Thread by @denise_dewald

Imagine if German schools stopped teaching about the Holocaust because it made children feel uncomfortable about their past.

"Section 51, part 6 of the Tennessee law makes lesson plans illegal if students 'feel discomfort, guilt, or anguish.'"

cnn.com/2021/09/29/us/…

"Teaching the subject of the Holocaust and the Nazi era is mandatory in German schools and in addition to the classroom curriculum, almost all students have either visited a concentration camp or a Holocaust memorial or museum." pbs.org/wgbh/pages/fro…

Unsurprisingly, the German far-right is going after history education in Germany.

One German nationalist leader characterized the Holocaust as a '“speck of bird poop” in Germany’s otherwise admirable history.' Another defends Holocaust deniers.
theatlantic.com/international/…

Teaching and understanding the meaning of slavery and the genocide of Native Americans in American history is every bit as important as teaching the Holocaust is in German history.

These atrocities happened, and our cultures allowed them to happen.

It's easy to forget that black enslavement was part of the American experience for longer than black freedom has been.

It will only be in the year 2112 that African Americans will have been free for longer than they were enslaved.

We need to understand how and why these atrocities occurred, and we need to make it right.

Because if we don't, the long tentacles of the past will forever be part of our present.