North Carolina D.P.I. Ponders Adding Diversity and Inclusion To Curriculum

 By Mildred Robertson

There is a firestorm in North Carolina over the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s proposal to teach American history as it occurred rather than whitewashing it to show that our nation has always lived up to the lofty expectations set out in our constitution. It appears that teaching our students the truth about America’s founding, its slaughter of native Americans, its enslavement of Africans and its abuse of former slaves and other minorities is just too much for some in the state to bear.

DPI’s move to ensure diversity and inclusion in the standard K-12 curriculum is opposed by GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson who said Wednesday he has collected 27,000 signatures in an online petition calling on the state board to reject the new standards. Robinson, who is black, (More about him another time), said public education has become so anti-conservative that he has not been allowed to speak at schools while activities such as Black Lives Matter are promoted.

However, this is not an issue of conservative versus progressive; but rather an issue of fact over fiction. I recall when I was in middle school in Missouri when I had a heated disagreement with my history teacher over the inventor of the cotton gin. I was taught that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, but in my individual studies, with prompting from my “woke” sisters, I had learned that slaves had invented many of the tools and practices that were attributed to their white owners. In my search for truth I found that Eli Whitney’s slaves invented the cotton gin. However, they were his chattel (not considered human therefore ineligible to file a patent). Their discoveries were attributed to him. He patented the cotton gin in 1794. Needless to say, when I stated as much on my test, my answer was marked wrong. She was incensed, even though I had provided her with proof that what she was teaching was incorrect.

That was more than 50 years ago, yet many white Americans still seem to struggle with the incongruence of history with perceived reality. Why is it so hard to state that America was a land stolen from its original owners and its economy built on the backs of enslaved people?  Why would such a statement be considered divisive?  Is it, perhaps, because this nation has yet to take the first step toward reconciliation with those that have been wronged—acknowledgement of guilt! 

We must teach our children the struggles this nation has endured in order to arrive at this place in history. We have to let them see what we did wrong, as well as what we did right.  How else can they be expected to make better decisions?

The American experiment is an awesome, somewhat successful one.  But it is not without flaws. Our country has brutalized many on its trek toward becoming the most powerful nation in the world.  Non-Europeans have borne the brunt of that brutality. But America has historically failed to admit the brutality and disparity that accompanied its progress.

Looking back toward slavery and its aftermath, forty acres and a mule would have been nice. But could those of you who wield the reigns of authority simply agree to those dark chapters of our nation’s history and codify methods to ensure that parity will be pursued in the future? Can we work toward building a nation where justice and equality are jealously safeguarded in our current social and political endeavors? Can we strive to see our past failures so they won’t be replicated in our future?

Can we simply teach our children the truth?