In a recent Boston Globe piece, Dr. Linda Chavers describes mainstream America's understanding of racism as "slavery – Abraham Lincoln – Martin Luther King Jr. – President Barack Obama."
Speaking on Boston Public Radio Monday, Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett Price reflected on Chavers' writing and talked about how school curricula have mishandled the nation's convoluted and troubling history with race.
"Before we rewrite the history, I think we have to realize that what has happened [with school curricula] was stategic, and it was intentional,” Price said. He called the whitewashing of history an intentionally inflicted “wound” and drew parallels between depictions of the Black American experience and the history of America’s indigenous peoples.
Read More: Commentary: It's Time To Teach Black History To All Students
Monroe said she agreed with her All Rev'd Up podcast co-host, adding that for America to move past its racism, schools needs to be able to confront the history head-on. "America has been bamboozled or hoodwinked around what exactly is American history here, and who’s included, who tells it, and why,” she said. "You have to recognize first, in healing."
Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is professor of worship, church & culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by WGBH.
