Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Tatiana Newman-Wade | Oakland, CA
Carrie Parker | Salinas, CA
Truth matters
Kathryn Custer | Portland, OR
My awareness of the difficulties of teaching the truth of our US history today gives me grave concern for teachers, students and our nation.
Angela Wysocki | Fontana, CA
Systemic racism is real. The mythology of the founding of the United States fails to include the role of the enslaved people on whose backs the country was founded.
Yvonne Siu-Runyan | Boulder, CO
I care about our young and DEMOCRACY. Teaching LIES and half-truths is plain wrong.
Amy Taylor | Waterbury, CT
I see the disparities. I see the unequitable practices. I am one of few black educators in a mostly brown and black student populated district. Change will save our future.
Bonnie O'Hara | Los Angeles, CA
Mari Ann Banks | Atlanta, GA
Turning the US populace away from the conditioning developed by 400+ years of racism is difficult. When the truth is shared by educators and people of color like myself - it can cut deep. The truth hurts, just like life does. But when life hurts - should we stop living? When we're hurt, we try to make ourselves better. When you have a cold, you take cold medicine. With racism, the only way you get better is to work through it and make different choices than those of the past. Educators who are teaching the truth so the next generation won't be as inept and inequitable as the current one, are providing the medicine our sick society needs - if we ever hope to get well. In wiser words than my own - because:-Discomfort is a sign of progress. Indeed, it is a precondition for it. ~ Atila Roque, Director, Ford Foundation, Brazil-The limit of tyrants is prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” ~ Frederick Douglass, 1857-People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools. ~ Alice Walker
HEATHER HAWES | Corona, CA
I will not teach a lie and I truly believe you should always stand up for what is right even when you may be standing alone!
Erika Jones | Birmingham, AL
The truth is the truth and should be taught.
Renee Gokey | Fairfax, VA
Teaching the truth liberates us all by understanding and knowing who we are and where we come from.
Corenna Hoyt | Greenville, RI
Debra Faulmino | New York, NY
Democracy with truth and inclusion is not democracy
Kendra Williams | Philadelphia, PA
Oana Broussard | Owatonna, MN
The education system in this country needs to illuminate our past and present, not obscure it.
Jessica Papalia | Oakland, CA
truth & justice go hand in hand.
Melissa Greenfield | Reno, NV
We need accurate education to change the future
Karen Aguilar | 02128
Tara Asciutto | Oakland, CA
I refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events.
Shane Wiegand | Rochester, NY
Our children deserve to learn the truth about our history! If we love our communities we have to love them enough to hold both the good and bad parts of our history.
Anita Mathias | Chicago, IL
All students benefit from an honest, multi-perspective, in-depth history of the community they are growing up in. Students of color deserve to learn their history, the experiences of their ancestors, and ways that their resistance and resilience have strengthened us today.
Amelia Copp | Scottdale, GA
I am fed up with the scare tactics the GOP is using to scare teachers from talking about race and racism which is present in our systems of power and need to be addressed and discussed in classrooms so that we can do prevent this cycle of hatred from taking hold on our country.
Kathleen Voormolen | Fort Worth, TX
Why would we want children to learn anything less than the truth? Isn't history so much more exciting when all the confusing and contentious details show how the past wasn't simpler and actions then still resonate today? Isn't it important for us to understand that the victors weren't always right, for each segment of the population see their ancestor's real part in the history of the country, that real people were involved, not just blanketed stereotypical generalizations of an ideal, that the narrative needs to be viewed from different perspectives, not just from one side, trying to rationalize and justify heinous acts in the past? Why do history if we aren't going to be allowed to learn from the past so that we can choose to do better in the future?
Marlee Ellis | Issaquah, WA
I am committed to end the lies and live in the truth.
Jennifer Gallagher | Claremont, NH
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.