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In
Philadelphia and across the country, 2020 was a year of public
awakening on issues of institutional
racism and long-standing socioeconomic inequities plaguing Black
people and other people of color. The protests following the murder
of George Floyd raised awareness of racial injustices rooted in an
untaught history. Overcoming our past means learning the lessons of
history - and requiring that high schools offer Black, Latino, and
other ethnic studies programs.
Ethnic
studies present history from the standpoint of underrepresented
groups in America, and acknowledges the pivotal role of race
and racism in society,
along with gender, class, sexual orientation, and other identities.
The ethnic studies movement was a product of the civil rights, Black
Power, and antiwar era of the 1960s and early 1970s, a time of
heightened political consciousness and self-identity for young
people.
In
1968, Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American students at San
Francisco State University
formed the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) to fight against
Eurocentric curricula, a lack of diversity and inclusion among
students and faculty, and a racist education system that marginalized
their communities. TWLF demanded Black studies and other ethnic
studies departments, orchestrating the longest student strike in U.S.
history, at five months. Students at Berkeley, Howard University, and
elsewhere followed suit, in a struggle that has since resurfaced on
campuses.
Ethnic
studies have impacted K-12 education, and in more recent decades
prompted backlash. A 2010 Arizona
ban
targeting a high school Mexican American studies program prohibited
curricula that “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government,”
“resentment toward a race or class or people,” or “ethnic
solidarity.”
Yet,
the tide is in favor of such programs. Philadelphia became the first
major city to require African
American history
for high school graduation in 2005. Connecticut
will become the first state to require ethnic studies in high school
as of fall 2022, with an elective course covering “African-American,
Black, Puerto Rican, and Latino contributions to United States
history, society, economy, and culture.”
Bottom
of Form
In
California, a law enacted in 2016 provides for an ethnic studies
“model
curriculum”
for kindergarten through grade 12 by March.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring an ethnic studies
course for students at California
State University,
but vetoed
a bill requiring ethnic studies for high school students over
disagreements over content and concerns it “achieves balance,
fairness and is inclusive of all communities.”
And
the Oklahoma Department of Education is taking a localized approach,
announcing this year a statewide curriculum to teach the Tulsa
Race Massacre of 1921,
when a white mob of an estimated 10,000 people burned the affluent
Black community of Greenwood to the ground and lynched hundreds.
Gaining
momentum, ethnic studies makes education relevant and real for
students. It boosts
academic achievement,
critical thinking, and problem-solving, encourages social-emotional
learning
and respect for other cultures, and instills pride. However, as
Columbia University professor, Gary
Okihiro, noted,
“ethnic studies is not multiculturalism, identity politics, or
intellectual affirmative action. Not an act of charity, ethnic
studies was gained through contestation. As was astutely observed by
Frederick Douglass, ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never did and it never will.’”
I
was pleased to contribute to the upcoming book, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 ,
edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, as an important
addition to ethnic studies. However, the book reminds me there is so
much untold history our children must learn.
If
we hope to have an honest discussion about the future, we need a
meaningful and critical understanding of the past - the whole story,
not a whitewashing of history. Philadelphia is the birthplace of U.S.
democracy and a constitution that regarded Black people as
three-fifths of a person. This city has a proud history of slavery
abolition and the AME Church, yet President George Washington
enslaved
Black people
in the presidential
residence
at Sixth
and Market.
Philly also has a legacy of entrenched segregation and poverty, of
police violence, and the MOVE bombing.
In
a nation - and city - where the majority
of youth are of color,
more should be done to bring racial equity to the schools. One course
is not enough. Ethnic studies should be infused into the entire
curriculum.
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