I always envied my peers in the U.S., who went to schools in urban/diverse or predominately black areas in Chicagoland, who had the opportunity to take African American History and African American Literature as a courses in high school. While I was stuck in white suburbia, taking World History, American History, American Lit and British Lit; these courses included less than one class period to attempt to summarize contributions African Americans to the history of America and the world. Kids in Chicago got to learn about black people who contributed to the history of America all year long. After more than 300 years of enslavement on the American continent, but less than an hour of time in class. Hundreds of black inventors contributed to the American economy and its global status, yet I have never learned about one in class. Every year we had the same discussion on World War 1 and World War 2. We learned about Rockefeller and John Locke but never hear the names Benjamin Montgomery or Inez Beverly Prosser.
My cousin who attends a private school in the Chicagoland area sent me a text saying 'So my world history teacher decided it would be fun to play a game she made called "Scramble for Africa" where we were Europeans trying to colonize and take as much of Africa's natural resources as we could without going to war because that would be inconvenient'
I asked her why the teacher made a mockery of actual events that harmed millions of people over hundreds of years, and continues today?
She said, 'I'm not sure, but I told her it was extremely racially insensitive to make a game of something that was horrifying and actually happened. I stressed that I learned nothing from it." The teacher defended it by saying, her lesson was "for us to see it from Europeans POV & realize it wasn't personal or based off of racism, but simply business." My cousin and I agreed the explanation was absolute crap, and she would still like an explanation from her as to why she couldn't have taught that without having them play a game like that. In comparison, if she were teaching the holocaust (which is "world history") I'm sure she wouldn't have students pretend to be Germans, plotting how to steal and murder as many Jews as we could without starting war!
Lessons like this teacher tried to teach, in this manner, are being taught to students across America DAILY. I’m sure most students participate in this because they are under the authority of their teachers.
This is why oppression of black people globally continues to happen. We are taught in school that the oppression of people of color is business and that it's not personal. I have learned from experience outside of the school environment that this is complete BULL! It's a blessing and curse that black people are from the richest land on earth; it would be nice if we could call this land our own again, and be the ones to reap the benefits of what our land has to offer.
Without the knowledge about African American history from my family I would think that America was built at the hands of a white man. When in actuality, all he did was write the rules that led to the oppression of my people, who in fact built America with their bare hands.
Attending a Cambridge high school has challenged me in ways that the two high schools I attended in Chicago never could. At times, I feel like I am at least two steps behind my classmates. At school back home it was easy to get away with not studying and still get good grades (not saying that's what I did, but I know some folks who did). Here, everything we learn is for a big exam we take at the end of the school year. We don’t get a final grade if we don’t take these exams. Your mission here is to pass! My friends are always talking about passing where back home that was never a concern for me. I always knew I would pass and I don’t think my peers worried either.
The American education system has failed me and my race in many ways. The only way I was able to overcome the systematic failures, was by the education I received at home, and from my family, and ultimately moving out of the country for school. I know that we need to try to improve the American education system. We are known as the greatest superpower nation in the world, but our education system is failing us.
Johannesburg