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 Seattle teachers included, "in order to move forward in our country/world, we need to learn what the true issues are, plain and simple" and "Those who do not (truthfully) remember the past……".
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 in Seattle who’ve pledged to teach Critical Race Theory
| Teachers | Thoughts on Critical Race Theory |
|---|---|
| Abigail Levin | The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you can alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change the world." -James Baldwin |
| Aerika Street | It is time to tell the truth and build a just education system that truly serves our communities, making our communities safe, healthy, strong, and thriving. |
| Aimee Hall | If we don't give our students truthful information about our nation's past and present, they won't be able to build a better future. |
| Alaina McCallum | Our students deserve to know the truth and deserve to feel seen in the history that they learn. |
| Albert Albanes | As a kid I was taught a version of history that was void of my people, the injustices we’ve endured, our struggles, and our triumphs. I refuse to continue this cycle of oppressive education that damages our students’ potential, especially our marginalized students. |
| Alex Cooper | Without learning about the history of racism in this country and the ways in which it persists today, students will be unable to understand why the world is the way that it is. They may be left with the disheartening conclusion that our current injustices are somehow natural. Understanding how and why people have created systems of injustice is the only to begin dismantling those systems and building a better world. |
| Ali Stewart-Ito | No comment |
| Alicia Arnold | No comment |
| Aline Aguirre | Our youth and communities deserve to learn about BIPOC history to empower them toward liberation. |
| Alison Underdahl | There can be no healing until there is understanding. |
| Ames Zocchi | No comment |
| Amy Bowton-Meade | The truth matters and the ONLY way we can make progress and heal is to face the real history of our nation. Students deserve to understand the history so they can understand the present. |
| Amy Bowton-Meade | We have to tell the truth. We have to teach the truth. There is no other way to heal or to make progress until we acknowledge the truth of our history and our foundations. |
| Amy Ferguson | I believe educators should teach the truth. |
| Amy Hagopian | K-12 educators should enjoy academic freedom, an important public good. |
| Amy McClellan | We must teach the truth about racism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history. We must face the harsh realities of today that are born out of our past. Students need to be aware and critical thinkers as we find a path of acknowledging the past, the harm done and work towards healing and a better future. |
| Andrew Chase | We are committed to cultivating a beloved community that is predicated upon truth and justice. We will not be accomplices to indoctrination. We will not lie about the true history of our nation and what it was built upon. |
| Andrew Hill | No comment |
| Angeline Zalben | No comment |
| Anne Campbell | No comment |
| Anne Campbell | It is my ethical obligation to teach the truth and I will always do so to the best of my ability. |
| Annemarie Plumpe | this is ridiculous! How can you teach "Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird" without talking about race? Do the laws also say that teachers cannot answer questions from students? And what about when students make comments or contributions to class discussions, are teachers supposed to censor them as well? This is the epitome of privilege, a predominately white group of mostly males "gets" to decide what is and what is not true. Instead of banning CRT, create mandatory training on discussing race without negatively impacting students' sense of self-worth? Because white teachers make mistakes on both sides of the racial divide. |
| Brandon Salter | Teaching actual history is important to understanding the dynamics of power and privilege in our country. Those opposed to critical race theory and anti-racist education simply want to upload the white supremacy culture that harms so many of our students. |
| Bruce Jackson | It's time to make "civilization" sustainable. |
| Chris Reynaga | We cannot create meaningful change in our society until we understand the legacy of systemic racism, dispossession and genocide of Indigenous peoples and other injustices. |
| Christine Chmielniak | No comment |
| Christopher Daikos | No comment |
| Chryssa Best | We can only learn from History if it is has been taught truthfully. Fiction should be distinguishable from non-fiction! |
| Cindy Kornbluh | I believe students deserve the truth. |
| Colleen Carpenter | it's important for students to understand the reality of our country's history so that we can dismantle racist and oppressive systems |
| Cory Gann | My students are smart and will pursue the truth. My job should be to cultivate that pursuit, not thwart it. |
| Cory Gann | Young children are keen observers of the world and recognize inequity and privilege disparity. They regard the adult world as responsible for righting social wrongs, being on the side of fairness, and truly promoting social justice. |
| Craig Morley | My students should have the opportunity to view history and their current realities from multiple perspectives in order to develop critical thinking skills. |
| Dana Zulauf | No comment |
| Daniel Noyes | I want to show support to my colleagues who have a harder go teaching our subject outside of the bubble that is Seattle due to fragile and self-serving legislators and voters. |
| Danielle Vermaak | As a science teacher, and especially as a biology teacher, it is my moral duty to teach about social justice, and the history of race as a social construct in service of white power and black oppression. To explain that the concept of race continues to be used as a false proxy for ancestry, to justify racism in all its forms. To explain environmental racism. And much more. |
| Dawn MacRay | I feel it is important to teach our students the truth even if it is hard and messy. |
| Debbie Clement | I strive to be an anti-racist and culturally responsive teacher. |
| Donna Rueth | No comment |
| Doug Baer | Young scholars, the next generation, need to know the whole story. We need to know and understand our collective past in order to see its impact on today and how we can learn from it in order to influence and shape the future. |
| Dustin Cross | No comment |
| Emma Klein | No comment |
| Erica Greenberg | I am committed to teaching the truth. |
| Erica Pierson | I believe by teaching students the facts in an unbiased manner, we are teaching them to be critical thinkers. American history is complicated. Students need to be taught the history so that they can interpret it for themselves through further research. If we teach students that there is only one right answer, we are not teaching them to think for themselves. It is our duty as teachers to teach our students that American history is complicated with no right answer to problems of the past. |
| Erica Wood | ALL history is a collection of perspectives, and we need to provide our students with a variety of perspectives and the ability to think critically. We need to tell the WHOLE story, not just the parts that support those in power or the status quo. Our students come from so many different background and they all deserve to see themselves reflecting in what they learn. |
| Erin Adams | I will not be a part of this institutional racism. I will not perpetuate the lies. |
| Erin Laird | My job is to teach students all perspectives of history and to think critically to make up their mind on their own with all of the information available. |
| Ervin B. | lying to students is unethical. Students deserve accurate information so they can make informed decisions about how to participate in their world. |
| Farin Houk | Our children deserve the truth! |
| Finn Menzies | No comment |
| Gabriel De Los Angeles | My family still reels from the generations of lies about Indigenous people written in Colonizer history books. |
| Gregory Lewis | I too refuse to lie to my students. |
| Gregory Lewis | The truth needs to be taught everywhere, both inside and outside the classroom.As a self-defense instructor, I would be doing my students a huge disservice if I didn't expose them to the shady underbelly of the U.S. justice system or speak candidly about the realities of violent crime in the United States. |
| Gwen Johnston | Critical thinking should be embedded in our educational system. They don’t need to be “taught” anything in particular…just given the tools to be able to critically think about and assess our history and the structures of systemic racism in our society. They draw their own conclusions and connections. |
| Hadeel Jeanne | No comment |
| Haley Wooton | No comment |
| Heather Griffin | Our children need the truth. They need to know why there is still injustice in the world. They need to know real history so they can let go of the implicit bias and internalized racism that is insidious when we tell lies and hide the truth. They need to know real history so they can change things to be better for themselves and all the babies coming after. We ALL need the truth. |
| Heather Griffin | We don't build a better society where ALL can thrive and are valued without looking at the whole picture of history--the hard truths included. |
| Hollis Amsden | No comment |
| Holly Ferraro | The narratives and lived experience of all people, throughout the history of the United States, must be taught to enable us to live lives of meaning and dismantle oppression. |
| Ian Golash | No comment |
| Isabella Hashimoto | No comment |
| Isis Lara Fernandez | No comment |
| Jacob Jaffe | No comment |
| Jane Cutter | I am an anti-racist educator. |
| Janella Riegel | Education must be about truth; otherwise it is merely propaganda. Lies are the tools for dismantling democracies. Liberation comes not from ignoring the past but from embracing it and understanding it. We must learn from our past mistakes, acknowledge the ramifications, before we can ever move to a place of healing and reconciliation. We are how we treat each other - and nothing more. |
| Jay Massimino | No comment |
| Jc Fretz | youth deserve to know the truth and be validated when they know the truth about the society that they live in. |
| Jeanie Marinella | We can't make progress in our society without teaching students about historical and current events. |
| Jeff Paul | Education should liberate, not pacify. |
| Jeffrey Eisenbrey | When teachers and textbooks omit the truth of how power accumulates in the hands of the few, of how power is used, and who it's used against, we lose students' interest in learning and democracy and service. Our children learn, instead, that they are being lied to, that teachers are being manipulated, and that elected officials don't care about them. Lying to our children makes them angry and cynical, and this is a dangerous condition when society has so much work to do. |
| Jen Blackwood | No comment |
| Jenessa Hope | I will not lie to the children in my care. Only the truth will allow us to come together and move forward toward justice. |
| Jenica Nixon | No comment |
| Jenni Conrad | Our students, families, and democratic futures depend on our willingness to be honest with ourselves and our history. |
| Jennifer Allen | We are at risk of losing our democracy. |
| Jennifer Diamond | No comment |
| Jennifer Dunn | “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” -James Baldwin |
| Jennifer Hall | I don’t lie. I tell the truth to my students. Fascists want us to lie. |
| Jennifer Willson | truth matters. |
| Jerald Goo | To understand race in America today, you have to understand our nation's history. To understand our nation's history, you have to discuss race. |
| Jesse Hagopian | It's an honor to rise up with thousands of educators around the country to say we refuse to lie to children about the role of structural racism in this country. Students deserve to learn the truth: the U.S. was founded on genocide of Native Americans and enslavement of African peoples. This foundation of our country has embedded racism in our institutions and systems for over 400 years. My students will learn about the freedom fighters who challenged racism and all forms of oppression--regardless of the law. |
| Joe Lambright | My students deserve the truth. |
| John Benner | Education must be based on facts, not white supremacism! |
| John Garibaldi | I’m committed to the idea that we cannot learn from the past if we are not honest about the past - we fail as teachers if we avoid problematic issues our students already are or will face soon. |
| Jon Skoog | The truth might hurt but it needs to be shared with our kids. |
| Joshua Simpson | Students need to know the reality of US history. |
| Julie Colando | kids deserve to learn the truth AND it's the only way we'll be on a path to a just society. |
| Julie Holstad | No comment |
| Katherine Dodsley | I firmly believe that children and youth need to know the true history of our country, especially the periods from 1492-1619 and 1619 to now. White supremacy and anti-black racist systems in the United states started with settler colonialism and indigenous genocide, continued with chattel slavery and Jim Crow, and persist with color-blindness and white nationalism. So long as black, indigenous, and people of color are systematically oppressed, no one in this country is truly free. Knowing and teaching our country's true history benefits everyone because when we can acknowledge the harm that has been perpetrated we can prevent it from happening again and restore racially just and gender inclusive practices that support the lives and futures of communities of color. Diverse societies are more successful, more creative, and better equipped to combat serious challenges to their survival like climate change. |
| Katherine Price | Our children deserve honesty to avoid the pitfalls we’ve already made for them. |
| Kathryn Ellison | I don't lie to children and lies of ommission are still lies. |
| Katie Cryan Leary | We need to center truth and healing to ensure educational justice for all of our students. |
| Katrina Herzog | No comment |
| Kelsey Graves | Teaching this history helps students develop critical thinking skills and acknowledges systemic racism in our schools and societies. If we don't acknowledge our history, we cannot begin to change. |
| Ken Zeichner | To be educators we must teach the truths about our history as the basis for building a more humane and just world. |
| Kirby Green | No comment |
| Kristen Cater | No comment |
| Kristen Cater | We need to learn from history to do better in the present and future. |
| Krystal Smith | Education is key and our jobs as teachers are to decolonize and liberate the mind! |
| Lara Drew | I am actively engaging in the work necessary to deepen my understanding of equity and racial injustices. I am committed to creating a community of inclusion and partnership within my community. As a part of that commitment, I am working to undo the institutional racism that exists within education through our curriculum, practices, and systems. |
| Laura Lehni | Not teaching the truth is LYING. Students deserve the truth and deserve a teacher who is honest with them and leads by example! |
| Lisa Zander | No comment |
| Lura Ercolano | I expect my students to develop problem solving skills for the 21st Century, which requires open eyes about problems. I support students' learning to argue from evidence, which requires access to evidence. Mathematics is the language of change - what is changing, at what rate? What does the data say? |
| Maile Anderson | As a college graduate, it’s important that those students in early education know the truth about American history, they aren’t told lies about how this whole system was built. |
| Marcel Gremaud | No comment |
| Mary Woerner | It’s important to teach the truth. |
| Matthew Maley | No comment |
| Meg Herlofsky | To: State LegislatorsFrom: Meg HerlofskyWe, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events — regardless of the law. |
| Megan Graziose | As teachers, we are called to teach the truth and hiding history from our students means lying about our identity as Americans. Yes, our history is not pretty and we have had to take steps to become what we are today, but we, as teachers, are also life long learners who are teaching our students to become life long learners as well. Our students should not be lied to. |
| Megan Guice | No comment |
| Megan Woodworth | No comment |
| Melissa Maurer | No comment |
| Merissa Reed | Facts matter, and an honest inclusive history is the way forward |
| Michael Augustine | As James Baldwin put it best:“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” |
| Michelle Boske | No comment |
| Michelle Urrea | our stories matter too. You can’t continue to traumatize us and white wash us. We deserve to exist in spaces holistically and demand that. |
| Michelle Vecchio | No comment |
| Molly Meck | it is way past time that we stand up and tell the true story of our history. I was 30 before I realized that everything I had been taught in school about the origins of our history was a lie. |
| Molly O'Neil | Let's get the authentic history of America out there! Ethnic Studies Now!! |
| Monica Aguirre | I am a person of color who was been disfranchised through public education and as an adult now am trying to change that for my BIPOC youth |
| Nani Trias | No comment |
| Nicel Mohamed-Hinds | No comment |
| Nicolette Neumann | No comment |
| Nikkita Oliver | No comment |
| Noah Zeichner | No comment |
| Odalis Gonzalez | As a teacher, it is my duty to educate my learners about the truth to provide them with the tools they need to change the world for the better. |
| Patty Calvano | Truth and integrity matter. |
| Paula Eisenrich | accurately representing what is happening allows students to critically think about events and determine if there area alternative solutions to try! |
| Rachel Pendergast | It is my duty to teach the truth and raise our children so they know the truth and make this world better. It is my duty to leave the world a better place than the way I found it. |
| Raedell Boateng | No comment |
| Rahul Gupta | I run an education department at a museum. We are constantly teaching what schools don't teach their students. The impact of telling the truth, of peeling back the layers of misinformation has the most profound effect on students and teachers. Why should anyone be forced to continue telling falsehoods or half truths? They shouldn't- we need people in our country who are always thinking, analyzing, and questioning. |
| Rebecca Clark | No comment |
| Rebecca Leisher | this is just so basic. Students should have access to the truth and to the tools to think critically and make change in their communities and in our world. |
| Richard Truax | We should not be passing laws limiting what students are learning about our history, culture and society. We need to be helping students analyze more diverse perspectives and voices, not fewer. |
| Robert Lambertz | No comment |
| Rose V | No comment |
| Samantha Gil Vargas | Critical race theory and the truth about the systemic oppression in this continue NEEDS to be taught to youth so we can begin to see drastic change in these oppressive systems AND youth deserve the right to learn factual truth about this country. |
| Samuel Williams | The truth needs to be heard and learned anyhow! |
| Sarah Lather-Mcelligott | we cannot understand where we are now without accurately examining our history from all points of view. To teach only one, often simplified and glorified, view is to teach a lie. Our children deserve full and accurate narratives of the past and the present. They deserve to understand the context of our nation today. They deserve to be taught to examine a more complete history and current events and arrive at their own conclusions. For us to grow into a more perfect union we must understand who we are as a country, both then and now. It is the only way we can ever abolish white supremacy and truly become a democratic society of equals. |
| Sarah McFarlane | We all deserve to know our true history! |
| Shail Azhar | my students need to be able to recognize that this country was built by the sweat and blood of black people and immigrants. They need to recognize that racism still alive in the United States and ways to combat this virus. It is critical that children learn about privilege and ways to use their privilege while recognize signs of racism. |
| Shannon Frizzell | No comment |
| Shannon Frizzell | Students deserve to know the truth. It is important to know the truth so we do not repeat mistakes from the past. |
| Sharon Clarke | You can't change the future if you don't understand the past. Teach the truth. |
| Sharon Safarik | No comment |
| Shawn Levalley | We need to open the realities of the past and present to honor people’s lives and if we are to have any hope for the future. |
| Siri Miller | They need to know the true history in order to change anything and really understand the systems in place today. |
| Stacey Gehrke | I commit to finding creative solutions to center students at the heart of learning. |
| Stefanie Skiljan | If we do not learn and reflect upon history then we are bound to repeat it. |
| Stephanie Gallardo | No comment |
| Summer Craig | Our children deserve to know the truth about our history so that they have the tools to repair the injustices their ancestors committed. |
| Susan Dufresne | Our children/youth deserve a chance at receiving an antiracist education and living in an antiracist society after more than 400 years of racism. |
| Susanna Waldrop | I believe in the truth. I believe Black Lives Matter. |
| Tamara Erickson | Our kids deserve to learn the unbiased facts of our history. |
| Tammy Oesting | We teach who we are and if we do not understand the truth of history we do not understand who we are and are bound to perpetuate, not dismantle, systems of oppression in our nation. To ban learning about Critical Race Theory is antithetical to the ideals of a free and liberatory educational system. |
| Terry Taylor | Those who do not (truthfully) remember the past…… |
| Tristan Towne | No comment |
| Trudy Mower | in order to move forward in our country/world, we need to learn what the true issues are, plain and simple. |
| Victoria Hallberg | No comment |
| Vyom Raval | Learning our true histories is the only way we can understand the root causes of problems, escape the one dimensional existence of domination and subjugation, and become whole. |
| Wayne Au | It is critical that we teach for racial justice and continue to resist these neo-fascists. |
| Wendy Jordan | I want to trust that I will have the right words and actions when the time comes. |
| Whitney Kahn | No comment |
| Zach Stille | BLACK LIVES MATTER |
| Zachariah Beasley | Students deserve to know the truth about our country-their country- whose precarious future is in their hands. They deserve to know that people who look like them have always fought for what is right, believing that a better world is possible. |
| Zack Elway | dismantling racial capitalism and building a better world requires an honest and thoughtful reckoning of where we have been. |
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