Teachable Moments 

A note from Kass Minor.

The following text illuminates recent events that have harmed members of our educational community who relentlessly work in the pursuit of justice. This story has been told numerous times. I write the following to underscore the problematic nature of this experience, especially for BIPOC women at the helm. I also want to note: while it may feel comforting to localize this injustice within one corporation, or small group of people, events like these happen every single day behind closed doors, out in the public, in the everyday moments of the classroom and conference halls. It is imperative that more people are equipped with necessary tools for recognizing white supremacy, calling it out, and strategically creating ways to enact justice, especially when children are at the center, as they should always be in conversations regarding curriculum. 

What is Gaslighting?

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser attempts to confuse a victim’s reality. Typically, gaslighters are seeking to gain power and control over the other person, by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition (Newport Institute).

For example: Christine Blasey Ford was gaslit before, during, and after her testimony when Brett Kavanaugh was on trial. (Brett Kavanaugh is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court). 

For example: Anita Hill was gaslit before, during, and after her testimony when Clarence Thomas was on trial. (Clarence Thomas is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court). 

Think about whose reality is being distorted and why. 

When individuals and groups raised red flags after finding out identity affirming language and gender-affirming teaching were being omitted and/or erased from a globally distributed K-2 curriculum, they were gaslit. The people who raised red flags were predominantly BIPOC women. A few of them were also Queer women, non-binary people, and a sprinkling of white women. Some of those white women have put down their flag. Few men were involved, and it took longer for men to raise red flags. Of the men who were involved, ONE man carries dominant culture attributes. (Previous versions of this curriculum have made millions of dollars in profits. Which version do you think is more profitable?). 

Curriculum that omits the identities of people, situates itself in an ahistoric landscape, and promotes the legacy of dominant culture is referred to as curricular violence. Clint Smith Hill writes about this extensively. Note it here.

“But what about the law!?”

State laws were noted as a primary determinant in the omission of identity affirming language and teaching experiences for young children by the major publishing company. They have since said they made regrettable decisions. They have since not apologized. 

State laws impacting literacy learning for children are increasingly informed by conservative, right-wing politicians and groups with large evangelical bases. State laws have been historically informed by a Christian base. 

Examples of State Laws. Think: What’s their legacy? In democratic spaces, what’s the role of the child? The role of the adult?

The following are former United States Laws, “democratically created,” Government-sanctioned, and community-supported. 

Anti-Black State literacy laws:

  • 1829, Georgia: Prohibited teaching Black people to read, punished by fine and imprisonment
  • 1830, Louisiana, North Carolina: passes law punishing anyone teaching Black people to read with fines, imprisonment or floggings 
  • 1832, Alabama and Virginia: Prohibited whites from teaching Blacks to read or write, punished by fines and floggings
  • 1833, Georgia: Prohibited Black people  from working in reading or writing jobs (via an employment law), and prohibited teaching Black people, punished by fines and whippings (via an anti-literacy law)
  • 1847, Missouri: Prohibited assembling or teaching enslaved Black people to read or write
  • Mississippi state law required a white person to serve up to a year in prison as penalty for teaching an enslaved Black person to read. (Slave Codes 20 November 2016)

Note: The Christian Bible was used to reinforce this legislation and gain support from politicians’ constituents. 

In 1887, The Dawes Act passed under Grover Cleveland’s presidency, amplifying the deterioration of Indigenous culture within the United States, actively pursuing Indigenous epistemicide by creating Native American Boarding Schools. The schools were widely promoted with the slogan: “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” They began this work with children.  

Until the early 1970’s, it was perfectly legal to disinvite, not-admit, and exclude children with special needs and other learning differences all together from public schools. Watch Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace (1972) and see how well that turned out for children. 

Until 1968 when the Bilingual Education Act passed, it was typical for students speaking first languages other than English to receive few or zero language supports in public schools. Teddy Roosevelt feared multilingualism, saying it wasn’t Patriotic. Soldiers enlisting to fight in WWI and II would take the Army Beta Test, in English. If they didn’t learn to speak or read English well as a child, it was likely they would do poorly on the test. Low test scores in the Army Beta Test placed low value on your life, and the probability that you got sent to the trenches was high. Ronald Reagan would later say bilingual education wasn’t working. 

In the 2000’s members of the Queer community were still fighting to legally be married. Children with gay parents would struggle to find their family represented in any way, shape, or form in schools across the country. Even schools in more liberal places like New York City and L.A. 

In 2020, George Floyd was murdered and a bunch of people protested in the streets. A lot of people said a bunch of stuff on Social Media. The mention of “Black Lives Matters” in schools was met with contention. All over. Not just in Texas or Mississippi. Also in NY. Also in CA. Also in Seattle. Especially in Seattle. Black children everywhere witnessed grown-ups utter the words “I’m not sure if we can say “Black lives matter” in schools. 

Below are current U.S. laws: 

In 2021 and 2022, states like Florida and Texas passed laws like “Don’t say Gay” and warrant protecting trans children and other Queer children as “child abuse.” Sit with that. Protecting children, by law, is considered child abuse. 

In 2021 and 2022, books with people representative of the human demographic are banned left and right. Alt-right groups like the Prxud Bxys and Mxms for Lxberty activate racist, homophobic, and misogynistic propaganda regularly at school boards. They work to sue and troll librarians, teachers, and book sellers for providing identity-affirming texts to young people. Many people carry on in schools, and just use the texts provided. Children suffer. Especially those outside of dominant culture.

What’s happening now…

So, in 2022, when a global curriculum is met with concern regarding whether or not it is appropriate for some states …working to ACCOMMODATE legislation based on homophobic and racist ideologies..even when CHILDREN would be at the forefront of receiving said curriculum…

A group of people, predominantly BIPOC women, said absolutely not. Even so, debates about identity affirming teaching carried on for weeks, increasing the amount of emotional and intellectual labor required of the people who spoke out, especially BIPOC women. Truth Tellers have been called otherwise. Harm has occurred.

Most corporations and other actors within the Educational Realm operate through  mission statements. When DNI work became profitable in the early to mid 2010’s, mission statements revised values to reflect diversity, equity and inclusivity with more specificity. 

However, these days, I am less concerned about mission statements and more interested in bottom lines. What happens when the foot of white supremacy is on your chest? Where are you willing to go? What are you willing to do, or lose? Not do?  Do you wait for people to tell you how to move, what to think? 

Or…are you actively working on cultivating a deeper sense of purpose in your work?  Do you move through your own convictions, immersed in justice, based on your own teaching stance? 

The Minor Collective Stance 

When I say I am radically pro-kid, a phrase that has driven my work as an educator since I began teaching in 2005, that has driven my partner, my husband’s work globally, as well as in ALL 50 STATES, I mean it. When I say people before policy, every time, I mean it. When I say, Justice Matters, I’m serious. These are bottom lines for The Minor Collective. Follow us into any classroom, any school, and you will see this bottom line present in every move we make.  This is not a consumerist strategy.

To that end, The Minor Collective began divesting from our relationship with Heinemann Publishing on July 15, 2022. Cornelius Minor will not publish any more media or books with them. I will not facilitate any more PD for them, or pursue any book contracts with them. We firmly support and will continue to promote Cornelius’ book, “We Got This.” We will support the work of many HM authors who have also divested, and even some who have not, because authors are not their publishers. 

Both Cornelius and Kass will fulfill school partnership contracts that are already in place through HM, but will actively work to contract directly through The Minor Collective for future contracts (email info@kassandcorn.com). 

In Solidarity,

Kass Minor, on behalf of The Minor Collective