Bill Resnick talks to Jesse Hagopian, the second part of an interview examining the right wing effort across the country, led by Florida, to sanitize school curriculums – from pre-K through higher ed – of anything that offends them, particularly examinations of Black History or U.S. racism. In part 1 Jesse discusses the work of the great majority of Black leaders and writers (they encourage resistance to white racists and celebrate white opposition to slavery and Jim Crow) to the evil white-hating caricature served up by the right. In part 2 he discusses the multiple motivations of today’s right wing censors and book banners, one of which is to prevent white students from knowing about and joining Black struggles. Jesse Hagopian is a Black teacher in Seattle (Garfield High), scholar, and activist, led the challenge to high stakes testing and teaching to the test. His books include More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing and Teaching for Black Lives published by the organization Rethinking Schools. It’s not yet banned on the book shelves of Florida schools, but surely will be soon. Part one can be streamed or downloaded here.
Photo by Katerina Holmes, courtesy of Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-teacher-with-kids-in-modern-classroom-5905919/
- KBOO