Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the party is always right.
Private California School scraps Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird for new anti-racism curriculum
We are just getting started
Early last June, Brentwood School posted an image of a black square on Instagram. This was eight days after George Floyd had been killed, and it was part of #BlackoutTuesday, a social media campaign against racism and inequality.
But Brentwood's black box got what's known as ratioed; it received more negative comments than likes. Many more.
"Brentwood is a toxic racist cesspool for students of color, but an ivory tower for the wealthy, white elite", read one of the scores of scathing remarks that kept popping up on Instagram throughout the day. "If you cared about racial justice, you would close your doors and redistribute your obscene wealth", read another.
In the year since Floyd's murder, the atmosphere at this bucolic, super-exclusive, $38,000- to $45,000-a-year private school has only grown more poisonous, with some Brentwood alumni of color not only hurling accusations of racism but also demanding that the school completely scrap what they see as a biased curriculum. Meanwhile, parents, teachers, and administrators spent much of last summer and fall wrestling over the value of books like To Kill a Mockingbird—a civil rights classic to some; an outdated, problematic text to others—in what's shaping up to be an epic battle over the hearts and minds of the children of America's one percent.
Early last June, Brentwood School posted an image of a black square on Instagram. This was eight days after George Floyd had been killed, and it was part of #BlackoutTuesday, a social media campaign against racism and inequality.
