Release Date: March 4, 2016
The Harvard Gazette has released a series of articles on inequality in America. They describe Harvard University scholars’ efforts across a range of disciplines to identify and understand this nation defining and dividing concern and possible solutions. The first piece in the series opens: “It’s a seemingly nondescript chart, buried in a Harvard Business School (HBS) professor’s academic paper. A rectangle, divided into parts, depicts U.S. wealth for each fifth of the population. But it appears to show only three divisions. The bottom two, representing the accumulated wealth of 124 million people, are so small that they almost don’t even show up. Other charts in other journals illustrate different aspects of American inequality. They might depict income, housing quality, rates of imprisonment, or levels of political influence, but they all look very much the same. Perhaps most damning are those that reflect opportunity — whether involving education, health, race, or gender — because the inequity represented there belies our national identity. America, we believe, is a land where everyone gets a fair start and then rises or falls according to his or her own talent and industry. But if you’re poor, if you’re uneducated, if you’re black, if you’re Hispanic, if you’re a woman, there often is no fair start.”
The article notes that inequality “has become a national buzzword and a political cause célèbre in this election year,” in part because across so many measures it is on the rise. Harvard-trained historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson was focused on a particular aspect of inequality when he founded Negro History Week — the precursor to Black History Month — ninety years ago. Dr. Woodson was especially concerned about the “mis-education” of Black children from their earliest ages — “The thought of the inferiority of the Negro is drilled into him in almost every class he enters and in almost every book he studies” — and the cumulative effects it could have: “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”
Dr. Woodson believed teaching children about Black history and Black accomplishments was a crucial corrective step. We now understand the wisdom behind teaching not just Black children but all children Black history just as we make sure all of our American stories are being told as we prepare our next generations for our multicultural nation and world. Although Black History Month is over, every month should be Black and Native American and Latino and Asian American and women’s and non-propertied men’s history month.
Black History Month has helped infuse more multicultural attention in American education, but there is still a big struggle ahead to ensure children are taught the truth in schools in every subject including history, geography and literature. A misleading McGraw-Hill geography textbook called American slaves “workers from Africa” and the evil slave trade just one of many “patterns of immigration.” We must vigilantly monitor and challenge false history, geography and literature that sugarcoats and mischaracterizes the horrors of slavery, lynchings and institutional racism. As scholars watch American inequality’s continual rise, Black children and other children of color remain disproportionately at risk of inferior status, discrimination and racial disparities in measure after measure. We must challenge anyone training any of our children to go around to the back door — yet too often we are still leaving some children outside it. This must stop.
We should remember that for so many Black children and youths each day in America, there is too little to celebrate:
3 are killed by guns.
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4 die from accidents.
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19 die in the first year of life.
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86 are arrested for violent crimes.
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90 are arrested for drug crimes.
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148 are born without health insurance.
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153 are born to teen mothers.
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212 are born at low birthweight.
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318 are corporally punished in public schools.
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329 are born into extreme poverty.
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399 are confirmed abused or neglected.
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603 are born into poverty.
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763 drop out of high school.
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1,144 are born to unmarried mothers.
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1,174 are arrested.
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4,529 are suspended from public schools.
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Every day in America. We can and must do better and combat systemic, cultural, economic, and educational inequality — hidden and overt. There is no more urgent problem in America than inequality and its many progeny manifested in our education, health, and criminal justice systems and in all aspects of American life. This is the time to face the truth and to do something about our divided nation. We must all change the odds stacked against poor and non-White children so that every child in America has an equal opportunity to achieve and succeed.
In combating America's systemic, cultural, economic, and educational inequality, we must be willing to confront the bitter truths regarding our current state of affairs, particularly when it pertains to our young people. If we truly hope to see any change in the quality of their lives, we must use all the social media tools at our disposal to combat the sanitized narrative about racial income inequality, intergenerational poverty, government complicity and the true roots of the achievement gap. The problems are real and it is important that artists, teachers, preachers, journalists and community members join in the movement for greater awareness.
ReplyDeleteBecause we are living in an age of trends, hashtags and soundbites, we are easily numbed to many of the facts highlighted in the column. It is easy to forget how bad the living conditions remain for many poor blacks. For example, one important statistic missing from the above column is the unemployment rate for young blacks that is skyrocketing and currently three times the national average. Spreading the word about issues and statistics like this will not only initiate change, but it will stir many of our youth to take action (even if it means simply reposting) about issues that ordinarily they would ordinarily believe have little relevance to their lives and future.
The point the article makes about Dr Woodson's fight for Negro History week, and the need to have an empowering narrative is true. But societally, we need to do better at educating our children as a whole, instead of leaving it all up to the teachers. In this technology age, "I didn't know" is not an excusable reason. Most information is at our fingertips, and if not the information itself, access to the experts is. We must educate our children as a community. As an artists, I also find it sad and pathetic at how few Black celebrities- actors, musicians, dancers, athletes, etc are making an effort to use their platforms to fight or at least bring light to issues of inequality. Sure, there are some. But too many times we let these celebrities off the hook, give them a pass, when they say "i'm not a hero," or "I don't want people to look up to me." These people do not mind being worshipped as heroes until it impedes their ability to knowingly do and say whatever they like, even to the detriment of Black narratives. It is time to hold celebrities to a different measure. It is time to make community learning a normalcy. Sure, it is important to challenge the institutions that leave us disenfranchised, but until they meet our needs, we must also do the work in our neighborhoods, religious institutions, community centers, libraries, to make sure that we have our hand on the narrative. If you know better, do better.
ReplyDeleteWe must vigilantly monitor and challenge false history, geography and literature that sugarcoats and mischaracterizes the horrors of slavery, lynchings and institutional racism. As scholars watch American inequality’s continual rise, Black children and other children of color remain disproportionately at risk of inferior status, discrimination and racial disparities in measure after measure. We must challenge anyone training any of our children to go around to the back door — yet too often we are still leaving some children outside it. This must stop....
ReplyDeleteThe paragraph above struck a chord within me because being an educator, I am faced with this reality every time I talk to children of color about their history and ancestors. They are clueless of their lineage and the greatness within themselves. The schools are failing them subject wise and the parents aren't quite cutting it or saying anything at all. I've noticed that children who are blessed enough to attend Freedom Schools are newly enlightened an awakened by the many characters and leaders in the books but for the ones who don't get that opportunity, they we only exposed to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. They are led to think and believe that our history started with slavery so they have no interest in learning anything else. We have to change that narrative and how we introduce their history to them or they won't feel the need to be great in life.
I have always said that school systems do not include enough black history into curriculums to even accurately teach our children the history of this country, let alone countries around the world. I was somewhat offended by the paragraph that talked about the McGraw-Hill textbook and the verbiage used to describe slavery. I feel that the way it is phrased downplays its seriousness and the affects that it continues to have on minorities of this country even today. Our children need to be enlightened in order to make a difference in the future. Black people have been just as impactful as any other person people continuously hear about in their history classes, and it is important that children gain more of a holistic knowledge base about things that have occurred in the past.
ReplyDeleteBlack history should be more than just a month, and it is truly sad that learning about black history has been reduced to a month and children are left to discover any history outside of that on their own time. A lack of history about people who look like our black and brown students can also affect their interest in learning history. I know personally, my social studies and history classes were always my least favorite classes in grade school because I felt it was boring and hard to relate to. When I took African-American Culture in undergrad, it was way more interesting than any other history class I had ever been exposed to. If we want our children to be great, they need to see role models in history that can set the bar for them and really exhibit the many things that they are capable of besides the typical people that they do projects on in February every year.
Mindy, I think that is awesome that you have been able to influence your students' learning of American history with emphasis on the historical social issues and lives of Black Americans. As a teacher, you have direct access to the minds of these young people and thereby access to the minds and awareness of the families which they represent. I am proud that you have continued to be an integral part of their enthusiasm to learn more and more hidden truths. Although I am not a teacher and I do not have access to the young minds in the same way, my goal is to be just like you through my art and photography.
ReplyDeletePublic education continues to be one of the hottest topics for rigorous debate in this country, and yet, Freedom Schools continues to quietly do what it has always done with little fan fare or attention: engage and empower black & brown children with their own reflection. According to a recent study by Dee & Penner (2016) which looked at the effect of ethnic studies curriculum for high school students found black & brown students having increased attendance and better grades as a result. Recently, Castlemont High School in Oakland, California ethnic studies classroom, that’s the objective: gaining knowledge of one’s history and community helps students feel more connected and empowered.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I believe in terms of social studies content, there is no content that is more directly relevant to students’ lives or more academically rigorous. When public education focuses on concepts like personal identity and systems of privilege, which helps students think about how the different parts of their identities can affect their personal experiences and understand those experiences within a historical context. Furthermore, focusing on the idea of race as a social construct—or that individuals who share a particular racial identity can be very physically diverse—and discussion of levels of oppression within society.