Yo, Miss! (No. 26)
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World?
I started writing about the latest Trump indictment from my perspective as a U.S. History teacher on Threads and on Twitter (X lol). However, I quickly I had more to say. So, hello Substack readers.
We are now officially in the dog days of summer and as a teacher I am in denial that we are about to start another school year. It will be my 22nd year of teaching!
I spent most of the summer so far attending conferences: the AFT Teach Conference and the Voters of Tomorrow Leaders of Tomorrow Summit. I will write more about that part of the summer in my next post.
Tonight I want to reflect on the 4th Trump Indictment. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it. You can read it here.
The day Trump came down that escalator to Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” was the beginning of one of the darkest chapters in American history. Those of us who had been fighting to get closer to becoming a multiracial democracy with liberty and justice for ALL knew it right away.
Yes, our country has been flawed since its inception. White supremacy has unfortunately been the backbone of the United States of America from the start with settler colonialism and the genocide of the indigenous people. Then our entire economy was based on race based chattel slavery.
So, yes, the story of our nation, like any nation, is not perfect (even though Republicans are trying to brainwash kids by banning the teaching of this complex history now. Have you seen the Prager U videos that Florida has approved for use in its public schools?)
I get lots of comments from MAGA trolls that I’m “obsessed with Trump,” but they don’t get it.
I am not obsessed with Trump. As an American and a U.S. History teacher for nearly 22 years, I AM obsessed with keeping our democracy intact. I think about how I am going to teach this recent history to my students. Despite the criticisms that teachers have a left-wing agenda to indoctrinate young minds, most educators I meet share a different common goal. We are committed to providing students with the critical thinking skills and historical context to understand current day. However, thanks to the Trump/MAGA movement, it has become increasingly difficult to contextualize this era for students. We are always living through history, but right now it feels like we are waiting on the precipice: Will Trump and his accomplices pay the price for their many crimes against the American people? Will Trump continue to be the Republican presidential frontrunner, even from prison? Will Trump be bopping from trials to the campaign trail in 2024?
None of us can predict what will happen. I always remind students that history is not divided into neat chapters as it is occurring. For example, people living during what we now call the “Progressive Era” were not saying, “Hey! We are living during the Progressive Era so let’s do progressive stuff!” The outcome of the Civil War with a Union victory was not inevitable. It is only in retrospect when historians can begin to grapple with ways to characterize and organize time periods.
So, each Trump indictment is both a reminder of how much he and his followers have perverted the basic institutions of this country and also proof that our system might actually be working, albeit slowly.
But only time will tell how this will play out and then in turn how it will be taught in America’s history classrooms one day.
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Thank you so much for reading.