Students in taxpayer-funded schools in Madison, Wis. are now learning that the riots in Ferguson, Mo. are comparable to the Boston Tea Party, according to a guide that school district officials distributed to teachers, EAGnews.org reports.
The guide is designed to advise teachers concerning how to talk to students about Ferguson. One lesson to which the guide links suggests a strong parallel between the Ferguson riots and the Boston Tea Party.
The lesson comes from a Michigan social studies teacher’s August blog post.
The Boston Tea Party was a 1773 protest against taxation without representation and a seminal event leading up to the American Revolutionary War.
In Ferguson last month, residents responded violently to a grand jury’s refusal to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old black male Michael Brown. In the hours after the grand jury decision, rioters burned police cars and looted and set numerous minority-owned businesses on fire. (RELATED: Total Police Failure Brings Absolute Mayhem To Ferguson After Grand Jury Announcement)
In August, a mini-riot broke out as a local QuikTrip was looted. Several nights of protests followed.
The teacher who compares Ferguson and the Boston Tea Party is Michael Kaechele. His blog is called Concrete Classroom.
Kaechele’s blog post entitled “Ferguson vs. Boston” declares that events in Ferguson have brought “to the surface (again) the institutional racism that has always been in our country.”
“I think white privilege causes some to look at Ferguson as an excuse for criminal activity rather than a political protest,” the white social studies teacher adds.
Kaechele then presents two side-by-side images and suggests that teachers ask several questions about the images.
The image on the left is a young black man stealing several bottles of wine in the midst of the QuikTrip looting. He is wearing his pants nowhere near his waist. He is not wearing a shirt.
The image on the right is a standard portrayal of the Boston Tea Party.
“What are the issues that each side is upset about?” he suggests asking. “Why did the people in Boston dress up as Native Americans?” Also: “What stereotypes do people have about the way the man on the left is dressed?” and “Why is the image on the right called a ‘party’?”
The social studies teacher’s attempt at a coup-de-grâce, final question is: “The event on the right has been mythologized and treated as action by heroes. Do you think the event on the left will be?”
Kaechele received his own education at Grand Valley State University, according to his LinkedIn page.
The larger Madison teacher’s guide calls the Ferguson riots “a teachable moment for our students,” EAGnews notes.
School officials in Madison make a number of other interesting choices for Ferguson-related materials. The entire teacher’s guide and an associated document can be found here and here.
This instance is not the first time that social studies in America’s public schools have attempted to hijack the Boston Tea Party for modern political ends. A few years ago, and as late as 2012, teachers across Texas were using a lesson plan paid for and blessed by state education officials that depicted the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism. (RELATED: Texas Schools Teach Boston Tea Party As Act Of Terrorism)
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