Today’s prompt: Respond an episode from a popular podcast called, “Code Switch”.
Behind The Lies My Teacher Told Me
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=638555068
After listening to the Podcast on “The Lies My Teacher Told Me”, I find myself asking…what other lies have been told and by which teacher told me those lies! The conversation between the hosts is very enlightening to say the least. When they discussed the court case about the text books in Texas being “racially inflammatory”, it caused me to pause and think. When did telling the complete truth, using verifiable facts and vetted sources become inflammatory? This episode hit the nail on the head about lies being told about history in classrooms:
1. Textbooks are written to satisfy the purchaser and not written to illustrate all of history…even the parts that hurt.
2. Blacks are blamed for “screwing up” the laws in the South during reconstruction. Why not take ownership? Who had the power? Wealthy white Americans, possibly? Slave owners?
3. Slaves wanted to be slaves? This doesn’t make sense.
4. Depending on the state and its location (north/south), history can be written differently.
Then I ask myself, what are the consequences for not telling history from a lens that represents the truth of all? and then not tell the truth for generations upon generations?
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