A lot of US history glosses over the gruesome nature of our country’s founding and operation. What the (white) Founding Fathers did to establish and expand the United States of America is valiant, courageous, necessary, and acceptable.
At the same time, Native Americans are depicted as uncivilized, crude savages. In renderings of the first Thanksgiving, they are often shown wearing barely any clothing, adorned with feather headdresses, and eating on the ground.
In a current high school history textbook the Atlantic Slave Trade is referred to as immigration and enslaved people are called workers. Children's storybooks show enslaved people happy to do their work without showing the impact slavery had on them.
Until recently, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War 2 and the mass deportation of Mexican Americans in the 30s and 40s were not well known.
Again, I'll ask rhetorically, what impact does this kind of historical narrative have on children? What kinds of subtle messages could they be receiving? How much value is subconsciously rooted in their minds on White Man's contributions to the U.S. versus the contributions of people of color?
Please note: this isn’t a statement that should be interpreted the way #BlackLivesMatter and Black Pride often are with a defensive reaction. To place value on people of color does not necessitate removing value from whites. It’s not like there’s a limited amount to be distributed, and in order to give some to people of color we have to take it away from whites.
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