I recently brought together a group of Black male teachers in Georgia, Alfred Shivy Brooks/Clayton County, Antonio Ellis/Griffin, Spalding County, and Anthony Downer/Atlanta to have a discussion on the impact of culture and curriculum in this season.
As teachers, we realize that many parents, stakeholders and even educators, don’t even realize that public schools don’t have multicultural curriculums.
So the debate over Critical Race Theory isn’t even about CRT!
I’m encouraging parents and stakeholders to be more intentional about demanding our local school board invest dollars into a multicultural curriculum, especially at the elementary level.
It’s important for all children to learn about their heritage as well as others around them, not as a feature, a holiday, a special designated month but throughout the academic calendar.
Even Black History Month celebrations are becoming watered down and censored.
I’ve asked my student leaders to reach out to peers and get their thoughts on Black history in public schools. The students realize that most of the time the celebrations are based in the interests of the teacher.
They feel like it’s the only time the few Black teachers get to celebrate their HBCU, Greek or campus affiliated group.
Critical race theory fanatics are really fanning flames of hatred that are distinguishing equity work in public schools. In some states, conversations, documentaries and even speeches on Dr. King are being banned from classroom discussions.
With all of this banning, where does this leave our Black students?
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.