Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021 UCW 5 OPINION MARGARET DICKSON, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. And the truth shall set you free by MARGARET DICKSON Your mama and mine were clear about this. We do not tell lies, nor do we perpet- uate them. I must have told a whopper, because I can still remember my Kinston grandmother grabbing both my arms and putting her nose next to mine and hissing at me, "Margaret Dawson, don't you EVER tell me a teewaddie again!" Teewaddie is eastern North Carolina speak for a big fat lie. I must have been about 5 or 6, and her technique was so effective, I doubt I ever told her another one. ere are facts, of course, and there are interpretations of facts, and sometimes it is difficult to separate them. e North Carolina Board of Education has been in the midst of just such a quandary, and it is not likely over yet. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter and Me Too move- ments and the sketchy, relaxed relation- ship with the truth enjoyed by our former President and many of his supporters, the Board has been wrestling with how to teach North Carolina's school children about inequity and injustice in American society. ose are concepts not unlike art and pornography — hard to define, but we all know them when we see them. e 1898 coup d'etat in Wilmington, the only such overthrow of an elected government in American history, is a fact. It was not taught in schools during my public educa- tion because it had been spun in a differ- ent light. It has been well documented in recent years though by, among others, Philip Gerard in "Cape Fear Rising" (1994) and more recently in "Wilmington's Lie" (2020) by David Zucchino, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and graduate of Terry Sanford High School. e coup d'etat, long buried in state and national history, should be part of social studies and histo- ry curricula at all levels in North Carolina schools and throughout our nation. Ditto for other documented events including civil rights activities, the women's move- ment, and other historical events with both positive and negative connotations. e Board struggled, and understand- ably so, over less concrete questions, including adjectives. Early proposals for social studies curriculum standards in included "systemic racism," "system dis- crimination," and "engender identity." Af- ter fierce Board of Education debate over several months, a 7 to 5 vote has adopted standards that dropped those adjectives for less precise language. Still, it is a step in the right direction. Proponents of social studies standards say the information will be more mean- ingful to students of color who now make up the majority of public school students in North Carolina. Opponents contend the standards project anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-democratic viewpoints. e fight is not over yet. Later this year, professional staff at the Depart- ment of Public Instruction will present additional documentation of how the new standards will be implemented in classrooms, which is sure to ignite yet an- other round of disagreement about what our children should learn and how they should learn it. Most of us are not educators and know little about curriculum development of any sort. Most of us do have common sense, however, as have leaders of all stripes when they ponder truth, however painful. Here are three that ring true to me. "Truth will ultimately prevail where there is (sic) pains to bring it to light." — George Washington "Repetition does not translate a lie into a truth." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt And, chillingly, this from Sir Winston Churchill in a 1948 speech to Parliament. He was surely speaking about war, but it works just as well for discrimination and injustice. "ose who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." e North Carolina Board of Education has been wrestling with how to teach school children about inequity and injustice in American society. Contributing Writers Wanted Join the Up & Coming team Use your creative talents to promote community events (people, concerts, theater, festivals, sports, etc.) Basic writing and interviewing skills needed Intern opportunities available for college students Contact editor@upandcomingweekly.com (910) 484-6200 Lafaye e Champion of Freedom and Human Rights www.lafayettesociety.org Lafayette, as quoted by noted abolitionist Thomas Clarkson I would never have drawn my sword cause America I could have conceived there I w founding a l d slavery.