B dot (2:15)
While they still fighting over black history in these schools. Welcome back know it alls to another episode of the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect podcast network, especially in February entitled I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I'm your host, B dot. And my 13 year old daughter goes to a predominantly white school. Her mother and I have been blessed and fortunate enough to live wherever we want in the city of Charlotte. And it just so happens that the side of Charlotte we live on, my baby girl is a minority and I ain't going to cap. It's a very conflicting dynamic because her mother is a product of North Carolina A and T State University. I am a product of Winston Salem State University. And we know the importance of being black. We unapologetically black around here. And it's mandatory that we instill that in our baby girl. So I share this podcast with her. We have these conversations and sometimes she takes them to school with her and sometimes she comes home so confused. One time she came home and said, dad, none of my teachers knew what an HBCU was. How deflating. How can the teachers there even reach the black and brown children if they aren't educated enough themselves on what an HBCU is. It just alarms me on what other black history is not being taught to my baby and her peers. Like, if Black history month started 100 years ago, here's a fair question. Why people still arguing about teaching it? Why are books getting banned? Why are classes getting cut? Why does the truth keep needing a disclaimer? How about we open that case file today? But before we do, of course, you know, we've gotta start the episode with three of the most useless facts you'll never need. Not a day in life about black history in schools. Up first, states have passed laws restricting how racism and black history can be taught. Not denying it happened, just limiting how honest you can be about it. Please see Florida here, your second useless fact about black history being taught in schools. Textbook battles over black history started almost immediately after segregation ended. Coincidence? My therapist, Jackie Horton, says there's no such thing as coincidences. And your third useless fact. Every major expansion of black history education has been met with organized pushback. Again, that's not coincidence. That's coordination. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't need. I didn't know, maybe you didn't need. I didn't know. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't need. I didn't know. Alright, here's the part people dance around. Black history ain't controversial because it's sad. It's controversial because it's explanatory. See, when students learn the full story, how laws were written and how wealth was blocked, how systems were designed, well, suddenly inequality stops looking like a mystery. And that's uncomfortable. Cause if you teach black history honestly, you also have to teach who benefited, who blocked progress, and even more importantly, who's still benefiting right now. So instead of them saying, we don't want accountability, the argument becomes, oh, this makes kids uncomfortable. This is divisive. This isn't age appropriate. But discomfort ain't the issue. Clarity is between 2021 and 2023, 18 states passed laws restricting how race can be taught. At least 1600 books been banned, many about black history, civil rights, or systemic racism. That's why the fight ain't about if black history happened. It's about how much context you're allowed to give it. And this is exactly what Carter G. Woodson warned us about in 1926. He said, if a group's history is controlled by others, the present will be too. 100 years later, we watching that prediction play out in real time again. Carter G. Woodson didn't create Negro History Week because the schools forgot. He created it because schools refused. Refused to tell the full story, refused to connect cause and effect, refused to let history explain the present. That fight didn't end in 1926. It just got louder. Microphones and I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either, podcast. So if you ever wonder why black history still feel like it's up for debate, remember this the truth ain't dangerous. What it exposes is. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I didn't know.
