously? Is this still the 21st century, or are those content with the pre-civil rights America attempting to censor, intimidate and legislate against a reality that’s already arrived? There is no superior race; everyone is entitled to the same opportunities and humane treatment; and those who committed historical wrongs against the marginalized don’t deserve to be shielded from the consequences at our expense. If Ruby Bridges, Martin Luther King Jr.
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