by Tom Shafer
January 20, 2022
Hey Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature who are pushing a bill that shields people from feeling “discomfort” while learning about racism in our nation’s past. Who felt more “discomfort”: Native Americans who were killed during the Indian Wars of the latter part of the nineteenth century or the white soldiers who killed them? Blacks who were enslaved for close to three hundred plus years or the masters who enslaved them? Japanese-Americans who were interned during WWII or our government who interned them? BTW, as a teacher, my job was to make my students experience “discomfort,” to push them beyond and past their comfort levels, all in an effort to promote growth and success. ‘Tis the nature of any education. Unless you are in namby pamby Florida.
