Racism never left U.S. schools: scholar

Baltimore, U.S. | Xinhua | The backlash against anti-racist books and efforts has now paved the way for the return of overtly racist, sexist and queer-phobic books in schools, filling the void left by so many bans of “critical race theory,” said a U.S. professor.

Donald Earl Collins, visiting professor of African American History with Loyola University Maryland, argued that those pushing for the bans are really arguing against any schooling that involves a reckoning with American racism and other ills.

In an opinion piece published by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Collins said the result of such bans is also a further undermining of confidence in public schools as a public good while bolstering privatization and school choice efforts — pet priorities for the far right.

Already, some Black parents have shifted to homeschooling in response to the trauma and erasure their kids have faced in recent years, he added.

The past decade is replete with examples of attempts at propaganda through curriculum and textbooks, Collins said.

Installing more “patriotic” education while gutting discussions of slavery, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and homophobia has been going on in some schools for years, he said, adding that it is a deliberate erasure of black, Mexican, Arab Muslim, indigenous and queer senses of the world.