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Illinois Dem Calls for State to Stop Teaching History

La Shawn Ford says Illinois must develop anti-racist curriculum before teaching history

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August 3, 2020

A Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives called on the state to stop teaching history in public schools until educators can develop a new, non-racist curriculum.

Representative La Shawn Ford said the current curriculum "leads to white privilege and a racist society" and called on the state to "stop its current history teaching practices until appropriate alternatives are developed."

At a press conference on Sunday, Ford promoted a bill he’s sponsoring in the state legislature to address racism in public schools. If passed, it would replace history education with civics until anti-racist curriculum is created.

"We can ban and abolish history in the state of Illinois until we get it right," Ford said Friday on WGN Radio. "We must make sure that we have an accurate account because what we have is a miseducation of people."

A wave of protests this summer following the death of George Floyd has led schools across the country to examine their history curricula. Teachers in Virginia’s largest school system created a new "anti-racist" history curriculum earlier this summer for grade-school students based on framework from the Southern Poverty Law Center. And Duke University said in June it would implement "anti-racism" in its curriculum and mandate anti-bias training for faculty and students.

Published under: Democrats , Illinois