What White People Are Really Afraid Of

What White People Are Really Afraid Of

“What they’re worrying about is your kids learning about what white people did.” Michael Harriot looks at the changes to school curriculums in places like Florida and Tennessee and finds that states aren’t erasing

Black history; instead, schools are leaving out white people’s role in Black history.

Announcer [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Black culture amplified.

Michael Harriot [00:00:05] Guys, I know you’re worried. I know you’re worried that your children in Florida are going to learn that slavery was like a worker program or that Jim Crow was just a little phase America was going through. But that’s why I want to welcome you to theGrio Daily, the only podcast that will tell you that there is actually no movement to erase Black history.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you’ve heard all that stuff about the Florida curriculum, about how Ron DeSantis is erasing Black history, how states across the country are doing it, you know, passing these anti-woke laws, these laws to fight CRT. But I was thinking about it, and if you look at the actual curriculum, that’s not what they’re doing. They’re not erasing Black history.

Black history ain’t never got to go nowhere because they’re not even afraid of Black history. What they’re doing is erasing white history. So, what do I mean by that? Well, if you look at the curriculums and the laws that they’re passing to make white children feel comfortable, first of all, they’re not opposed to children learning stuff like the civil rights movement was an effort to gain equal rights. They’re not even worried about your kids learning about slavery. What they’re worrying about is your kids learning about what white people did. That’s the thing that they’re worried about.

Michael Harriot [00:01:40] For instance, the Tampa Bay Times recently submitted a FOIA request for basically the notes from those meetings that determined the Florida curriculum. And what they found was that they really weren’t objecting to the Black parts of Black history. They were scared of the white parts.

Here’s a quote, “for example, a lesson in the advanced placement course focused on how Europeans benefited from trading enslaved people and the materials enslaved laborers produced.” The state objected to the content, saying the instructional approach, quote, “may lead to a viewpoint of an oppressor versus oppressed based solely on race or ethnicity.” End quote. Well, as you can see, they actually addressed European slavery. Right? But they just didn’t want you to know about the oppression part.

And the oppression part is what white people did. According to the articles, the specific complaint was that the unit may not address the internal slave system/trade within Africa, and that quote, “it may only present one side of the issue and may not offer any opposing viewpoints or other perspectives on this subject.” I didn’t know that it was two sides of slavery.

I mean, I guess technically, there are two sides of slavery. There’s the side that says slavery was a brutal, inter-generational, constitutionally enforced, legal form of human subjugation that reduced human beings to chattel property based solely on race. And the other viewpoint is, I mean, yeah, but we really needed some slaves, though.

Michael Harriot [00:03:23] So what they think will make children feel uncomfortable is the racism part. Like there was another story that Tennessee objected to lessons on Ruby Bridges because, you know, Ruby Bridges actually integrated schools, but they didn’t want to know about the parents who lined up outside of the schoolhouse when Ruby Bridges was entering school and yelled at her and spat on her. So they’re cool with the Ruby Bridges part, right? Ruby Bridges is an uplifting story about