Monday, February 26, 2024

Teaching True History

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY


Teaching True History

 

In Carolina the Underground Railroad

Was a smuggling operation

In Florida slavery was job training

In Alabama the Civil War was fought

Over economic differences

In Mississippi (goddamn) Strange Fruit

Were Kiwis and Kumquats

In Tennessee the Trail has no Tears

In Oklahoma Tulsa has no ghosts

In Texas the Rangers never killed Mexicans

In North Dakota Wounded Knee was a battle

In California we teach the truth

We didn’t always but we do now

 

If a child does not know where he came

From she will not know where to go

If a child does not know true history

He will not be prepared for the world

If a child is raised on mythology as if

It were the truth that child is condemned

To a future of disappointment

 

You cannot hide the truth forever

You can ban books but you cannot banish reading

You can bend facts but you cannot revise the truth

When you lie to your children over and

Over you guarantee disenchantment

And you will never win their trust

 

Teach your children the truth or

They will grow to resent you

And they will be right

 

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