They’re one of the thousands of US teachers pledging to continue educating students about the controversial Critical Race Theory, which explains racism is embedded in US culture and politics.
Comments from Tempe teachers included, "I want every student to have the same chance for success and for all of my students to learn about black excellence" and "History is complicated. We can no longer ignore the tough stuff and expect to grow and evolve as a society. We have to teach inclusive history with all its difficulties and complexities".
Though the concept was first suggested in the late 70’s, it has recently exploded as a contentious issue between the American right and left in the last two years.
Many who signed the pledge are defying state bans on the teachings. Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have passed legislation banning discussions about the US being inherently racist.
Other states, such as Montana and South Dakota, have denounced the teachings without passing specific legislation.
In an interview with The Washington Free Beacon, Ashley Varner of the Freedom Foundation accused the Zinn Education Project of providing “left-leaning propaganda to teachers.”
| Teachers | Thoughts on Critical Race Theory |
|---|---|
| Bernadette Lissner | I believe in the truth. |
| Carol Johnson | Educators should not be told what to do by politicians. We are perfectly capable of leading our classrooms. |
| Cortney Milanovich | History is complicated. We can no longer ignore the tough stuff and expect to grow and evolve as a society. We have to teach inclusive history with all its difficulties and complexities. |
| Danielle Degain | No comment |
| Deanna Smith | We, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events — regardless of the law. |
| Dylan Wince | teaching and learning the truth about our history can lead us to understanding our collective struggle in this country towards justice for ALL people. Teaching and learning our hard history needs to lead us to understanding and learning how we have to continue doing the work because inequities and inequalities are still all around us. |
| Haylee Newton | I grew up in rural Alabama where the white-washed and watered down History education (currently being supported by the Arizona state legislature) was served on a porcelain white platter to the youth. I left Alabama due to generational racism and hatred. I came to Arizona looking for a more diverse and inclusive community for my husband and future children who will be students of color. Lying about our history does nothing but perpetuate white supremacy. I refuse to participate in that. |
| Jacob Bley | I want every student to have the same chance for success and for all of my students to learn about black excellence. |
| Jo Anne Craig | I am a history teacher and feel strongly that students need to see history from all people's points of view, especially those voices that have. been silenced in the past! |
| Kelsey McAlarney | Injustice and inequality cannot be eradicated if we don’t know the roots of it. We cannot keep repeating history. |
| Ladawn Haglund | Healing the rifts in society requires empathy, which in turn requires an accurate history of how those rifts came to be. We must face our past in order to create a better future. |
| Leslie Ringler | My students deserve the truth and to explore narratives from multiple perspectives that are informative, healing and life-giving to ALL humans! |
| Maren Mueller | No comment |
| Sharon Hansen | All Americans deserve to know the truth about our racist, white supremacist history of violence against BIPOC. I should not have had to have been 66 years old before I confronted this history for the first time. Although the sins of my forebears are not my personal sins, the current racist situation in America IS my problem. America will never move forward until, like Germany, we hold up our ugly past, learn what actually happened (not some whitewashed version of the truth), and endeavor to make reckoning with it all. |
| Valerie Craig | No comment |
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