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OPINION: Take theGrio’s short quiz and find out if your historical knowledge is infected with Caucasity.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Are you dumb?
Being dumb has nothing to do with a lack of intelligence. A mathematical genius can easily fail a seventh-grade math test if they were taught that 1+1=11. When it comes to the past, absorbing and accurately regurgitating the stories, dates and events does not necessarily mean that you know history. Even if you fulfilled your school’s history requirements by learning facts curated by the finest white scholars available, you might still be wrong.
History is subjective. When curriculums are formulated, approved and taught by white teachers who were educated in white schools by white educators, there is a chance that they are perpetuating a whitewashed version of history. And, unlike math, science and language arts, the information they choose to minimize, erase and fabricate is as important as the lessons they teach. While people might eventually correct their own grammatical mistakes, mathematical errors or scientific inaccuracies, many people stubbornly refuse to accept that they were taught to regurgitate lies, misinformation and cultural bias. When someone like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — the Temu version of Donald Trump — certifies miseducation as the official state policy, the problem snowballs.
Thankfully, we’re here to help.
To help examine your historical knowledge, theGrio has created a short quiz based on the researchers at the Black Lived American Council of Knowledge (BLACK), in conjunction with the People Eliminating Overtly Preposterous Lies in Education (PEOPLE).
Good luck.
15. How many times was America “invaded”?
16. Which one of these is an example of systemic racism?
17. Most white Americans did not support:
18. America isn’t a racist country because:
19. Which one of these is historically accurate?
20. What is history?
Answer key:
Yes.
Michael Harriot is a writer, cultural critic and championship-level Spades player. His book, Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America, will be released in September.
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