Saturday, October 03, 2009

The Opposite of the American Dream

Before we left, we watched The Secret History of the Ku Klux Klan on the History Channel.

I found the last segment on youtube.



That image of the little hooded child standing before the African American police officer who has this confused look on his face is, I think, the perfect image of the opposite of the American Dream. I think that can be summed up in one word, "ignorance."

It reminds me of a conversation one teacher at the MNHS class told me about. He had a disgruntled parent in concerned about him teaching about the genocide in Ruwanda.

The teacher asked why the parent didn't express this concern when they studied Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

"But that's not genocide."

That is exactly why we must teach it. To combat such stupidity. And such ignorance.

If the parent thinks that, then God help us with what the child will think.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

without going into the topic i think your responses are very narrowminded and the fact you call people stupid and ignorant so much usually reflects you are indeed such.

TeacherScribe said...

I never called anyone stupid or ignorant (though that is exactly what racists are . . . and that seems to fit you quite well). And learn how to capitalize please. Spineless worm.