Student ‘slave auctions’ illustrate the existence of a hidden culture of domination and subjugation in US schools
“Reenacting a slave sale as a prank tells us that we have a great deal of work to do with our students so they can distinguish between intent and impact,” Osumi wrote. “They may have thought this skit was funny, but it is not; it is unacceptable and requires us to look honestly and deeply at issues of systemic racism.”
https://flip.it/4CTnG8 #CurrentEvents #enslavement #Education #HiddenCurriculum
@dyedgrey I agreed 100% with the article’s author(s) and yet, I know some people may see it as a harmless activity dramatizing the past. We know enslavement continues to endure today, and that it’s linked to our humanness. That doesn’t justify it, only reflects how messed up we are and how much further we have to grow. But hiding it, obscuring it, acting as if it doesn’t exist because it makes someone(s) uncomfortable won’t get the job done.
A great book to read is Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed.” Here are my notes on it to get you started - https://www.mguhlin.org/2021/09/periphery-of-memory-mynotes-word-word.html
I do remember reading stories of Romans and their enslaved peoples. Same with Norwegians. Treatment varies by time and place, but it’s still heartbreaking to know people still think we should teach about it in this way…perpetuating it.
@mguhlin
My High School Latin club did a “Slave Sale” for kicks at the end of the year (I was in HS in NJ from 1983-1987). I know they stopped doing it, but I don’t recall exactly when (pretty soon after I graduated, iirc).
I recall thinking it was “different” from slavery in US history because it was Roman, and it was all (or mostly) white kids. The percentage of African or African American kids in my school was probably in the low single digits.
^ I am not excusing this activity or my ignorant, uncritical thinking about it at the time. I am saying what was. Obviously, looking back now, this should never have been a thing at all, for all kinds of reasons.
It shows how much history wasn’t taught, and how many “dots” were never connected.