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 Chicago teachers included, "Teaching a people’s history and being honest with students about our country’s past is essential to make change" and "we must always lead students by our actions, and they deserve to learn the history that isn't told in their textbooks".
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 Chicago who’ve pledged to teach Critical Race Theory
| Teachers | Thoughts on Critical Race Theory |
|---|---|
| Aaron Meyer | I believe it is vital we teach our students anti-racist curricula. Our students shape our future. We must teach them all U.S. history and current events in order to build a better world that truly cares and supports each other. #CTUTeachTruth |
| Adam Geisler | we must always lead students by our actions, and they deserve to learn the history that isn't told in their textbooks. |
| Adam Geisler | we must defend the importance of truth and justice. |
| Albert Delgado | The media, governments, corporations, institutions have manipulated history to maintain the status go. Enough! |
| Alyson Paige Warren | No comment |
| Amanda Glasbrenner | I am committed to teaching children history as it happened and through the lens of the disenfranchised, not just the victors and oppressors. I am also committed to anti racist education, tolerance, and awareness in my classroom. |
| Amanda Richey | I will not white wash our history |
| Amy Treadwell | No comment |
| Andrew Brake | No comment |
| Andrew Johnson | The truth is what happened. It ain't what come out of somebody's mouth." --- John Grady Cole in Corman McCarthy's novel, All the Pretty Horses, 1992 |
| Anna Acosta | I am committed to teach anti-racist curriculum including but limited to teaching about the Black Panther Party, the Chicano movement movement , Rainbow Coalition. |
| Anne-Bernadette Weiner | No comment |
| Annie Jackson | Black Student’s Lives Matter |
| Anton Miglietta | It’s past time!!!! |
| Ariam Abraham | My beautiful Black students deserve, at a minimum, to know how their lives are impacted by the realities of the past and present. Erasing our history is erasing ourselves, and our kids deserve too much more. |
| Ashley Kiddle | No comment |
| Asma Shakir | No comment |
| Audrey Brinkers | My students deserve to feel empowered by learning the truth. |
| Autumn Laidler | All of our children deserve to know the full truth of history. |
| Ayesha Sumbal | our students deserve to know our full history! |
| Barbara Alexander | I have moral obligation to teach the truth. I cannot in good faith ignore history and events, or misrepresent history and events. It is that simple. |
| Barbara Randolph | I entered the field of education to open the world to the ever expanding minds of children. Teachers have the right and the responsibility to be honest with their students of all ages. Living with an open mind is the goal. |
| Beau Golwitzer | No comment |
| Ben Passer | No comment |
| Bertina Renee Booker | The truth should be heard at all times |
| Beverly Allebach | No comment |
| Brian Zane | No comment |
| Caitlin Scheib | I believe teaching the truth matched criticality not only benefits my students’ growth, but moreover, this kind of teaching benefits a democratic society. |
| Catherine Cristofani | No comment |
| Catherine Cunningham-Yee | The weight of history is on our shoulders and truth is not optional, political, or refutable. |
| Celeste Ramovic | No comment |
| Charles Danoff | We need to be able to teach the horrible things our country has done in the past if we want any hope of somewhat understanding it in the present or improving it in the future. |
| Christine Dussault | We will never learn from our past if we don't teach the truth. |
| Christine Thompson | No comment |
| Christopher Kruger | Education should be ennobling to the human spirit, not founded in fear and hate. |
| Christopher Rapisarda | No comment |
| Christopher Rapisarda | I believe in people and their lived experiences. |
| Chuck Stark | Conversations about race should be honest. Banning these kinds of discussions in classrooms are coercive. |
| Claire De Leon | No comment |
| Comfort Agboola | No comment |
| Courtney Hanson | No comment |
| Crystal Harris | Presenting current information and teaching students to evaluate information critically is an necessary skill for true democracy and citizenship. |
| Cyriac J. Mathew | Without accurate knowledge of our past and present , it is impossible to change the future. |
| Dahlia Quintanilla | Truth |
| Dalia Hoffman | I have a moral obligation to speak the truth and to teach it to my students--all of it, not just the commendable facets of it. I have taken on a solemn responsibility by becoming a teacher, and this begins by looking in the mirror to understand who I am, where I come from, and to embrace the legacy I am vested with--for better and for worse--so that I can own it and begin to repair it in the way that I lead my life. I bring these understandings into the classroom because we cannot heal as individuals and/or as collectives without understanding and speaking our complete truths. |
| Dana Kamerling | I believe it is essential for students to be taught the truth about our country's history. |
| Dana Sullivan | Americans can not ensure a fruitful democracy for all citizens and residents unless children are taught critical thinking skills and honest content based on evidence. |
| Daniel Cohen | No comment |
| Dave Stieber | Learning the true history of our country (not a male white washed version) is essential to the positive growth of our country for everyone. |
| David Temkin | No comment |
| David Zepeda | We are lost without our history. |
| David Zinder | Past is prologue. |
| Deanna Tomasetti | I am not interested in promoting white supremacist historical fictions. Critical thinkers challenge and interrogate dominant narratives rather than propagate them. |
| Deborah Riddle | If children don't learn their history, they're destined to repeat it. Also, we learn about Crispus Attics, Ben Franklin, Christopher Columbus etc., why not OUR truth????? |
| Derek Ault | my students need to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. |
| Donna Mitchem | I pledge to teach the littlest learners about the greatness of their race/culture through research, books music and discussions. |
| Edward D. Juillard | No comment |
| Edward Gadient | No comment |
| Elena Ailes | I come from a family of educators. Both parents and my sister are all teachers. My values, and my families values, are predicated on truth, history and access to a good education. |
| Eliza Bryant | Future generations of Americans deserve to know the truth about our country's past. By learning about the past, we can ensure a better future, especially for those whose rights have been historically threatened or suppressed. |
| Elizabeth Robbins | No comment |
| Elizabeth Sullivan | I fear what a future of teaching lies and falsehoods has and will lead to. |
| Ellie Walsh | No comment |
| Eric Branholm | It is our duty as educators to stand up to the forces attempting to repress learning. It is our duty to teach the truth. |
| Erica Tully | Students and the future of America deserve to know the truth of our past history, so that we can remove any danger of history repeating itself. |
| Erin Lynch | No comment |
| Evelyn Gonzalez | No comment |
| Frances Bartolutti | No comment |
| Geoffrey Guiney | No comment |
| Gina Szulkowski | No comment |
| Grace Itter | Truth |
| Greg Michie | my 7th and 8th graders are smart, perceptive, and caring young people. They don't want to be fed a whitewashed version of U.S. history. They want to know the fullness of it, so they can come to a deeper understanding of where we've been, and how we can create a more just society and world. |
| Gustav Roman | Engaging students in critical discussions of power, oppression, resilience and resistance are vital to understanding the truth and empower students to make this country and world a better place. |
| Hala Karim | No comment |
| Isela Velazquez | It is a crime to prohibit teachers from teaching the truth about the history of this country that continues to impact us today. |
| Jackson Potter | No comment |
| Jade-Paula Cabrera | I pledge to create & protect a safe space for my students to grow, challenges one another and themselves, question, investigate, and explore their interests and curiosities & to actively work to dismantle teaching biases harmful to marginalized folks within my school community. |
| James Cavallero | I want students to understand the roots of inequality today and give them the tools to shape a just future. |
| James Foster | I refuse to lie to any student. Refusing to acknowledge and deal with the problems in our society only guarantees their continued existence. We must learn from the past to improve our future. |
| James Klock | ... while my context does not put me at risk for punitive measures for teaching the truth, I stand in solidarity with those who are on the front lines of that fight. |
| James Klock | I believe that our young people can handle the truth. |
| Jane Mizzi | No comment |
| Janet Gray-Mckennis | There can be no healing in this country without a recognition and understanding of the truth. |
| Jason Perkins | No comment |
| Jason Smith | I pledge to teach a range of diverse works inclusive of a variety of perspectives without white-washing contexts. |
| Jeannee Turner | To not learn the truths of our history is dangerous. To not know what is happening in the world is choosing blindness. Knowing America’s true history reveals our strengths to build on and our faults to not commit again. |
| Jeannie Kim | No comment |
| Jenine Wehbeh | my students deserve to have their stories uplifted. |
| Jennet Tempone | No comment |
| Jennifer Coyle | Teaching true history and truth is important |
| Jennifer Kautz | No comment |
| Jennifer Shomberg | No comment |
| Jenny Delessio-Parson | students deserve to know the truth. |
| Jessica Hodges | Students need and deserve to know the truth. |
| Joan Bradbury | I believe it is vitally important that children learn about our country's history and ideals, and come to understand there is much work for "we the people" to do together so our country's reality comes closer to it's ideals. I believe that is most effectively done with students learning "from the inside out", experiencing historic struggles and engaging with issues of a past time and/or specific location. |
| John Breen | I refuse to whitewash history |
| John Yolich | I use all that curriculum that they want to abolish. |
| Jonah Bondurant | No comment |
| Josh Radinsky | I believe that history matters, that all students have the right to learn history, and that history teachers have an obligation to teach students a history that reflects the full American experience, rather than a cheerleading myth. |
| Joshua Zepeda | Children and their experiences needs to be reflected in their curriculum. |
| Julia Campoverde | I believe in telling students the truth. |
| Julia Monette | I pledge to teach my students truth: though topics related to race, class, and gender can be challenging, students are deserving of an education that includes a clear view of BIPOC history and experiences. |
| Julie Devaud | I believe our students are brave enough to learn the truth about American History. |
| Julie Unold | I am committed to teaching and discussing the truth for the equality and knowledge for ALL my students. |
| Julius Cajigas | Our students need to learn the truth about the U.S. and the current world climate it is built upon and how racist it really is. |
| Jungsun Moon | Whether through fiction or non-fiction, I will teach my students to think and engage critically and honestly, and act for justice for all people. |
| Justin Altay | there's no other choice I would ever make when it comes to my role as an educator. |
| Justin Brill | No comment |
| Justin Brill | We must acknowledge our history and learn from it, not run from it. Deliberate systems of oppression, misinformation and exclusion are at the heart of white supremacy. I will not perpetuate this cycle in my teaching. |
| Kari Lehman | No comment |
| Kari Lehman | I believe that teaching the truth is imperative to eradicating white supremacy and racism, while also creating equity and instituting reparations., and liberation for people of color from the historical and present day systems of oppression. |
| Kari Lehman | Teaching the truth is important in order to eradicate white supremacy and center BIPOC in history. |
| Karin Konz | My students deserve the truth |
| Kasey Johnson | No comment |
| Katerina Kiriazopoulos | My students deserve to know how their lives are affected by systems that are actively working against them. |
| Katherine Frett | a movement against teacher critical race theory is really just protecting and promoting white supremacy. I will teach a full and robust, truthful picture of the history of this country and classifications of identity we have used to control groups of people in order to maintain hierarchy. |
| Katherine M. Lansky | I believe it is important to teach a full, accurate view of history, inconvenient truth and all. Our history is flawed. It is ugly. And only by honestly investigating & coming face to face with that history can we begin to understand where we are today. |
| Kayce Bayer | As James Baldwin says, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." I will teach truths, as that is what my students (and the people of this country) deserve. |
| Keith Marek | No comment |
| Kelly Fischer | Equity and diversity are the cornerstone of our culture. |
| Kenneth Borre | No comment |
| Kerith Asma | No comment |
| Kerry Marmozewicz | No comment |
| Kimberly Goldbaum | Telling the truth is the point where we make things better. Why are politicians codifying into state and federal law that our students be told an abridged, truncated, stilted, biased perspective regarding who has power at a given time and who does not? THERE goes a guiding question for you. Does the First Amendment, which politicians are supposed to honor when they write laws, mean nothing? ...the SAME First Amendment, while penned by the Founding Fathers politicians keep bringing up, keeps being tested by groups of oppressed people in order to make this country we live in BETTER for ALL. I'm signing my name openly and proudly, because politicians' names make history BOOKS. But it is the PEOPLE who make history happen. |
| Kimberly Mitchell | The truth should be told. |
| Lakesha Ladd | I believe in teaching our children about our rich heritage. |
| Lasandra Glass-Gibson | I BELIEVE IN THE TRUTH. |
| Laura Fairbank | My students, of many diverse backgrounds, deserve to be seen and heard in the classroom. As their educator, I must do what I can to minimize harm to them, and for generations to come. |
| Laura Koroski | Deliberately forbidding the teaching of issues of race, racism, and racial violence is a moral wrong. To erase the history of resilient people of color and prevent the next generation from learning about ongoing white supremacy is an act of violence, and I will not stand by and watch it happen. |
| Lauren Bianchi | No comment |
| Lavera Luster | I agree that the truth should be taught to the students to empower them with the knowledge and tools to work towards ending all injustices. |
| Leiram Rivera Soto | America is a continent, not a country! |
| Lennon Murphy | Our students deserve empowered educators who are willing and able to help them uncover the truths about our country's past and present. |
| Leo Wolf | No comment |
| Leonor Torres | Teaching true history allow us to grow as a people. Other countries can get past their past. We keep repeating it. |
| Leonor Torres | When history is taught with all of the facts, we learn from our wrongs and have children who understand and can connect with each other on different levels. |
| Leslie Madorsky | No comment |
| Lilly Freyer | Our country’s history is complicated and doesn’t deserve to be whitewashed in the name of blind patriotism. |
| Linda M. Peete | It’s past time to tell the stories and history of people of color in the United States. |
| Lindsey Williston | No comment |
| Lisa Rothenberg | I promise I will teach history the way it was. |
| Louis Hernandez | No comment |
| Lydia Falconnier | No comment |
| Madison Lennox | No comment |
| Magally Roman | I pledge to challenge the perspective that students are too young to learn challenging topics related to race, class, gender, and other topics currently being banned through oppressive policies. |
| Maggie Sermont | No comment |
| Maks Malec | We have a duty to study and reflect on the past of our country and the world. |
| Maria Castillo Pierce | My students and their families deserve to know the Truth--only the Truth. |
| Maria Hernandez | As a History teacher, I know the importance of learning the truth. I learned a watered down, and misleading history as a child; I was appalled at the truth about our history. I cannot allow our students to be misled. I want them to understand how and why we are where we are today. |
| Maria Hernandez | It is important for us and our children to understand the roots of our current issues. We must get to the root of our problems by looking at our past, even if it makes us uncomfortable |
| Maria Kontoudakis | No comment |
| Marjorie Woodruff | No comment |
| Mark Nelson | Education should be uncensored in order for individuals to form their own opinions based on all the facts. Apparently indoctrination and propaganda is the only way the GOP can elect their pack of nut jobs, fascists, religious fanatics and low wage monopolists into key government and judicial positions. |
| Mars Caulton | Slavery is not "fake news". It is part of what distinguishes this country around the world: What other modern country had widespread, outright enslavement of an entire race, which began with an international kidnapping industry, for 400 years? |
| Mary Anne Gulley | Every child has the right to question, acknowledge, and understand historical truth. |
| Mary Difino | No comment |
| Mary Kay Marrello | Every American student has the right to learn the history of the United States without deletions, fabrications or attempts to glorify past wrong doings, lies or prejudices & injustices. |
| Maryclare Flores | No comment |
| Matthew Francolino | As Ida B. Wells says, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” |
| Maura Nugent | No comment |
| Megan Lynd Meier | we must cultivate critical thinkers and citizens that fully understand history and how our nation has grown and evolved over time. We must be open and honest with our ourselves and with our students so that we can move forward and work together to create a more a just and equitable society. |
| Melissa McBride | It is our moral and social obligation to teach the truth! |
| Michael Dawson | No comment |
| Michael Kelly | We have never needed to tell the true history of our country than right now, and though I teach this topic to graduate-level students, I stand in solidarity with PreK-12 educators who are being bullied by these coordinated legislative and policy attacks across the country. |
| Michael Rassel | To "TEACH THE TRUTH" is to teachers what "DO NO HARM" is to Medical Professionals. |
| Michael Shea | No comment |
| Michelle Brezek | We cannot heal from the past if we do not share the stories. |
| Michelle Okuno | No comment |
| Mirna Gasca | Our history is complex and teaching it should never be simple or safe. Our kids deserve to learn that which is true and in accordance with facts. As educators, now more than ever, we need to invest time to share the knowledge of the complicated and sometimes very ugly history of our country which will then contribute to the making of the kinds of citizens who will respect and understand each others' experiences, struggles, and extraordinary achievements, especially of our black and brown communities. |
| Mollie Wray | I refuse to be silent in the face of injustice. |
| Molly Phelan | I grew up in the South and learned a drastically "cleaned up" version of our history. As a college student and adult, I find myself constantly having to correct and re-learn facts that were readily available to my teachers but weren't taught to us either out of ignorance, shame or outright denial. We have to do better for the next generations of students. |
| Monica Rojas | No comment |
| Naomi Ramsay | we cannot lie to our children. We must give them the whole truth so they are able to understand and navigate the society they live in. We need to give them the truth so they are able to change our society for the better. If they actually learn and understand how racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism function in our society they will be better prepared to disrupt these systems in the future. Moreover, they will feel empowered to do so! I will not lie to my students! |
| Natalia Segura | No comment |
| Nathan Tornow | I have a responsibility to teach multiple perspectives of history even if it makes a person or nation look bad. Humans and history are complex and removing any flaws removes the truth. |
| Nicholas Limbeck | No comment |
| Nicole Braun | No comment |
| Nilufar Rezai | The disease of racism and white supremacy must be eradicated! |
| Nina Hike | Students should be taught about Black scientists like Charles Drew and Percy L. Julian in their rightful place as contributors to the scientific community understanding and using their techniques not just during BHM. |
| Nora Flanagan | I’m pledging to teach truth, because we owe our students nothing less. |
| Patricia Stevens | No comment |
| Patrycja Baran-Quintana | It is pertinent to teach the truth. |
| Paul D'Addario | No comment |
| Paul Farrand | No comment |
| Paul Friedrich | We cannot honestly know who we are as a nation if we do not have an honest understanding of our past, our history. Confronting and wrestling with these difficult truths is the only way we will be able to move forward, evolve, and improve. |
| Pauline Lipman | We need to reckon with the history of this country founded on white supremacy, racial capitalism, and heteropatriarchy if we are ever to develop the consciousness and organization to dismantle these systems and create a future where all can flourish. This is not a dream. It is an urgent necessity and there is no path to the future without confronting the past. Young people are taking up this challenge and they need to be armed with the truth. We cannot be bullied into silence. |
| Penny Shultz | truth matters and learning history is the best way to prevent repeating mistakes. |
| Rachel Brick | I pledge to empower students to teach and tell their own stories. |
| Rachel Tingley | I pledge to continue to give students access to multiple primary source that challenge dominant narratives and ask the questions: if the victors write the history, whose history are we really learning? Who is telling the story, and why? |
| Rebecca Brakebill | we shouldn’t have to unlearn and unpack so much as adults. These kids deserve better, they deserve truth and authenticity. |
| Rebecca Coulter | Students deserve to learn the truth about this country. If we are to change the injustices of today, we need inspiration from the change makers of yesterday. |
| Rebecca Coven | No comment |
| Rebecca Desalvo | Teaching a people’s history and being honest with students about our country’s past is essential to make change. |
| Rebecca Friedman | We can only dismantle harmful white supremacy and make necessary changes for a kind and just world if we equip our future with a practical and truthful education. Every child deserves the truth! |
| Richard Grossman | No comment |
| Rico Gutstein | No comment |
| Rivanna Jihan | Teaching truth isn't always comfortable or pretty. Teaching lies is a disservice to our students and communities, and does nothing to forward equity and freedom in our world. |
| Robert Hyatt | I believe in the power of truth and reconciliation. |
| Ron Ashlaw | No comment |
| Ronnie Reese | I have Black children, and what they learn about their history and their *selves* is important. |
| Roseanne Dennler | We cannot change what we won't acknowledge. |
| Runa Zaman | No comment |
| Ryan Walzer | No comment |
| Ryan Walzer | Lie by omissions is a lie and our children deserve truth. |
| Sam Gartzman | No comment |
| Samantha Godden-Chmielowicz | Students deserve to know the truth and formulate their own opinions. History is not pretty, but it needs to be known. |
| Sara Corona Goldstein | No comment |
| Sara Stellfox | It’s important to acknowledge and study our historical and current events to support our students in becoming informed citizens. |
| Sarah Bugay | No comment |
| Silvia Gonzalez | No comment |
| Skye Black | No comment |
| Stephanie Collins | No comment |
| Steven Bergmark | No comment |
| Stu Abram | We must value justice over comfort and model for our students how to interrupt systems of privilege and oppression rather than being complicit in their replication. |
| Sydney Hart | We cannot solve social problems unless we fully understand their genesis and contemporary manifestations. Racism, especially but not only against Black people, is a root cause of many current social problems from police brutality to economic injustice. If we cannot understand the history of racism in the U.S., we cannot eradicate it. |
| Tammi Garcia | I believe my children deserve to live a life of truth. |
| Tammie Vinson | It's the right thing to do |
| Terra Calamari | No comment |
| Tiffany Bartucci | No comment |
| Tiffany R. Payne-Griffin | It is deplorable and completely unacceptable for people to navigate through life without understanding that this country and every privilege that non-Black people benefit from is due to the long reaching effects of slavery. |
| Tina Padio | As a teacher it is my moral and ethical duty to teach the truth. |
| Toneika Wallace | our children deserve to know the truth. |
| Toni Wahlberg | No comment |
| Tonia Nelson | No comment |
| Tracy Otwell | I am concerned that laws being passed in some states may make it impossible for teachers to teach the history of our country so that we are not doomed to repeat it. |
| Tyler Scaletta | No comment |
| Vahid Avdic | to not teach about systemic injustice throughout history is to not really reach history at all. |
| Valerie Johnson | I believe that social justice is dependent upon every U.S. citizen fully understanding U.S. history, including its cumulative and contemporary, social, political, and economic consequences. |
| Virginia Boyle | It is very important that teachers teach the truth about history. We must verify facts from a variety of validated sources, and teach our students HOW to do the same. With these tools, our students can verify truth for themselves, and they can draw their own conclusions. |
| Whitney Huber | I have a contribution to make to help repair our nation. |
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