North New Castle News

There were no new teachers in Wilmington who signed the pledge on Jan. 25, according to an online pledge from the Zinn Education Project.

The pledge was signed by no teachers on Jan. 24, the day before. It now has 18 pledges from Wilmington teachers.

They’re one of the thousands of US teachers pledging to continue educating students about the controversial Critical Race Theory, which explains racism is embedded in US culture and politics.

Comments from Wilmington teachers included, "it is important to me that education is provided in an honest, antiracist-oriented manner, especially to the children who lives are forever impacted" and "As an educator who believes in teaching the truth to my students I will not be bullied into silence. I will do my part to equip my students with the tools and knowledge to combat the systemic racism that continues to plague our society. In order to create a more just and equitable future we must teach the truth and ignore the ignorance of those who refuse to accept it".

Though the concept was first suggested in the late 70’s, it has recently exploded as a contentious issue between the American right and left in the last two years.

Many who signed the pledge are defying state bans on the teachings. Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have passed legislation banning discussions about the US being inherently racist.

Other states, such as Montana and South Dakota, have denounced the teachings without passing specific legislation.

In an interview with The Washington Free Beacon', Ashley Varner of the Freedom Foundation accused the Zinn Education Project of providing “left-leaning propaganda to teachers.”

Teachers	Thoughts on Critical Race Theory
Bruce Fox	The United States of America, like every other country...and every person, has done both amazing and terrible things. We need to get past denial and face the tragedies in our past and present in order to heal and be whole.
Eden Avery	The reality of our American history and contemporary society is too important to lie to children about.
Emmanuel Harris II	No comment
Jana Borgen	The truth matters.
Jeanette Greenzweig	Truth matters. We need to understand our past so we can move forward and, hopefully, not repeat past mistakes. We can teach truthfully and in developmentally appropriate ways.
Jenifer Hummer	No comment
Jennifer Anderson	Truth kills ignorance.
Jessica Inskeep	No comment
Julia Endrizzi	The truth matters.
Katrina Simpkins	it is important to me that education is provided in an honest, antiracist-oriented manner, especially to the children who lives are forever impacted.
Luz Maldonado	Learning and working with and for one another strengthens community and quality of life for all. The truth will allow us to uplift one another and not continue practices that diminish respect and unity.
Maribeth Jaeske	As an educator who believes in teaching the truth to my students I will not be bullied into silence. I will do my part to equip my students with the tools and knowledge to combat the systemic racism that continues to plague our society. In order to create a more just and equitable future we must teach the truth and ignore the ignorance of those who refuse to accept it.
Michelle Munoz	No comment
Mike Matthews	real history is disturbing and we need to learn everything we can from it so that we can work to do better.
Nikki Bartolo	No comment
Nora Durant	Teaching the truth of our history is necessary to move forward toward a just society.
Sarah Garguilo	…I have been for over twenty years as an educator. Most of my students come to me knowing that in order to heal, we must ask hard questions and face hard truths. In order to empower students, we can’t be dishonest about the world they are growing up into. They see right through it; their very lives contradict any bs handed to them about the equality of our country’s origins or ideals. If we as educators, parents, guardians and community members are lucky enough to have young ppl looking to us for guidance, we have to be honest. There’s no way I can look at my students or children and allow them to think the disenfranchisement they experience is their fault or that they are powerless to change the causes. I will continue to give young scholars material to critically analyze and discuss. I’ll continue to give them texts to learn about people who stood up for others; who challenged an inequitable status quo; who persevered and refused to be silent while working to create or support changes our country needed to move toward being a little more equitable for all. I will continue to give them academic opportunities to learn about and openly question the institution of and effects of systemic racism and inequities in our country so that they may be far more creative than us in how to approach systemic healing.
Scott Simmons	Everyone deserves to know the truth about their country’s past.