We must tell the truth about African American History
I love this country, its people, and the ideals we strive for.
Many people would soon like to forget or ignore the horrific failures in our past. But because I love this country, I believe it's imperative that we tell the whole truth about our nation, including our country's long history of racism, oppression, and slavery.
That's why I support efforts by my colleague Rep. Jamal Bowman to invest $10 million in the National Museum of African American History and Culture to support African American history education programs for students, educators and parents.
Tell Congress: Support African American History and pass the African American History Act!
The African American History Act is set to increase the national capacity for African American history education while also funding and improving the resources of the National Museum of African American History and Culture:
- Developing and maintaining accessible resources to promote an understanding of African American history.
- Engaging with local and state leaders interested in incorporating these resources in curricula.
- Engaging with the public through programming, resources, and social media to increase awareness of African American history through a social justice and anti-bias lens.
- Convening experts and creating and providing scholarly work.
- Translating new and existing NMAAHC work into multiple languages for accessibility.
Bobby Kennedy famously said, "Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live."
We can't hide from our past, but we can certainly learn from it. Not only for ourselves, but for the world around us.
African American culture and history is embedded in the fabric of our nation. To short change students of African American history, is to short change them of the knowledge and the truth about our nation's history.
Tell Congress to pass the African American History Act!
Jim
