In CMS, students want active role in how schools teach about racism

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Catherine Tiddy watched Black Lives Matter protests unfold across the country last summer and says she searched for ways she could contribute to the “deconstruction of racial inequity and implicit bias.”

That’s when the 16-year-old came to a realization: education leads to action.

“I understood that the increase of diversity in curriculum leads to an increase in global, empathetic thinking,” the junior at Myers Park High School said.

“If we equip students with the knowledge they need to do so, they can create change in their community.”

Tiddy started a regional chapter of Diversify Our Narrative, an organization of more than 6,000 students across the country fighting for racial justice through schools.

Within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, Tiddy and about a dozen other students meet weekly — mostly on Zoom — and encourage dialogue on race, identity and are mounting a campaign urging CMS to include more anti-racist texts and a diversified curricula.

Students say more teaching about racism is needed.

“The curriculum now promotes a closed-mindedness around stereotypes,” said Veronica Bofah, 16, a junior at Harding University High School and the co-district lead of the CMS group. “Being a person of color, you don’t really realize that the textbooks you’re reading aren’t diverse.

“Even as you’re growing up — everything you study has that similar message about slavery. It’s not reaching a bigger demographic. There’s not as much coverage on protests, or you’re not studying as much on lesser-known activists. Those things could change a student’s perspective on how they see the civil rights movement.”

In Charlotte schools, student diversity isn’t seen in the staff. How can that change?

Petition to CMS

Tiddy and Bofah have worked with members of the district’s academic board, addressed the Board of Education and presented a petition that includes 523 signatures of students, teachers and parents.

Getting school board members to approve the petition shows “in concrete” diversity is important to CMS, the students said. They’ve presented the petition via email and mentioned it during the public comment section of school board meetings in November and February.

“Nothing delights me more than to see our students engaged in advocacy for change,” school board member Jennifer De La Jara said. “The advocacy of Diversify Our Narrative propels the ongoing work in CMS, mostly recently in the context of adopting a new high school English curriculum.”

Among the petition’s demands: At least one book in every English/literature and composition class be by a person of color and about a person or multiple people of color’s experience; and teach fiction books published post-civil rights movement “with contemporary, modern-day context in mind.”

Diversify Our Narrative’s list of recommended books include the Ijeoma Oluo’s nonfiction book, “So You Want to Talk About Race” and Kelly Yang’s fiction work “Parachutes.”

“I always thought CMS was devoted to diversity, and we have a diverse board,” Tiddy said. “But in textbooks, people of color are left out of roles of protagonists or authors. In social studies, people of color around the world are left out of lessons.

“This is what drove my passion — the experience of my classmates. As a white student reflecting on my education, I have been very represented. How many of my classmates haven’t had that same experience?”

Critical race theory

Tiddy said her group’s activism combines a lot of what Critical Race Theory includes with “other standards we hope to see.” In May, the North Carolina House voted to pass a bill that prohibits schools from promoting concepts such as that the U.S. was created to oppress people or that people are inherently racist or sexist, according to the News & Observer.

Critical Race Theory is a view that systemic racism has been and remains part of the nation’s history and that policies or laws perpetuate injustice — which requires deeper remedy than addressing individual bias or acts of discrimination.

“Some of the specific issues we hope to address that CRT also addresses are police brutality, hate speech and crimes,” Tiddy said, “and poverty influenced by systemic barriers.”

As far as the curriculum, both Tiddy and Bofah also want diverse studies to extend to STEM subjects.

“More exposure builds empathy,” Tiddy said. “When you build empathy you increase the depth of knowledge. We can’t move forward without a change in what we learn about.”