Thread by @conor64

If you read my article on BLM at School (theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…) a bit more about the book *Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness* which was being taught to kindergarteners in Evanston (1/x)

Here's a YouTube video of a nice man in a bow tie reading the book: It is obviously well-intentioned, and has some good stuff in it. As well, there are flaws worth flagging and discussing. (2/x)

The book begins with a mother scrambling to turn off the television set as it shows video of a police officer shooting a black person so that her little daughter doesn't see. This is critiqued as a misguided attempt to hide and bury the truth of racism. (3/x)

Over the years, my job has required that I watch a lot of police shooting videos. I've also witnessed a police shooting in person. Trying to prevent your young child from seeing such footage on TV or online is *absolutely the right call.* (4/x)

Next comes a section about whether the color of your skin matters. I'm going to skip it, though it is important and contestable, as it implicates a big but already well-trod debate. Less controversial, I suspect, is this critique: (5/x)

The book tells kids their elders are lying to them about reality and racist even when seeing themselves as good. Obviously, some parents are bad in one way or another, including being racist. But teaching kindergarteners their parents are misleading & racist seems corrosive 6/x

Now, in a given a community, it may well be that a police shooting happens, that even young kids can't be shielded from it, and that a kids' book might help parents or educators grapple with what happened. Is this book useful in that circumstance? 7/x

I'd say no. It makes no room for the reality that while some police shootings *are* awful and racist, others are awful but have nothing to do w race, and still others are justified, as a criminal was threatening the life of a cop. You'd never know that happens from this book. 8/x

The thread I like best is captured by the lines, "Your history is not all written yet. What do you want it to say?" What follows attempts a being white/whiteness distinction that I agree w in substance though I question if those terms guarantee confusion/conflation 9/x

Finally here's an excerpt from my article about the end of the book where kids are given the chance to sign a contract aligning with whiteness (presented by the devil!) or decline to sign it and reject whiteness: (10/x)

I dislike the trend of personifying words like whiteness and patriarchy, but more to the point, this is a confusing contract for kids, because they don't in fact have a choice to embrace racism and get stolen land and riches! (11/x)

Indeed, openly embracing racism would get them pilloried and shamed and destroy their career prospects! Anyhow, whole articles could be written on this book. It is one of many examples of curriculum being put before kids that warrants a lot more scrutiny and debate. (/fin)