Facing History At The National Memorial For Peace And Justice
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2022
⏱️ 17 minutes
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Summary
At the heart of these arguments is a much larger issue - whether or not the country can face the truth about its painful legacy of systemic racism.
In Montgomery, Alabama the National Memorial for Peace and Justice is dedicated to acknowledging America's history of racial terrorism factually, honestly, and completely. Civil rights attorney and memorial founder, Bryan Stevenson, believes that embracing this truth is the only path to healing.
We tour the memorial with Stevenson, hear some of the stories immortalized there and discuss the ongoing battle over how students should be taught about race.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning. The August 12th, 2021 meeting of Alabama State Board of Education will now come to order. |
| 0:10.5 | Alabama Governor Kay Ivey looked out over an auditorium flanked by the state superintendent, Eric |
| 0:15.9 | Mackie, and the eight members of Alabama's Board of Education. She opened the meeting up to public |
| 0:21.4 | comment. Good morning to everyone, Governor Ivey, Dr. Mackie, and all the members of the board. |
| 0:26.2 | Thank you for allowing us to speak. I am speaking on the same resolution that everyone else has. |
| 0:31.4 | The resolution on the table was the preservation of intellectual freedom and non-discrimination in |
| 0:36.4 | Alabama's public schools. My concern is that there is a disconnect between the title of the |
| 0:41.0 | resolution and the content of the resolution. The resolution stipulated that the school board |
| 0:45.9 | would not support the use of any education resources that could be used to quote and |
| 0:51.0 | indoctrinate students in social or political ideologies that promote one race or sex above another. |
| 0:56.8 | Unquote. Teachers in every school system across the country and across this state must have the |
| 1:03.6 | right to teach history as it happened. Speaker stepped up to denounce the resolution as misleading |
| 1:09.9 | in general and more specifically as an attack on the ability to teach black history. Your |
| 1:14.8 | resolution states that slavery and racism are betrayals of the founding principles of the United |
| 1:20.0 | States. This statement in itself is false. But others praise the measure as a way to take a stand |
| 1:26.2 | against what they called critical race theory. That's a graduate level academic concept that super |
| 1:31.3 | intended Eric Mackie has repeatedly stated is not being taught in Alabama's K through 12 public |
| 1:36.8 | schools. But the pushback, well that went on. I am here to say that it is being taught in today's |
| 1:43.1 | schools. Whites are villains. Blacks and Browns are victims. Whites are guilty. Blacks no matter what |
| 1:51.0 | you're racist. That's what's being taught. The Alabama resolution passed with a 7-to-2 vote. |
| 1:56.8 | Two months later at another contentious meeting the Board of Education adopted an amended |
| 2:01.3 | Alabama administrative code that would give parents quote access to instructors and the opportunity |
... |
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