Historical events are often ‘uncomfortable’

For the life of me, I cannot understand the efforts of certain Florida legislators to erase parts of American history so as not to make anyone “uncomfortable.” When I taught fifth grade, I used historical fiction to allow my students a taste of the emotions of the people at a given time, whether that was the horror of the Holocaust in Europe or the cruelty toward indigenous or enslaved people or the pre-civil rights plight of Black people in our country. I am sure the strong language and violence in these stories made some students uncomfortable. I found them disturbing myself. But how does one begin to feel the outrage of injustices such as what was experienced by The Groveland Four or those involved in the Ocoee Massacre? And how can we come to understand the significance of the accomplishments and sacrifices of black heroes like Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others? If we try to sterilize history by omitting the ugly parts of American history, it seems to me we negate the accomplishments of so many American heroes.

Anne Gardepe Orlando