Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Karen Godek | Methuen, MA
Elizabeth Rozeski | Manchester, MA
teaching the true history of our country is my responsibility in the classroom to teach the history of the United States and our students have the right to learn the truth in order to eventually have the responsibility to react to the true history of our nation.
Stephen Wright | Houston, TX
The study of history is complex, but also factual and truthful. Our students deserve to get truthful history and be able to critically think about their history and effectively participate in our democracy to make our nation a better place for ALL. Just as one can do so with our families, we can also love our country while still acknowledging its past sins that impact its future ones in order to make it better. Protest and change are patriotic, as is the goal of expanding equality and access to power for ALL Americans.
Dahlia Quintanilla | Chicago, IL
Truth
Beth Hurst | Ipswich, MA
Heather Lorenz | Danbury, CT
Christine Vander Werf | Beverly, MA
Jamie Bacigalupo | Minneapolis, MN
We need to be honest about our country’s history in order to create a more equitable present and future.
Britney Mann | Stillwater, OK
The truth matters.
SA XA | Lorain, OH
Jessica Strickland | Moses Lake, WA
I am angry that white supremacy has covered up the truth of what has really occurred in America. Until we dismantle white supremacy, and all of it’s sub issues-patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and ableism-we will not truly grow as a country. If America has any chance at becoming a true democracy, then the truth must be taught. I will not be silenced!
Kathryn Iliakis | Snohomish, WA
It is important to understand our true history in order to understand our reality and create a better future.
Rebecca Beittel | Aberdeen, NC
I teach literature written by people of color. If we discuss any of it, we end up being critical of and scrutinizing white people’s role in the oppression of these writers and the characters they write about. We don’t take sides in my classes, but we do discuss things. My students need to see other perspectives, especially some of my more sheltered white students.
Richard Reuther | Kennewick, WA
Because some local asshat has threatened a teacher in one of our neighboring school districts for signing this petition. This far-right BS needs to stop. We study history so that we could perhaps avoid the same mistakes in our time. This asshat proves that ignorance is dangerous and that the rest of us need to stand up against his crap. America is a great country but it would be greater if we could acknowledge that Indian removals, Chinese exclusions, Japanese internments, and slavery were bad things that have repercussions for all of us in our everyday life and that we need to acknowledge our faults in order to be an even better nation. Threatening people who want to tell the truth of history diminishes the nation; it doesn't make it greater.
Bretta Kelley | Kermit, TX
I refuse to ignore 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
courtney schreiber | Mountain View, CA
Jason Rose | Kennewick, WA
We have to be strong in the face of misinformation.
Caroline Greene | Providence, RI
Meghan Sebens | Manchester, MA
it is my responsibility as an educator to share the truth of the history of our country with young people.
Julie Kamath | Memphis, TN
Emily F. | Baltimore, MD
Eden Peart | Kapaa, HI
I respect children.
Daniel Bell | Kennewick, WA
The truth matters.
Jasmine Antonson | Richland, WA
We should not downplay the truth of our past history.
Kelly Morin | Denver, CO
Selected Pledges
Click on pledge below to read many more.
As an educator who is serious about teaching the truth I will not be bullied into silence. I will do my part in the fight for equity and equality by making sure my students are most equipped to fight this ugliness in the real world.
Yes, the truth of American history needs to be taught, but also its impact on the rest of the world, such as its role in WWII. I just finished teaching a college-level course on the Holocaust, and could not believe how little the students knew about the rest of the world’s participation in the war! They seemed to believe that WWII was ended by the US alone!
“When you begin to do things that raise the achievement of the poorest and disenfranchised students, you may not always get applause. You need to be ready for that.” Dr. Asa Hilliard
“Resistance is a powerful motivator precisely because it enables us to fulfill our longing to achieve our goals while letting us boldly recognize and name the obstacles to those achievements.”
Dr. Derrick Bell
Our young people deserve the truth and it is our kuleana (responsibility) to give space and opportunity for the truth and the difficult conversations.
If we don’t teach it all, we teach nothing…
Social justice is a major theme of my Humanities 7 course, and my school uses Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s HILL framework (development of identity, skills, knowledge, Criticality) to frame our entire curriculum. Student agency through research work and essay writing, and action-oriented civic engagement work, define what we “cover” in my course.