On Feb. 19, the Monitor carried a front-page story about a bill currently before the state Legislature that would prohibit the teaching of “divisive” subject matter.
Specifically, the bill would prevent young students from learning about the systemic racism and sexism that have historically plagued American society and continue to do so.
The bill’s sponsors deny that New Hampshire or the United States are infected by racist or sexist philosophies. History and current events say otherwise.
Proponents of House Bill 544 insist that no one is “born into” either an oppressor or oppressed status, which requires that teachers refrain from teaching their students about institutional racism. But that creates pedagogical problems.
Recall that the Civil War killed over 600,000 Americans precisely because enslaved Africans were deemed unworthy of enjoying the freedoms white Americans took for granted. That is, each race was “born into” the specific categories in which they lived and died.
It took a bloody civil war to end slavery, although the prevailing attitude of white privilege persists.
For the naysayers, I would point to the video of the George Floyd’s murder and the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on communities of color. A more disturbing example is, of course, the terrorist attack on the United States Capitol, in which a mob, aided and abetted by police officers, attempted to subvert the results of the presidential election, results with which they disagreed.
The attack followed Trump’s unsuccessful attempt to have African American votes in the swing states declared invalid.
As for the country’s sexist history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a woman with identical credentials and time on the job earns a little more than 81 cents for each dollar earned by a man in the same position. Latinas and African American women fare even worse.
Moreover, although suffrage was extended to Black Americans in 1870 via the 15th Amendment, women did not get the vote until 1920, courtesy of the 19th Amendment. For hundreds of years, wives were considered as little more than their husbands’ chattels, and only in the last half of the 20th century could those wives open credit accounts in their own names.
To ignore modern truths with historical roots does a disservice to our efforts to correct those errors and set the country on a more pluralistic path.
Correcting problems is a three-step process. The problem must first be identified, followed by a determination of causes. The third and final step is determining what steps should be undertaken to rectify the situation.
Systemic racism and sexism exists. Ignoring the problem is not an intelligent or practical method if we are serious about our moral and political futures.
HB 544 therefore has no place in the curricula of an enlightened republic. Recognizing that racist and sexist attitudes remain part of American culture makes us stronger, because we can then begin to take the necessary steps to correct those mistakes. Denying them, as the bill’s sponsors demand, does not inspire unity but increases the potential for those sectarian attitudes that continue to punish guiltless men and women for simply being who they are.
(Charles Huckelbury lives in Henniker.)