There is a simple reason: The United States does not yet have the stomach to look over its shoulder and stare directly at the evil on which this great country stands.
Hmm - could be true (sometimes I think this myself), but also kind of unfalsifiable, not really grounded in anything concrete. But, still "keep reading" ...
That is why slavery is not well taught in our schools.
What? It damn sure was in my school. Along with the evils of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynchings, and general trajectory of events leading to the civil rights movement. And the eugenics movement, and Indian Removal. And several lectures devoted to the practice and evils of racism as such (and as applied to other group). Along with questions about whether slavery really ended at at all after the Emancipation Proclamation, or just changed form. Yeah, we went there.
Still, I don't know from nationwide tendencies, and who knows what the author means by "well", so keep reading ...
That is why any mention of slavery is rendered as the shameful act of a smattering of Southern plantation owners.
WTF? Absolutely not true, in my lifelong observation. I'm sure it happens, but in an extreme minority of mentions. Essentially every time the topic has come up, it has always been described as an "institution", a systematic evil, absolutely embedded in the fabric of life in the Southern states (and respected by the legal frameworks of Northern states, etc).
There are definitely legitimate questions to ask about whether mainstream America (or even "White America") has sufficiently examined its racist and genocidal past. And yes, about how this shapes policy and debate up until the current day.
But where this author thinks they're going with this train of hyperbole, I don't know - and won't be able to stick around to find out.
I was taught about slavery & american racism in an american public school about 20 years ago also. These are the main points I remember being made:
* slave owners and, later, segregationists were products of the time and systems under which they lived. their acts were wrong but understanding and grace is necessary to interpret them.
* racism is an act of individual, intentional malice, one person to another. to the extent larger systems play a role it is only by giving leverage to individuals to fulfill their personal racist desires.
* there are no notable current, ongoing consequences of these policies that need to be addressed. sharecropping was a thing for a little while though.
* these problems are gone now and they went away because people are just better to each other now, thanks to the good peaceful works of people like rev dr martin luther king jr.
So I like idk. It doesn't sound like this article is talking about your education experience but it is talking about mine. It's a big country though, there's a lotta schools.
It's mostly a matter of definition. Was the system in which slaveholders and segregationists lived a "racist system"? If you think racism is defined as being about individual attitudes, then the term makes little sense. And it's certainly true that we have been gradually mitigating these systems of oppression, so their consequences are not what they once were. Of course, this suggests that further progress might also be possible, should we find out that problems still exist (as with police brutality and biases in the criminal justice system). Both perspectives are valid and both should be taught for a full understanding of where we might be standing now.
There is a simple reason: The United States does not yet have the stomach to look over its shoulder and stare directly at the evil on which this great country stands.
Hmm - could be true (sometimes I think this myself), but also kind of unfalsifiable, not really grounded in anything concrete. But, still "keep reading" ...
That is why slavery is not well taught in our schools.
What? It damn sure was in my school. Along with the evils of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynchings, and general trajectory of events leading to the civil rights movement. And the eugenics movement, and Indian Removal. And several lectures devoted to the practice and evils of racism as such (and as applied to other group). Along with questions about whether slavery really ended at at all after the Emancipation Proclamation, or just changed form. Yeah, we went there.
Still, I don't know from nationwide tendencies, and who knows what the author means by "well", so keep reading ...
That is why any mention of slavery is rendered as the shameful act of a smattering of Southern plantation owners.
WTF? Absolutely not true, in my lifelong observation. I'm sure it happens, but in an extreme minority of mentions. Essentially every time the topic has come up, it has always been described as an "institution", a systematic evil, absolutely embedded in the fabric of life in the Southern states (and respected by the legal frameworks of Northern states, etc).
There are definitely legitimate questions to ask about whether mainstream America (or even "White America") has sufficiently examined its racist and genocidal past. And yes, about how this shapes policy and debate up until the current day.
But where this author thinks they're going with this train of hyperbole, I don't know - and won't be able to stick around to find out.