RALEIGH — North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) president Tamika Walker Kelly is one of over 4,200 signers of a pledge to “refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events — regardless of the law.”
The pledge is backed by the Zinn Education Project, named after the controversial academic and avowed socialist, Howard Zinn, whose book A People’s History of the United States has been largely debunked by historians.
The pledge states that legislation in at least 21 states would “require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history. It [the U.S.] was founded on dispossession of Native Americans, slavery, structural racism and oppression; and structural racism is a defining characteristic of our society today.”
The pledge continues, “From police violence, to the prison system, to the wealth gap, to maternal mortality rates, to housing, to education and beyond, the major institutions and systems of our country are deeply infected with anti-blackness and its intersection with other forms of oppression. To not acknowledge this and help students understand the roots of U.S. racism is to deceive them — not educate them. We the undersigned educators will not be bullied. We are for truth-telling and uplifting the power of organizing and solidarity that move us toward a more just society.”
