The following letter and books were received by a teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools for their “summer reading.” The books, sent to social studies teachers from NM PED, are of course meant to filter into the classroom in indoctrinating New Mexico students into PED’s new “CRT-laden” social studies standards.
Ibram X. Kendi is a well-known and controversial exponent of CRT. The other book is a history of Native Americans with a nod to the title of Howard Zinn’s “People’s History of the United States,” a radically-negative/leftist take on much of American history. Are these books worth reading? Perhaps. But, our biggest problem with New Mexico’s new CRT-laden social studies standards is not that they teach about America’s warts (slavery/race relations and destruction of Native Americans), but that they emphasize those to the exclusion of other history.
The new standards (and these books) ONLY focus on these things to the exclusion of numerous, more positive aspects of American history of which there are many. May we recommend Larry Schweikart’s “A Patriot’s History of the United States.”
Ibram X. Kendi is the anti-Martin Luther King.
Dr. Kendi, no thank you on everything you stand for.
I am an APS History teacher. I welcome the voices to be added to other resources provided to teachers. Our job is to present the facts of history the best we can. None of us is objective. In fact, the study of history requires selectivity. CRT is made to be a boogey-man. I know the state standards seem to have regressed, but let’s stop with the hyperbole and deal with comfortable and uncomfortable facts of history.
You are welcome to your opinion and certainly the PED has made their view clear. Obviously we disagree. I think these are one-sided presentations and even caricatures of our history. I’d have a lot less concern about what they espoused if they were balanced with some more nuanced approaches to history. Thomas Sowell’s book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” has a far more nuanced and interesting take than does Ibram X. Kendi. Unfortunately, teachers are being steeped in just one side https://www.amazon.com/Black-Rednecks-Liberals-Thomas-Sowell/dp/1594031436