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I don't agree with those who believe that America is "evil" because of these things in our country's past. The only "evil" is in shutting our eyes and avoiding the uncomfortable discussions.
And such discussions truly are uncomfortable. It is painful for me, as a Jew, to acknowledge that William Levitt, the builder of Levittown, was Jewish and he not only discriminated against Black people but also Jewish veterans returning from the war were barred from purchasing homes in Levittown. And, again, our government was complicit in this by subsidizing Levitt's building project.
Only by acknowledging these past mistakes can we acquire a full and honest grasp of our history, as well as learn from history in order to do better for the future.
Wow, now THERE'S a slice of history! Thank you for posting that!
The thing is, it's impossible to bring about equitable reforms, if people don't even know that things like this ^^^ ever happened, and that similar things still happen. It reminds me of Stalin's time, when to criticize the government in any way was to mark yourself as an enemy of the people. You end up with a society that cannibalizes itself. In order to bring about needed reforms and to make the American Dream accessible to everyone, detrimental policies, practices and certain realities need to have the light of day shone on them, so they can be rooted out. People need to learn how to put themselves in others' shoes, and view life from the perspective of those being left behind. That's what these education proposals are about.
I fail to see what's wrong with that. I don't get the hullabaloo over this.
So here's a funny thing about racism - a typical flyover state beerbelly joe just wants his beer and he'll gladly have a beer with you regardless of your skin color. Now, demand beer belly joe repents, self-flagellates and acknowledges his personal role in global proliferation of slavery and white supremacy before you have a beer with him and he won't have a beer with you. Do it enough times and chances are he won't have a beer with anyone who looks like you.
But then again, it is by design - divide and conquer, pit people against each other, create enough hate, division and mistrust so people are too busy going at each others' throats to notice the "leaders" pocketing all those sweet tax dollars and laughing all the way to the bank.
What would you tell a student who asked: "How come there were no Black people fighting in the Battle of the Midway?" What would you tell a student who asked: "How come there were no Black veterans living in Levittown, New York after the war? Didn't our government subsidize the building of these low-cost homes in order to assist veterans returning from WW II?"
I stand by my conviction that one can teach an in-depth course about the Battle of Midway without ever once referencing race. But at the same time, your hypothetical student is asking a reasonable question that deserves a response. So I would say, "At that time, American society, including the military, was segregated by race. At the time of Midway, only white males were allowed to serve in combat roles." As for Levittown, "I know that housing developments like this were subsidized by the federal government, but even then, racially exclusionary laws were in effect and enforced. Do you think this was fair? Why or why not?"
I would actually hope that the student would not ask "Why?" to my above responses, because that means I would have failed as a teacher in teaching the students about Reconstruction and Jim Crow and the rest of the post-Civil War period, in which it is impossible to fully understand the history without a detailed discussion on racial matters.
As I said before, some things are racial. But not everything is. And that's my beef with the DOE standards, because it certainly appears (to me, at least) that they are trying to inject racial matters into the teaching of ALL history, whether it's appropriate or not.
As you likely know, the name for the next Ford-class carrier has been chosen: "U.S.S. Doris Miller". For those not familiar, please Google it, his (an African American sailor in WWII) is a very interesting story. One of the reasons I support this "unusual" naming convention, is that it not only honors Miller, it also honors every other lower-level sailor in WWII who went above-and-beyond and served their country with honor, their numbers are enormous, and Miller is a fine example. This could be used as a springboard to advance the subject of blacks in the military in WWII.
I'm amazed by your statement that there were no blacks at Midway, with such a huge force present. My guess is that even if true, that particular action was supported by black sailors and civilians in significant numbers, from the N.A.D. in Nebraska (if it was active yet), to the ammunition ships that fed munitions to the warships themselves, to the absolutely huge logistics operations that allowed our Navy to leave port, and maybe even to the (Pearl Harbor?) codebreakers who were at the heart of it. Not sure if you watch the YouTube channel of "Naval Historiographer" Drachinifel, I'm hooked on his work and need to send some support his way for the hundreds of hours of his work I've tried to absorb during the pandemic.
I believe that this is actually two separate issues, the teaching of Midway by itself and the teaching of the entirety of World War II. The story of the war includes the logistics effort that made it possible, and includes such things as you've described. It also includes the Port Chicago disaster, which was an appalling act of racism. And the soaring triumph of the Tuskegee Airmen. And the tenacious courage of the 442nd Regiment. And so on.
Midway, on the other hand, was a snapshot in time; three days out of a war that spanned over three years. The contributions of black sailors on munitions ships, to be honest, aren't germane to a study of the battle. There were almost certainly black mess attendants on the ships at Midway. But the story of battles is the story of the people who fought them, which in this case would be the pilots from the carriers and from Midway Island. And those were all white men.
As for the U.S.S. Doris Miller, I have mixed feelings. Unquestionably, Seaman Miller is a worthy candidate for being honored. But I'm a stickler for naming conventions, and an aircraft carrier has never been named for an enlisted man before. But then again, the naming conventions for carriers have been broken so many times, I guess what's one more, right?
I had never known about Doris Miller before. Now that I know I feel strongly that he has a part in every school curriculum mentioning the Pacific Theater in World War II and not being shuffled off to "wokeness heaven" in some critical race theory class.
The academic, spiritual, corporate, and political leadership have all jumped on the anti-racism bandwagon, suddenly.
They are falling over each other to appear anti-racist.
Issuing an empty proclamation "I am heartbroken, angry and frankly sickened" is not quite the same thing as fixing racism; it is intended to inoculate suburban limousine liberal whites from charges of being racists.
If they truly put their money where their big mouth is, they'd move immediately from their safe gated communities with private security to ghetto areas and live among the minorities.
or at least pay those "essential" employees so they had the median household income, with full benefits, etc.
Take some of their endowment, and put it to use in their various schools to develop BIPOC programs. You know, like have their business school invest money and time in BIPOC small business owners.
Make sure their student body and teaching staff were "representative" of the population.
The difference between the situation you described above, i.e. the Civil Rights movement, and reaching out to get black people into better jobs and integrated neighborhoods, is far different than the current efforts to cancel previous accomplishments of white people. These efforts take aim precisely at the identity of the achievers as white. What is being talked about is tearing up a system that has been good to many people. For example, demolishing honors math programs help no one and hurts the people who the country needs to get ahead.See https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruc...pi/index.shtml and CD thread Virginia eliminating accellerated math until 11th and 12th..... Other examples concerning the Brearly School in New York City are discussed in the OP.
I have a personal experience with this though race was not an issue. From Fourth Grade through Fifth Grade the students were tracked by ability. The higher-ability students were in, for example, Class 4-0. 4-1 was intermediate ability and 4-2 for the lower ability students. At least one student, Gary S., started in 4-2 and then progressed to 4-1 and then 4-0. Barry C., who moved in from a nearby town, moved from 4-1 to 4-0. I think there were others. When tracking was eliminated in Sixth Grade, from what I remember (this is hazy because we are talking Academic 1968-9) all hell broke loose. I was disciplined for getting upset that a student put chewing gum in my hair. My parents were told that his parents were going through a divorce and we needed to "understand." Let's just say that when we were merged into the rest of the town in high school (we were one-fifth of the students and were kept together K-8) we were behind both academically and in terms of maturity. I think tracking was 50-60% of the problem.
What's needed is utopian; a program that compensates, on an individualized basis, for these students' lack of any structured home life. See, for example, Makia Bryant’s foster parent’s mom says her foster parent’s daughters included discussions about tidying up in her deadly debate, about the recent death of a 16 year old girl trying to plunge a knife into another girl she was having an argument with. If these people are to be habilitated (note I didn't use the word rehabilitated) there must be some intense program. The trouble is, even if this were tried on a pilot basis, it would run aground based on political sensibilities. But this is the only way. Also, steps must be taken to prevent procreation by teens. Again, the same likely criticisms.
That "floridanewstimes" may be the worst written article I've ever seen from something that purports to be news media. Was there really the Makhia who was shot and a different, somehow related girl named Maquia?
Anyhoo ....
We're at a sad point where we cannot even agree what the problem is. If one were to go over to POC, you'd see a many-page thread about essentially teen pregnancy/born out of wedlock/lack of 2 parent households or relationships. Nevermind your regular cast of poo-flingers from both ends - even in the middle you cannot get people to agree on "Given all of the data that shows single parent households are generally worse for children than 2 parent households, we should seek to reduce single parent households."
When someone chooses to disagree with a fairly widely-held position backed by data, then it's hard to propose solutions, and find common ground.
Wow, now THERE'S a slice of history! Thank you for posting that!
The thing is, it's impossible to bring about equitable reforms, if people don't even know that things like this ^^^ ever happened, and that similar things still happen. It reminds me of Stalin's time, when to criticize the government in any way was to mark yourself as an enemy of the people. You end up with a society that cannibalizes itself. In order to bring about needed reforms and to make the American Dream accessible to everyone, detrimental policies, practices and certain realities need to have the light of day shone on them, so they can be rooted out. People need to learn how to put themselves in others' shoes, and view life from the perspective of those being left behind. That's what these education proposals are about.
I fail to see what's wrong with that. I don't get the hullabaloo over this.
I can see what the hullabaloo is. That the criticism only is only allowed from one side of the fence. Which is no different than what Stalin did.
Yes, teach it all. I'm all about truth. And discuss it. But to cast blame for things that happened hundreds of years ago and label any descendants of the actors bad people and you're just spewing hatred and encouraging animosity in the present. And that's what we have coming down from the leaders who are supposed to be setting an example of how to make change without violence.
Worse yet, to label a whole country bad because bad things happened there is irrational and really unhealthy for citizens' self-esteem.
We absolutely cannot judge ourselves or others based on the past. That's happening now. And in the process we have just reversed the roles of the persecuted. Tit-for-tat. That satisfies some people but it still doesn't create a society that all can thrive in.
Too much anti-racism? That's certainly an odd comment. Are you saying that a certain amount of racism is acceptable?
People have had it with the racism that has always existed in this country. We don't want it any more. Not a drop. Not a dram. NONE.
Too much anti-racism? That's certainly an odd comment. Are you saying that a certain amount of racism is acceptable?
People have had it with the racism that has always existed in this country. We don't want it any more. Not a drop. Not a dram. NONE.
Don't be fooled by the twisting of language that is part and parcel of today's leftist activism. "Anti-racist" is blatantly racist, against white people. Likewise, "Black Lives Matter," the movement, doesn't do a darn thing to improve the lot of black people, and only cares about black people who draw the short straw in encounters with the police. "Antifa," or "anti-fascist," violently suppresses any and all with whom they disagree, just like fascists do. "Diversity and inclusion" is used as a tool to exclude white people, or at least conservative ones.
I could go on, but my point is, being opposed to the "anti-racist" movement is nowhere near the same as being opposed to racism.
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