Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Evan Bourgeois | Philadelphia, PA
I believe in teaching truth, I believe in righting wrongs, and I believe in the power of humanity to make the world a better place.
Erick Hernandez | Albuquerque, NM
our students deserve to know the truth and they deserve an unsanitized version of history.
Jay Barbuto | Phoenix, AZ
History shouldn’t be hidden. Facts are facts.
Grace O'Keeffe | Jersey City, NJ
Andrew Yamakaitis | East Orange, NJ
The truth needs to be taught every single day
Abigail Breiseth | Baltimore, MD
Our nation’s civic crisis is arguably a direct result of our failure to teach our history and our civics - at all, to say nothing of well. In my state, history was the first subject on the chopping block in times of low education funding. We MUST do better. I only hope we haven’t already missed our window to create the educated populace necessary for the preservation of democracy.
Jatera Simmons | Bronx, NY
Promoting an already majority white centered history that also seeks to ban and ignore the contributions of blacks, POC, women and others merely because knowledge of such challenges the status quo and makes people uncomfortable…is fascistic and anti democratic.
Renae Smith | Albuquerque, NM
Sheryl Sargent | Happy Valley, OR
I won’t lie to children. They deserve truth.
Christopher Gannon | Herndon, VA
each student deserves a complete education that includes critically examining difficult topics.
Joni Jameson | Lilburn, GA
I refuse to be complicit in attempts to marginalize others and perpetuate lies. The truth means we love our country otherwise why fight so hard to save its soul! If you are not uncomfortable on a regular basis you are privileged and delusional.
Sarah Henley | Columbia, MO
Sheridan Lorraine | Merritt Island, FL
Every U.S. citizen must know the truth about the way that minority groups had to struggle in order to achieve the rights that were included in "all men are created equal." They need to understand the causes of our policies and laws and the continuum we are on to ensure that everyone - regardless of gender identity, sexual identity, racial, ethnic, and language identity - is given their "inalienable rights."
Pamela Weisshar | Van Nuys, CA
Aradhana Mudambi | Webster, MA
As educators, it is not our jobs to put forth false propaganda but to teach all of the truth, the decolonized history, so that students can think for themselves.
Tony Watkins | Albuquerque, NM
Without an analysis of how our society became so unequal children of all colors internalize harmful, unhealthy, and inaccurate assumptions about who they are and where they live.
Gregg Burke | Bristol, RI
I have always tried to teach my students how to think, not what to think.
Susan Warrow | Oakland County, MI
I resented not learning the truth about our history when I was in high school. I became a teacher to make sure the truth gets told.
Whitner Schellingerhoudt | Richfield, MN
Janette Corcelius | Saint Paul, MN
Kerri Stith | Columbia, MO
We must teach everyone the true history
Leia Brooks | Columbia, MO
the truth matters; no matter what legislators or ill-informed people think. As an educator, it is my job to provide the truth and encourage students to think critically.
Meredith Fichman | Norwalk, CT
The children deserve an honest education and a better future.
Heather Knight | Los Angeles, CA
“Silence ensures that history repeats itself.” —Erin Gruwell
Jessica Justice | Renton, WA
Because you can’t heal if you don’t examine hard truths.
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.