Revising History

Revising History
Contributed by Heathergems 

"If we don't learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it."  But what if the lessons being taught do not reflect the whole story?  If history is only written by the victors- how do we know what is being shared is the full truth?

In some spheres of research and education- the quest for the whole picture is being pursued.  Looking at Columbus Day for example.  Less than 20 years ago the whole view of the Columbus Day landing was painted in only positive colors.  Christopher Columbus is a hero who discovers a new land, who brings Christianity to a savage world and opens up new trade.

While he may have been heralded as a hero in his homeland- the natives have a different view.  From recent studies and discoveries of contemporary excerpts- a fuller picture of the name and times is revealed. The land was not known to the European world- but was truly not newly discovered since it had inhabitants who had an established society- the Arawaks natives.  From different backgrounds and ideologies, it in turn today can be seen as a clash of cultures.  One of image of Columbus viewed as a heroic adventurer claiming the land in the name of God, King, and Country and opening up a new world, but this same name brought enslavement and genocide to a native people, ravaging an already living world.  One should not be presented as the full truth without the other.

This is just one example of revising history.  The term revisionism has different connotations.  It can be applied to those who wish to manipulate facts to fit an agenda.  Giving a "white-washed" and obscured view of the past in denying events.  Such as those who try to rewrite the Holocaust and it's atrocities.  Admittedly rewriting history has been going on since the ancient Egyptians writing over the hieroglyphics of their predecessors to accredit themselves with the deeds. The other side of the coin of revisionist history is the pursue for that entire truth.  To view the event from more than the victors lens, but the full impact of the incident seen from all sides.  

In teaching history to the next generation- the education field must embrace the full aspect of the events.   Educational curriculum should not be as biased as it has been, nor should it paint it in one shade.  Too many times, texts books try to emphasize patriotism and ethnocentrism while trying to give a veneer cover of it's own historical blemishes.  Instead there should be an honest attempt to capture the truth.  Some steps today are trying to incorporate a more intercultural  and diversity exposure to the educational field.  Studies show teachings reflecting these shortfalls have a wider impact. The views taught in school leave impressions in young minds that they then carry out into the much larger and complex world. Demonstrating how they were either educated or misinformed.

There is a short walk from ethnocentrism to prejudice and hate.  It robs these impressionable minds of the reality of diversity and the complexities of human relationships and consequences.  If the wounds of the past are never examined- there can be no healing.  By elevating one's perspective to diminish or conceal the honest truth, there is so much to lose and so little to gain.  

There is more than just the view of Columbus Day.  This happens today in other countries as it has happened in the past.  The Nazi's rewrote the education for their Hitler youth.  The cold war taught us to demonize the other side of the "iron curtain."  Myanmar is currently trying to remove ethnic minorities from recognition entirely.  An ugly trend, an erroneous doomed repetition.  Unless there are those who demand the "whole truth and nothing but the truth."

As parent's, one should examine what is being taught to our children.  Demand from the educational realm- the removal of political and ethnocentric agendas from tainting the lessons being presented.  Education should encourage questioning and exploration- not the memorization of rhetoric and hollow facts.  Critical thinking and conscientious questioning should be stimulated for when one is no longer under the supervisor of the academic realm- it is up to the individual.  One must take responsibility and ownership of the knowledge they possess or lack there of.  It is up to the individual to be either internalize the information presented as the entire truth or explore the curiosity, and delve into wholeheartedly to discover what the past is waiting to teach.  










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Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

Columbus's Genocide
http://ux.brookdalecc.edu/fac/history/Tangents/ARTICLESFORTANGENTS/Columbus%27s%20Genocide.htm

Princeton
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Historical_revisionism.html

Kings
 http://staff.kings.edu/bapavlac/methods/revision.html

Marmara University
http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal9/papers/akinoglu.pdf

Council of Europe- Human Rights educational Resources
http://www.eycb.coe.int/edupack/

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000842/084263eo.pdf

Thomas Teo -York University and Angela Febbraro- Defence R&D Canada- Toronto
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.researchgate.net/publication/225029271_Ethnocentrism_as_a_Form_of_Intuition_in_Psychology/file/9fcfd4fbbddfdaf5fa.pdf&ei=Zd_FUc2vLIWzywHu6oBQ&sa=X&oi=unauthorizedredirect&ct=targetlink&ust=1371924077729006&usg=AFQjCNFAimJYHZWVGLxpbq8aPVnOlMNbkA

Do You Talk Like A Racist?

Prejudice In Everyday Lingo

Sometimes our words get away from us in anger. Other times we are offensive without even knowing it.  Perhaps it’s ignorance, maybe one’s environment, or lack of exposure, but it paints an image of intolerance and bigotry. 

Many of such unacknowledged offensive words have been so ingrained into the everyday experience.  Words whose connotation is actually an insult or slur to a group of peoples.  It’s not always the word in and of itself that is demeaning, but the application.  Using words that would otherwise be used to describe an individual, versus allotting an individual to the description.  Example:  “He is Jewish” has a distinction from “He is a Jew.”  Application and implication of words that alone are not offensive, but in reference and intent can be damning. 

It’s not about being “PC” (politically correct).  In truth it is about being sensitive to the individual and being accountable with one’s words.  Certain terms and slang in front of someone who identifies with them (by choice or inadvertently) are simply not said.  Some words original creations have morphed and no longer have the same implications in modern slang.  Wouldn’t necessary call it an evolution, just no longer the jargon preferred or applicable in the present setting.  Though the majority may see it that way- the people/person it was once applied to may well remember and feel the wounds and scars these words inflict.  The question then arises, “why even incorporate such terms into one’s vernacular?”  If it is offensive in any circumstance- it should immediately draw one to the conclusion that such lingo should be removed entirely.

Humans are creatures of habit.  Repetition is the key to memorization and training.  Dehumanizing terms can condition the individual/community into “acceptance” and rationalizing the treatment and view of those who they believe are different.

"In dehumanizing others, we exclude them from the circle of moral obligation".  Using demeaning words is just one of the stepping stones to acts of intolerance and hate.

Credence needs to be given to the power of words.  They can instill emotions, cultivate memories, and implant perceptions.  By using racial slurs and demeaning terms, one is participating in dehumanization.  In the stages listed in genocide the importance of words acts as the fuel for the horrific result of human rights violations and death.  History has witnessed how words are manipulated and implanted in Nazi propaganda films equating Jews to rats, Rwanda radio broadcasts calling Tutsis cockroaches, and currently Rohingya being labeled kalar as reference to unclean and dark.  Words can be used to fan the flames of hate and intolerance just as they can be used to quench our need for love and hope. 

So think about how your words have the possibly to destroy or build.  Such phrases as "like a gypsy thief, Jewed them down, or that's retarded/gay" do not build a relationship and/or understanding.   They destroy the right to to be seen as a person; a human with a mind, body, and soul.  We must choose our words carefully.  The potential is there in our inner dialogue which leads to outward utterances, preceding our actions, which govern our everyday interactions and has impact whether one wants to realize it or not.

"The tongue has power over life and death; those who indulge it must eat its fruit." 
Proverbs 18:21

 Resources

1. Psychology today

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/philosophy-dispatches/201112/dehumanization-genocide-and-the-psychology-indifference-0

2. About.com

http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/a/Five-Terms-You-Might-Not-Know-Are-Considered-Racist.htm

3. Beyond Intractability

http://www.beyondintractability.org/bi-essay/dehumanization

4. Genocide Watch

http://www.genocidewatch.org/aboutgenocide/8stagesofgenocide.htm

5. Peace & Collaborative development network

http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/profiles/blogs/introduction-to-the#.UbNDcOupYXw

Separate Is Never Equal

European Roma Still Face Apartheid
(Roma In Europe series)

(European Union Member States Continue To Segregate Roma Children In The Classroom)

The foundation for a better future in any society is found through education. In a world where we are rapidly being reduced to the sum of what our degrees and diplomas say we have achieved there really is no other way forward. Regardless of our own determination and personal ingenuity the world around us views us through paper work. If an portion of our society is thus kept from having access to even the most basic levels of education they are therefore kept from the vast majority of what our society has to offer.

Would we elect government officials that were kept from graduating even the most preliminary levels of education? Would we trust a doctor to treat our ailments if he/she was never able to go to medical school? Would we believe a teacher if he/she had never even been to any form of upper level education?

It is a common trend amongst unskilled labor, the backbone to our economy, that many are placed in those roles due to a lack of education. We may rather enjoy believing that everybody has access to education at any level if they simply apply themselves. This provides us an excuse to look down upon the grocery clerk while ironically they make our daily lives possible. It gives us the ability to stare down our noses while the sun beats down upon the construction workers that slow us down in our daily commutes to our so called prestigious jobs. But what if we knew the stories of these people, if we knew what obstacles they had to overcome, we might look at the systems our society flaunts in a different light.

For some of the most neglected members of our society the story that they start with almost immediately erases the opportunities we take for granted. Personal choice becomes less of a reason for their place in society as society itself begins to hijack those said choices. In the case of the Roma in Europe this hijacking can be summed up as blatant discrimination on the part of governments, local communities, and the society in which the Roma live.

Centuries of looking down upon the Roma as a permanent underclass (or outsiders) has left a systemic discriminatory perception about who the Roma people are. It has left the very name Roma, or gypsy, a sort of slur in and of itself in European society. When someone feels cheated they say they have been "gypped". When a stranger appears to be poorly dressed and unkempt they are flat out referred to as a "gypsy". And then there is the romantic prejudices of the Roma as being fortune tellers, witches, and symbols of bad luck. All of this has left a barrier that Roma people have had to climb over to reach the world that has attempted to go forward while leaving them behind.

Roma children in Europe are the first to notice this when it comes to the hallmarks of childhood. Instead of being allowed into the same school systems that other European children get to go to many Roma children are forced to either attend schools designed solely for Roma or take classes designed for the mentally handicapped. In Greece this has been more evident than in other European states. When schools were built in Sofades (a town comprised of roughly half Roma citizens) the Roma who were closer to schools catering to "Greek" children were told they had to go to schools farther away. The reason: these children were Roma, and Roma children are not allowed to attend school with other children in Greece. Plain and simple discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.

“It’s shameful that, despite three separate European Court rulings now, Greece has failed to change its ongoing discrimination against Romani schoolchildren and the flagrant violation of their right to education,” said Jezerca Tigani, Deputy Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International. 

Last year countless European courts took up the issue of Roma children's rights to an equal education in European schools. These court decisions were considered historic since they for the first time addressed the long upheld discrimination by European society against the Romani people. In many ways these courts took upon the same fight that American schools had been forced to do when they desegregated schools and allowed black and white children to be educated side-by-side. Yet that is a point that European nations tend to avoid since they were supposed to be the leaders in ending slavery, segregation, and all that "old world" bigotry.

Some might ask why we should talk about segregation while Romani families face violent attacks by racists (both in politics and in racist extremist groups) in the Czech Republic and Hungary. Some might ask why we should worry about school while Roma are still facing deportations from France, Germany, Italy, and other "developed" European countries in the West. And while these concerns are very pressing indeed, the open hostility in society at large is the basis for why these conditions exist in the first place. If we are to accept that children can be introduced to the idea that they are less than human from the start of their "education" then we accept that other children can be taught that the prior are the "them" in an "us vs them" scenario. It allows for the effects of discrimination to be imprinted upon the next generation while the one in control allows the cycle to persist.

"What startled me most of all was the unbelievable aggression, the hateful speeches, and the openly racist positions occupied at certain points by the loudest participants, male and female, from the special schools. These are the same people who meet disadvantaged Romani children and their parents every day. They are the very people who educate those children, " said Michaela Marksová-Tominová, Czech Shadow Minister for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities.

When hate is allowed to be the first taste of what a society has to offer for a child it becomes a lens through which that child will view the world in which he/she lives. While many can overcome this discrimination through hard work on their own part, many others cannot. It is an obstacle that chips away at what our society can be and will become. It destroys the foundation of a society for generation to come. Thus permitting the instability we have lived with thus far to persist into the world we leave behind for our children and grandchildren.

When we deny education to a child we aren't telling that child he/she can be anything that they can dream of. We tell that child that they aren't valuable in our society. We tell them that for as long as they are alive they will always be outsiders in our community. The denial of education (full, equal, and integrated)  is a method of oppression and rejection. It forces upon the next generation the prejudices of the previous generation. And for this reason it denies society at large the hope for a better future.

If Europe is to continue forward in its progressive views on what it means to be European they will have to come to terms with their past. Either they fully integrate the Romani people into European (accepting the differences and not forcing assimilation) or Europe admits that they are a society that accepts apartheid. For in a world where we claim that "all men are created equal" we can never expect that being kept separate be viewed as equality.


























Source Documents
(Note: not all sources listed)

Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/european-court-again-chides-greece-over-discrimination-against-roma-schoolchildren-2013-05-30

Open Society Foundation
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/roma-education-2013-time-europe-remedy-its-democratic-deficit

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/artur-conka/roma-families-in-europe_b_3253404.html

Prague Daily Monitor
http://praguemonitor.com/2013/05/24/%C4%8Dr-fails-deal-segregation-romani-students-ai-report-says

Segregated From Birth

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From Health Care to Education
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In most of Europe it is unacceptable for children to be kept segregated simply because they are black or white. It is however the standard in European schools to keep Roma children segregated from their peers. And as to be expected, these segregated class rooms are separate and Not equal.
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And even when Roma children are allowed to enter into "normal" schools they often receive the same discrimination as before. Roma children in the Czech Republic that are granted access to the standard education are stunted due to Czech policies. In most of the Czech Republic these Romani children are placed in classes with "slightly to fully mentally retarded". The reason, Czech citizens view Roma as "socially stunted".
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Perhaps the Roma would not be "socially stunted" if in the rest of Czech society they were accepted and allowed to stay in their homes un-harassed. But that is for another post...
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When the European Union gave the Czech government the opportunities to draw upon 4.5 billion euros, the Czech schools asked for computers and school books. These accommodations were being given to the Czech school systems because they had "integrated" Roma into their "standard" schools (into mentally handicapped classrooms). This money was being given to the Czechs so as to help with the integration of Roma children and yet the computers and books were going to all the other classrooms Roma children are not allowed into.
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Klara Laurencikova, who pushed for Roma integration and succeeded this last March in getting legislation passed, recently left her post at the Education Ministry due to her country's failures. Despite laws and mandates the Czech people still sway toward open prejudice against Romani peoples... even Rom children.
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The Czech Republic however is not alone in its methods of dodging "integration". In 2009 Slovakia was shown to have forced Roma children (those eligible for the "standard" schools) into special schools for the mentally ill and handicapped. Three out of four children in Slovakia's schools for the mentally handicapped were Romani children. This is despite the fact that Roma make up less than 10 percent of Slovakia's total population. The number of Roma being placed in handicapped schools continues to rise in Slovakia.
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In Bulgaria the Roma children are actually used as weapons against their parents when it comes to school. Despite laws in the country that make it difficult for Roma parents to stay in one place for any given length of time, Roma parents are now expected to keep their children in the same school all year long. Any truancy would therefore result in the child's expulsion from school and the parents' loss of any governmental aid... i.e. welfare or Bulgaria's food aid programs for the poor.
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Yet in most places across Europe the simple fact is that Roma children are simply kept out of schools or forced into segregated schools or classrooms. If even offered access to any form of education at all, Roma schools are severely disadvantaged. The level of education is so far below the "public school system's standards" that many Roma children are still considered illiterate by national standards despite their "education".
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For those kept out of school in countries like Slovakia face constant attacks from not only local citizens but even the Police. This month alone six Roma children in Slovakia were arrested without any given cause then taken back to police headquarters in Kosice, Slovakia and tormented by 9 policemen and one police women. Throughout their ordeal the police forced the boys to attack one another, lick the police officers' boots, strip naked for lengthy periods of time, and even have police rifles put to their heads and the triggers pulled only to hear the hammer click.
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If convicted in Slovakia's courts the police officers will most likely be given 10 years for public display of disapproval (disapproval only being that the officers got caught) and yet serve less time than Lindsay Lohan.
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Here in the United States we are constantly reminded of the reasons a quality education is important. We know that the fundamental elements of our future rest upon the basis of our education. Ask any of your parents just why they forced you to go to school even when you wanted nothing more than to quite... they will tell you they did it so that you could succeed in life. Roma children across Europe are not getting that opportunity. They are being stunted from birth by racist laws and public condemnation. And once of age to go to school, Romani children are lucky if they even get into a class for the mentally handicapped.
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