By Rosemary Gonzalez
In
the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and
countless other unarmed victims, Buffalo Public Schools stand with the Black
Lives Matter Movement as schools plan to teach students about the reality
reflecting on the injustices African Americans have faced for years.
“These are the things we want our children to know the truth about. We want them to know our history and to have awareness about what’s going on,” Terrance Heard, Buffalo Public School Board Member at-large, said. "We were taught lies, for example, the story of Christopher Columbus and as I got older, I realized that those stories were all spoke tales.”
Heard advocates for equality for the community and children of Buffalo.
“I want them to know, they can believe in themselves and achieve any goals they want to,” Heard said.
According to BLM at School, the curriculum will “challenge racism and oppression providing students with the tools needed to take action.”
Jeffery Faunce, chair of the Education Department at Medaille College and former social studies teacher, thinks the lack of teaching about Black history comes from past ideals.
“We haven't had multiple perspectives when decisions were made people that decided what should be taught, didn't represent, the cultural mosaic of the of the United States,” Faunce said. “We got a whitewashed version of history because other perspectives from people of color, women, and LGBTQ weren't empowered to make decisions.”
He said schools could do a much better job at incorporating all different kinds of perspectives into what is taught to the next generation.
“The president keeps saying ridiculous things about what should we study in school where some people think all we should talk about are the good things. That's not a full picture of the history of our country,” said Faunce. “If the president had his way, it would happen again.”
Faunce said teachers should work to help children understand what's happening in the world.
“Part of my job is to help people learn how to work with young kids to translate what's happening. Another is inviting other people to the table, whether it’s the voices of the kids in the classroom or the voices that have been silenced throughout history,” Faunce said.
People need to be free of judgement, Heard said.
“It's a really generational curse on our people by not knowing who we are. Allow African Americans to know who they are and give us the respect and support and you will be helping yourselves and this society,” he said. “The purpose is love. You can’t help someone until you help yourself. Our youth has a lot to contribute to society.”
