After this week’s CrazyPLN Twitter Chat, led by the incredibly knowledgeable “Constitution Lady”, Linda R. Monk J.D., I began to look more closely at the verbiage in various state censorship and “anti-woke” laws and book bans. While researching the often vaguely worded laws, it occurred to me that the general consensus is that there is an attack on the way things have always been, based on a systematic point of view that grants “history” and “the way things have been” a pass on the kinds of scrutiny that books and courses adding diverse voices to our narratives are under today.
That pass has been given to a national narrative that deserves scrutiny. A good place to start would be the Lost Cause and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. These decedents of Confederate soldiers and officers wanted to build a narrative that cast their loved ones in a positive light. Understandable, as many agree that it’s not proper to “speak ill of the dead”. However, sometimes truth has to come out to validate the narratives of those harmed.
“Happy Slaves” and Other Popular Historical Myths
I was taught in elementary school that Slaves were happy and that they found Christianity because of their benevolent masters. I don’t know any girl of 9 or 10, or any woman of any age who would happily be raped by and bear children for a man not of her own choosing, with no right of refusal. As a lighter skinned Black woman, this historical trauma is in my genes. And while I do not see myself as a victim, I do have a right to have my truth, the truth of my ancestors, told.
When those indoctrinated by the national narrative shaped by the desire to elevate a myth above truth, it is indoctrination. When laws seek to silence that truth, it is a harmful and cancerous core that will haunt us all until we finally deal with it openly, transparently.
This week, after you’ve listened, delve into the resources below. They present a picture of yesteryear’s indoctrination and today’s so-called indoctrination. I hope, even if you are skeptical, that this knowledge will help you see that indoctrination is in the eye of the beholder and that every American story deserves to be told as a part of our national narrative.