What if slavery as we now know it was removed from the history books?  What would you say if your child was being taught that not only was slavery good for the nation, but good for the slaves as well?  What would you say if your child came home and said that the founders of our nation were perfect men, who made no mistakes? That regardless of them owning people and degrading women, they were the perfect examples of what the citizens of this nation should be. What about if any and all accomplishments by African Americans were removed from the books, or passed off onto others, completely altering our nations history?

  If you think this cant happen, then not only are you wrong, but you are not paying attention, because it already is happening.

In 2010, the Texas State Board of Education voted to completely change what is written in history books.

  Among these changes was the downplaying of Thomas Jefferson as one of the founders due to him being for the seperation of church and state, the promotion of Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederacy) as a great man on par with the founders and Presidents of the US, the downplay of accomplishments by Mexican and African Americans throughout the nations history, the removal of Japanese internment camps in the US, the negatives of Title IX and affirmative action, and removing the term “slavery” from the records and replacing it with the phrase “Atlantic Triangular Trade”. This is important because Texas is the nations leader in school book purchases, and other states follow the lead set by Texas.  So if Texas has made these changes in their books, other states will receive these same tainted books, and children will get a false sense of where we come from, and how our nation was built.  And it has already spread.  A few weeks ago, the Tennessee Tea Party also set out to make radical changes in their text books as well. The criteria set by Tennessee?  Well this is their rule:   “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”  This includes ignoring the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, but requires to portray the Black Panther Party as a violent group.

If we lose the truth of our history, we will lose who we are.  We are already marginalized and portrayed as an evil in this country.  If it is taught to the youth that we had minimal contributions to this nation, the little pride that still remains for this country will cease to exist. We can not allow this to happen.  Check over what your child is being taught. Get involved with your county school board to prevent these text books from coming to your school system.  But more importantly, take a more active role in teaching our youth. Spend an hour or so each night discussing with your child what they learned that day, and teach them something of our history. Teach them to seek the truth, or you will find our history to become completely white washed.