Thread by @Zeke_Cohen

The debate on Critical Race Theory reminded of an experience I had as a teacher.

I taught 8th grade history in South Baltimore. Part of our curriculum was on world religions.

One day my principal called me into her office. A student and her mom were there. The mom looked mad.

My principal spoke first: “Mr. Cohen, there has been an accusation against you.”

I felt dazed scanning the grim range of accusations a student could make against her teacher.

The mom spoke next. “Last night my daughter came home and told me: ‘That Jew is trying to convert us!”’

I glanced over at my student. She was a smart but painfully shy kid who wore a cross to school. We had a good rapport. She laughed at my history jokes. Even the lame ones. I struggled to see her saying those words.

My principal looked equally skeptical. “Mr. Cohen is that true?”

“No.” I said, trying not to sound defensive. “I teach Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and other religions. I don’t show preference, and I’m not interested in converting anyone.”

I hadn’t volunteered that I was Jewish until a student asked. Now I regretted even doing that.

My principal shifted her gaze to my student. “Did Mr Cohen try to convert you?”

The girl looked at me. Then her mom. Then back at me. A few tears slid down her cheek. Then her face welled up. “I made it up.” She cried out. “I don’t know why.”

My principal’s face turned to ice.

“Mr. Cohen, please go back to your classroom. I’m sorry to have bothered you.” She said cooly.

Before I’d even closed the door, I heard her booming voice, now on a completely different decibel. “Do you know what you’ve done to this man, making false accusations? How dare you!”

At the end of the school year I took my class to the United States Holocaust Museum. I invited the little girl’s mom to join us as a chaperone.

Even my toughest student seemed awed by the brutality and cruelty of the Nazis. “Did they really put innocent people in gas chambers?”

After we got back to Baltimore, the mom approached me sheepishly, never looking me in the eyes. “I’m sorry.” She muttered.

“For what?” I asked.

“I didn’t know. I was taught that the Holocaust was exaggerated. Just a way to get sympathy. I never knew a real Jew before.”

She could sense my disbelief. “I mean, I’ve met Jews but never one that taught my daughter. That was, well…” She trailed off.

“Different?” I offered.

“Yeah. Different.”

That was the last time we spoke. Her daughter got an A- in my class and went on to a top tier high school.

I was reminded of this story while watching a mom scream at a school board meeting about how her six year old had been indoctrinated to hate herself because she’s white.

A superintendent in MD was recently harassed and driven out of her job for proclaiming “Black Lives Matter.”

Americans are often averse to acknowledging that which makes us feel guilty. We willfully ignore the most painful parts of our history.

When we tell children that the Holocaust was exaggerated, or ban books, or teach Confederate nostalgia, we do a disservice to our democracy.

Our future depends on our freedom to honestly reckon with our past.

“States Rights” gave new life to an old argument about whose rights actually mattered.

“Parents Rights” seeks to shield white children from having to stare into the ugliness of what’s been done in their name.

As Baldwin said, “American history is more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” Our children deserve to learn it all.