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Educators rally to #TeachTruth as the GOP tries to silence lessons on U.S. oppression

Teachers are refusing to let laws force them to lie to their students.

Adam Rosenberg

on June 13, 2021

On Saturday, educators all around the U.S. made it abundantly clear that legal maneuvers aren't going to stop them from bringing truth to the students in their classrooms.

The nationwide protest was conceived as a response to ongoing efforts by Republican lawmakers to set rules on what is and isn't OK in U.S. classrooms, particularly when it comes to lessons on U.S. history. Despite the very real and proven roles that racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression have played in the development of U.S. society, the GOP's ongoing culture war calls for patriotism to supersede the importance of facts in schools.

Teachers aren't having it. The pledge, authored and promoted by the Zinn Education Project, is incredibly blunt about what's happening: "Lawmakers in at least 15 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history."

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It then goes on to detail some of the legislative efforts unfolding in multiple states that are aimed at stopping educators from "teaching the truth about this country: It 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, which is aimed specifically at educators, hasn't yet reached its target of 6,400 signatures at the time of this writing. But many of the signatures so far are accompanied by statements that in similarly blunt terms about the harmful impacts this legislation threatens to have an U.S. youth.

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"Teaching does not mean indoctrinating," one Missouri teacher wrote. "Forcing people to only teach one limited perspective is the real indoctrination. Fascist, racist educations restrictions are the sign of desperation."

"I want my son, and my students to learn to think critically about the world around them," a Utah educator wrote. "Whitewashing history and the world will not prepare them for lives outside of school, and outside of their parents."

Along with the signed pledge, the Zinn Education Project and Black Lives Matter at School teamed up to a day of action for June 12, calling on educators and those who support them to gather all around the country — both publicly in historically relevant locations and in virtual events — to help raise awareness for the pledge and, more importantly, the underlying reasons for its existence.

Many of the organizers for each event made their presence known on social media with the #TeachTruth hashtag.

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h/t The Washington Post

Topics Activism Social Good

Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.