Jayne Morris Crowther: Schools must not fear words like 'race' and 'prejudice'

To the Daily Sun,

Unfortunately, there are members of our community who will not take School Superintendent Steve Tucker’s assurance that Critical Race Theory is not being taught in Laconia schools. These people have been told this time and again. It seems that they will not be satisfied until all mention of race and prejudice is removed from the training of our teachers and the curriculum of Laconia students. That would deprive our students of an accurate understanding of our shared experience and deny them the rich history our country offers.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote, “All men are created equal,” he obviously did not include either slaves or women as deserving of that equality. The greatness of America is that those people Jefferson left out steadfastly believed in their own equality, and a struggle for their political, economic and social rights ensued.

These outsiders were always given invaluable assistance from those who already had their rights. Their allies in this endeavor did so because they believed the promise of America was in Jefferson’s vision, if not his personal beliefs. There were powerful headwinds against this idea, and the challengers fought long and sometimes violent battles but they strove on. Thousands of white abolitionists and soldiers died to end slavery.

Women ultimately achieved the national right to vote because the men agreed and voted for the Nineteenth Amendment. Throughout all these struggles, courageous, persistent outsiders were consistently aided by the insiders in their pursuit of a more perfect union.

There is still much work to be done, and there are still some determined people who do not want Jefferson’s words to include all Americans. If we deny our students these stories of struggle because some people think the words race and prejudice might hurt someone’s feelings, it would deprive our students of their precious heritage. They would be left ignorant of all the tireless work done and still being done by our fellow Americans to reach Jefferson’s ideal.

Jayne Morris Crowther

Laconia