The Truth About History

Deb Lilly’s letter (EW 3/3) about teaching real history hit a chord with me. About 10 years ago I was part of a program to teach organizations in recognizing and correcting racial bias in their institutions. I was in such a program with the leadership of Lane Community College

At the end of the eight-week program, the president of LCC asked us what she could do to eliminate racial bias at LCC. I suggested that they move the Ethnic Studies department into the history and sociology departments.

The LCC president immediately said she couldn’t do that. She said that the head of the history department thinks he is already teaching history properly.

If that is how white liberals feel, no wonder most white folks don’t want to know the truth about our history. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t want to know the truth about why the problem exists. 

Charles Dalton

Eugene