2023 Southern California Benefit

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MARGOT STERN STROM: The parents are arguing over what students should learn. And then there was an article by Art Buchwald in the paper yesterday, which is called, "When the facts are embarrassing, a little rewriting of history helps." So that if things are pretty bad or they're confusing, why don't you just rewrite history, so it doesn't really bother the people too much.

SPEAKER 1: Well, I think if you're told both sides, so that you know the good and the bad, I think especially at this level, we should be able to understand those things.

SPEAKER 2: We turn now to a battle playing out in schools across our country. Many educators are rethinking how race and the roots of racism in this country should be tackled in the classroom.

SPEAKER 3: There's been an ongoing debate in the educational system over who's writing the stories of American history.

SPEAKER 4: Joining me now, Roger Brooks, president and CEO of Facing History & Ourselves, that is a nonprofit that helps secondary school teachers tackle the tough history lessons.

ROGER BROOKS: The mission of Facing History & Ourselves is to use lessons of history to challenge teachers and students to stand up to bigotry and hate. And that work is more important now than ever while history education is under attack.

Teaching history is really nuanced and complex, but with the guidance of really caring educators, who are coached and trained on how to do this work with empathy and analytic skill, history is well within the ability of all of our students to understand.

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JOSE NAVARRO: I've used a lot of Facing Ourselves resources, reconstruction, eugenics, race and membership. The original Holocaust and Human Behavior book is just brilliant.

KHAMILLA JOHNSON: One of the main things that we talked about was the Holocaust. We talked about ostracism, about bullying, and things. Those were some heavy topics for high schoolers. At least when I was 14, obviously, a lot of kids in high school go through bullying. And so that was just-- that was something that was an important topic.

JOSE NAVARRO: 100% of the time speaks to my students, they all remember a point in their own personal history, where they joined in and they wish they hadn't.

RAY'VON JONES: I love the fact that Facing History is rooted in identity and empathy.

ASHLEIGH WILSON: I need to create that safe space and that place where not only can they learn, but they can invest, and then take it out into the community because they are the change agents.

DURIAS DYER: Facing History is the foundation, the rock, but it's up to us to build off that foundation and create something better, to paint a future we're proud of.

JOHN LEWIS: We must deal with our history. We must deal with our past in order to free and liberate ourselves for the future. We must build a house that is strong enough for all of us, as we face history, as we face ourselves.

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