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In the face of relentless attacks on antiracist education, a much-needed reckoning with the roots of this latest wave of censorship and an urgent call to action to defend education.
In just the last few years, scores of states have introduced or passed legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about structural racism and other forms of oppression. Books have been cut from curricula and pulled from school library shelves. Teachers have been fired and threatened with discipline.
As long-time organizer, writer, and high school teacher Jesse Hagopian argues in
Teach Truth, at stake is our democracy, not to mention the annihilation of entire systems of knowledge that challenge the status quo. As Hagopian shows by exploring the origins, philosophy, and manifestations of these attacks, the Right's effort to regulate knowledge is an attempt to maintain its power over the American capitalist system, now and into the future.
Yet the struggle for a liberatory education has a long history in the United States, from the days when it was illegal for Black people to be literate, to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, to Black Lives Matter at School today. Teachers, students, and their allies are already building a movement - in the classroom, on campus, and in the streets - to defend antiracist education.
List of contents
Preface: A Promise to my Ancestors
Introduction: What is an honest education?
Chapter 1: The Anatomy of a Truthcrime
Chapter 2: Educational Arson and Organized Forgetting
Chapter 3: “We’re going to hunt you down”: Uncritical Race Theorists’ Attack on Students, Educators, and Books
Chapter 4: The Political Economy of Truthcrime
Chapter 5: “We will teach this truth!”: The #TeachTruth Movement
Chapter 6: The Radical Healing of Organized Remembering
Conclusion: Turning the Fountain of Knowledge on Educational Arson
About the author
Jesse Hagopian is a member of the Black Lives Matter at School steering committee and teaches Ethnic Studies at Seattle’s Garfield High School. Jesse is an editor for
Rethinking Schools magazine, the co-editor of the book
Teaching for Black Lives, and the editor of the book
More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing. Jesse is a recipient of the 2013 “Secondary School Teacher of the Year” award and the Special Achievement “Courageous Leadership” award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. In 2015, Jesse received the Seattle/King County NAACP Service Award. Jesse serves as the Director of the Black Education Matters Student Activist Award.
Summary
In the face of relentless attacks on antiracist education, an urgent call to defend students’ freedom to learn the truth about our history and the struggle for a better world.
In recent years, numerous states and school districts have enacted policies or laws mandating teachers lie to students about systemic racism and oppression—policies that impact nearly half of all students in the US. Thousands of books have been banned from schools. Teachers face termination, attacks, and disciplinary action. In Florida, where the official state curriculum declares slavery was of “personal benefit” to Black people, possessing a banned book can result in up to five years in jail.
Jesse Hagopian, a long-time organizer, writer, and K-12 teacher, shows how the playbook being used by the right today has roots in McCarthyism’s Red Scare and Lavender Scare. At stake is our ability to access systems of knowledge that challenge injustice. Yet the fight for liberatory education has a rich legacy, from resistance to anti-literacy laws for enslaved people, to the Black Lives Matter at School movement today.
Teach Truth is a call to defend honest education for our students, showing how we can reclaim suppressed history by creating beloved classroom communities and healthy social movements.
Foreword
Print and e-ARC distribution to trade and consumer media, both traditional and online, via Goodreads, Edelweiss, and other distribution platforms.
Outreach to our extensive network of education justice and teacher groups and influencers.
Partner with education justice organizations and teachers’ unions to buy in bulk for discussion groups, create study guides and other materials to support this effort.
Explore an education worker giveaway for states impacted by bans on antiracist education.
Online and in-person events with author and educators, similar to the series we did with Black Lives Matter at School.
Social media influencer campaign to promote the book and marketing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Publicity campaign with print, radio, and digital interview targets.
Pitch reviews to media outlets.
