Thread by @MsKass1

(thread) I'm paying homage to the genre of @mochamomma 's teaching style twitter.

Welcome to my classroom, i.e. How Educational Presses are Messing Up Hard Core, and

i.e. What We Critically Minded People can do to SUBVERT this Trump-era journalism.

https://twitter.com/EdWeekTeacher/status/1277682893980962817

(&also thank you @jthompedu for bringing this to my attention)

@EdWeekTeacher , you have 271.6K twitter followers. Your reach is deep, it is entrenched, and lots of the US teaching force listens to what you have to say.

You are lucky that @Jess5th was quoted in this article.

to give it even a pinch of criticality.

this article is the Fox News of Ed Media spread. This kind of journalism is analagous to wretched tabloid press where hot topics are sucked dry of any kind of truths.

You know that ABAR education is trending, you know that #BlackLivesMatter is more momentous than ever before.

You know that Black children, Black youth, other BIPOC youth and teachers are in deep pain.

From present neglect, historical neglect and the ferocity of misinformation people who are supposed teach and love them read.

You know all this...and yet, this is what you chose to publish. for the eyes of 271,600 people to read.

You asked a question: "Do History Books Adequately Reflect People of Color?"

You titled your piece with that question, intentionally centering an obvious falsehood,

& then you answered your own assinine question with: "Most Educators Say Yes." Posing the plausibility of truth

[This is going to be a long-ass thread because I haven't even got past unpacking the title.]

This title shows how well the master narrative, and its intentional masquerade on truth within the institution of school has impacted generations and generations

&generations of people who attend/ed US Public schools, &also those who teach, participate, and advise.

You said you used a "Representative Sample" to ask whether or not folx thought BIPoC history was reflected in "Textbooks"

You did not, in fact, use a representative sample.

1,150 people is not a representative sample. People who chose to click buttons through your twitter survey or website survey is not a representative sample of teachers and educators who work in US schools. Nor is it an appropriate measure a reflection on BIPOC representation

in textbooks. (P.S. Don't use textbooks. They are all incomplete).

By saying "most teachers say yes" you have given white supremacy yet another pass, permission for the master narrative to be taught as is.

You have given all kinds of educators and families passes to erase BIPOC contributions, rich histories, and worse-you have given permission to omit atrocities committed by white colonists ALL OVER THE WORLD.

for example: all US public school students learn about democracy. The master narrative will teach you about Greek democracy, The American Revolutionary War, and the Founding Fathers, and the Constitution.

(right now, think to yourself: do I know the unwritten truths of this history?)
Unless you have personally and intentionally delved in to primary source documents, listened with deep intent over long periods of time to BIPOC folks, and have saturated yourself in unlearning-

the answer is: probably not.

Here are truths passed to me and truths that were excavated by me & my very deep digging:

Ancient Greeks did practice democracy. But they sure as hell were not the only ones. Tribal nations all over the United States at the time of the Colonizers

idea that they should fight for independence and steal land to call their own, were in much closer proximity to the American Colonials than Grecians.

The Iroquois League gets credit for American Democracy. Not the Greeks. Read more below.

This info pic is from Carolyn Myss. Also, check out this article I found in 1987 from @nytimes. Imagine, the truth has been around for SOooooooo long and people think they KNOW.

nytimes.com/1987/06/28/us/…

Also...what do you know about the American Revolution?? For history fans, probably in your mind, you say, EVERYTHING!

Probably not.

I have a friend just this year whose kid learned about Crispus Attucks, and her child was not taught that he was Black! (he was also Native American for those who were wondering).

Where are the enslaved in the North in a textbook during the American Revolution?

Where are the tribal nations whose lands were stolen, ravaged,wrecked during the American Revolution,in a textbook?Where are the acts of gross, widespread crime committed by white men and women towards tribal nations in a textbook?

I CANNOT enjoy Hamilton because it is missing an entire people's truth.

Was Betsy Ross REALLY the only woman doing anything during this time important for us to know about, in a textbook?

As people who write in spaces where people listen, @EdWeekTeacher, you have an IMMENSE responsibility to get it right.

I don't think you tried hard at all. Please REDO, REWRITE, and COMMIT to bolstering realities in this article and all future media you put out.

A survey for this work is crap and untelling. You need qualitative information, ethnographic love.

Educators who read on twitter, never let your critical eye get lazy. We live in a country that has never holistically honored BIPOC folx' past.

We have to intentionally undo and unlearn what we were taught, listen to our communities of people we teach, and commit to longitudinal, rich history.

Finally, here are some beautiful trusted digital spaces to get get critical historical teaching advice. End.

facinghistory.com
zinnedproject.org
rethinkingschools.org