I would like to know why it is that it is okay for children to view a KKK uniform and images of lynchings?

Question

... at
the Orlando History Center but at the slightest rumour that
the private parts of a statue might be showing, people are clamouring to cover drape it? Which of
these is natural and which is unnatural?

My grandmother who is Jamaican used to say, "Some things are best left forgotten." This is my view, and a view shared by many Jamaicans regarding the horrors of slavery. While I respect and understand the African American view that 'to remember the past is to not repeat it' this is not a view that I share. So, if I were a parent, I would not want my child presented images of fear and hate from this very sad period in America's past. And while, I don't agree that bus loads of elementary school children are taken on tours to see it, this is an individual parent's decision. I do respect that the African American people want this exhibt included but do these images help children and how are they suposed to feel?

How does showing lynching and KKK uniforms to children empower them?

Don't you think that we all learn soon enough the evil that man is capable of? Why introduce these images to such young minds ? Who should discuss this sensitive subject with the children? A teacher? A parent? A volunteer docent?

I have been told by American educators that many African American children here in Florida are ashamed of Africa and ashamed of slavery. How do images of lynching and a KKK uniform help raise the self worth of these children?

Answer 1

For some people Ignorance Is Bliss. But if you stick your head in the sand someone is going to come along and bugger you sooner or later, so it's best to be aware of what's going on around you. That includes history. Those who refuse to remember the past are doomed to repeat it!

Answer 2

I'm not so sure that serpent (KKK) is quite as dead as we've come to believe. At the suggestion of a rather astute friend who's been looking at some exchanges on some various websites, I (and a few others) seem to be picking up on some "unusual" appearing nuances these past two or three years among a certain group not normally thought of as being racist. I'm afraid to elaborate because this group has a very high tech presense on the internet, but it's similar to a covert language, reminiscent of that used by the masons or certain "churches". (it's not the masons by the way) It's only a suspicion, and I could very well be wrong, but there may be something going on we don't know about. Don't ask for details, I've no intention of becoming directly involved, just passing along some interesting trivia.

Answer 3

History is history. Awareness of what the world is , is imparitive if the child is to grow to find his/her place in it. Sure parents want to show a beautiful world and should, but realistically it's not all beautiful or kind or disneyland. My folks were from the depression era and wwII, I was told that I lived in the best place in the world to live. Maybe I did , I was safe at night , but I grew up sheltered with unrealistic awareness of the world and not much interest in the world outside of my own, then came Vietnam blowing my illusion of American Government all to hell.I was impressionable but not educated.
We seemed to love war, Civil rights had to be fought for amoungst our own. here in the land of the free?There is more hate here then one would imagine.How did I fit in? I didn't I was sheltered and now that I realized it was all a lie I had no respect for my government or authority, I rebelled with out a solution , I had skipped school so didnt learn how the system was designed to work or not. I ended up an oblivious American who has never regained respect for authority,trying to fit in to my own world where I don't feel I belong and able to do nothing for those who are victims of horrific events , all I can do is welcome those from other lands who come here looking for a chance to make a decent living in peace.I think the more a child knows growing up the better he'll be about making his way in the world where it counts .

Answer 4

It's easier to drape a statue then to put a drape over history. I learned about the Holocaust very young because my Grandmother survived it, and she thought it was important to teach us what silence and looking the other way when we see evil can lead to. This is a lesson that has stuck with me all my life and gave me the courage to stand up for what I think is right, even when it meant going against the majority and standing alone. There is a time and a place for children to learn about Mankind's capacity for evil, if for no other reason so that when they see it they are not stunned and silent.

Answer 5

Good question. I'm split. One side of me says that slavery/lynchings were real history, they actually happened. We shoudl learn and remember our past. Whereas, let's say, sculptures are just one man's vision of something, even if a sculpture is based on a real model and the likeness is almost lifelike .... it is still a fiction.

The other side of me agrees with you and says slavery ended 140 years ago (in my country). No one alive today for the past 3-4 generations has experienced slavery, nor has anyone owned slaves. To force the images of our past onto the conscience of today's people (as if we are to blame for what happened back then), only serves to continue to divide our country and keep black Americans in a state of perpetual "victim-hood".

Answer 6

there's a time and a place for each little thing. How previous are those "effortless college infants" - 5 years previous or 11 years previous? there's a large array of age in effortless...and that i will comprehend the greater youthful infants no longer expertise, however the older infants could study. And in case you do no longer agree any effortless elderly toddler, what age could this training initiate? So, why do human beings could study approximately those products? You suggested it on your actual question: so as that all of us be responsive to the way terrible that's and could no longer do it returned. this is why maximum history training contain (image) pictures of the horrors devoted in conflict and on the civilian inhabitants in the process the various conflicts world huge - like WWI and WWII. in basic terms because of the fact the previous contains issues which we are no longer happy with does no longer mean we could continually stick our heads in the sand. by making use of no longer coaching our infants and not remembering those activities - in all their gruesome element - we don't do the sufferers justice. Je me souviens, RXZ

Answer 7

No matter how bad history is...that is what it is history. We should never try to sugar coat things, because eventually the kids will be exposed to it. It will be a much greater shock to them that these things exist, if they do not experience them until say in college, where things are never sugar coated. If we hide things...this is called censorship. You should try to explain that things have happened and will continue to happen that are bad...and that they need to continue to be reinforced this throughout there childhood. As to what age you decide to do this is up to you the parent/grandparent etc. All children mature at a different pace.

Answer 8

well they are both natural.(the men in the hooded coats and the statue.) i don't know how pictures of objects from back than would help young African Americans children to see how things use to be, it brings a lot of anger and distrust to white Americans though. and to white Americans it must bring some kind of shame knowing there where (and still are) some people that wouldn't of hesitated to do such heinous acts. in my opinion it should be allowed to be viewed but why people wouldnt want to see a naked statue is beyond me!!

Answer 9

People can tolerate images of hate better than images of genitalia. Sex and things sexual make some folks really queasy

Answer 10

I don't think it is right. I agree with your grandmother, "Some thing are best left in the past" you should always look forward..