PART 1 | PART 2

I had to take a few weeks off from Part 1 so I could collect my thoughts and pull together this next installment.

The first thing I’m going to point out here is that the teaching of American history that is inclusive of non-white historic figures and their accomplishments is not Critical Race Theory, it’s whole history.

Lets try that again because repetition can help some people better grasp concepts.

Teaching American history that is inclusive of truthful accountings of heinous acts committed by white historic figures is NOT Critical Race Theory, it’s whole history.

Wait a minute, Marta, you switched that up on us, flip mode style.

Yes, yes I did.

The fact of the matter is that most people screaming about Critical Race Theory being something that they protest having in schools are confused by a politically motivated label. I snatched a simple definition off of Wikipedia because it’s good enough to illustrate what we need to deal with here:

Critical Race Theory

Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary intellectual and social movement of civil-rights scholars and activists who seek to examine the intersection of race and law in the United States and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice.

Does that even sound like something that could or would be taught in 7th grade Civics class?

Lets be clear, what all of these folks screaming about CRT are REALLY objecting to is the correction of a highly curated telling of American history that is not wholly truthful and is purposefully constructed to highlight the accomplishments of Americans of European descent over those who are not of European descent. Despite the fact that we have evidence-rich research that shows us our historic accountings of American history are not accurate and reflective of the whole truth of our founding and existence, there are a great many people who prefer that we cling to that old narrative rather than update those textbooks and teachings.

I find this to be mindboggling.

There is a quote that is often attributed to Winston Churchill…

“History is written by the victors.”

The funny thing is that our technological advances have made it so that the “victors narratives” can be challenged by evidence and facts so that “history” can be a more truthful preservation of past events and occurrences.

Now if truth is a good thing, why is it so upsetting for some people?

I try to be empathetic in an effort to help build bridges of effective communication and collaboration between different groups all the time so lets do the work and see where we land.

If I were a white female raised in a Eurocentric culture, what would it sound like to me if someone told me that the history of the United States of America needed to be updated because it is historically inaccurate and misrepresentative of the experiences of ALL Americans but especially the African American, Native American, Asian American and Hispanic American citizens of this nation.

If I’m honest, I know that American history has largely marginalized the historic contributions of women as well so wouldn’t I be more inclined to believe that our history textbooks and instruction should be updated?

How does it harm anyone to update our view of history?

Does not talking about many of the heinous actions taken by long dead white people during the establishment of the USA make those actions any less real or true? Does keeping the stories silenced of the resilience of the many one time subjugated black and brown citizens of the USA really serve the “good” of this nation? Why are these objectors so fearful of the truth? Lets talk about that.

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Marta is an award winning filmmaker, writer and producer committed to sharing the rich and complex stories of America’s Heartland region.  Marta wears several hats as Chief Creative-in-Charge of MartaGwyn Productions, LLC as well as the Co-Founder and Senior Grant Writer of Youngblood and Associates, LLC and Chief Operations Officer of Marta Collier Educational Systems and Services, LLC.

Marta is also the founder and editor-in-chief of TheWRITEaddiction.  An online community of writers that publish creative and inspirational works daily at www.TheWriteAddiction.com.

Marta is an alumna of The Ohio State University and Tougaloo College with degrees in Sociology and English-Journalism and resides in Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband and unconventional college sweetheart of 11 years, Terrance Youngblood.