"Education in the U.S. is in danger of becoming a site where white nationalism exclusively dictates what is taught and learned. In the past, Donald Trump has decried discussions in U.S. schools about systemic racism as a "twisted web of lies" and even "a form of child abuse." Now, in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, the far right is weaponizing the killing to push for alarming new infringements on free speech - including against professors and K-12 teachers."
"The white ideological form of indoctrination promoted by Trump and the far right reinforces the lie that the U.S. is a country of "racial innocence." In a 2024 interview with Truthout, Cornel West argued that "what distinguishes the American empire is its obsession with innocence, and its obsession with dreams. The innocence hides the violence, and the dreams generate the sentimentalism.""
"Education that is obsessed with "innocence" denies reality. To deny reality is, in this case, to have one's judgment clouded by sentimentalism that is tied to American nostalgia, which is indicative of the MAGA ethos. It is important, therefore, that the lie of white innocence be laid bare through a daring form of critical education that reveals how white complicity functions to conceal itself."
U.S. education faces growing threats from far-right ideology that seeks to impose white nationalist perspectives and censor critical inquiry. Political rhetoric has labeled teaching about systemic racism as lies and child abuse, fueling campaigns to limit classroom content and target educators. The killing of Charlie Kirk has been exploited to justify further restrictions on academic freedom for professors and K-12 teachers. An ethos of white innocence and sentimental nationalism obscures racial violence and historical truth. Critical education must expose white complicity and defend pluralistic, democratic inquiry against book bans, anti-BIPOC and anti-LGBTQIA policies, and epistemic violence.
Read at Truthout
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]