The Roundup Top Ten for February 3, 2023

The Police Killing of Tyre Nichols Was Heinous, but not an Aberration by Simon Balto Americans must not continue to presume that violent incidents are external to the basic role and function of policing in society.

 

Fear of a Black Studies Planet by Roderick A. Ferguson A scholar whose work was named in Florida's decision not to support the AP African American Studies course discusses a long history of conservative efforts to control textbooks and teaching and, failing that, to create politically useful hysteria about indoctrination.

 

 

We've Reached the Execution Stage of the Profession's Demise by Jacques Berlinerblau "The decisions which ravaged the future for coming generations of Ph.D.s were made not just by consultants and suits, but by those with Ph.D.s and likely a few peer-reviewed publications. This was scholar-on-scholar violence."

 

 

Tyre Nichols's Death and America's Systemic Failure by Peniel E. Joseph Nichols's killing, like other police killings, emphasizes the need for what W.E.B. DuBois called "abolition democracy," meaning the "eradication of the institutions, vestiges, and badges of racial slavery and new investments in Black citizenship and dignity." This is more than "reform."

 

 

Native Wikipedians Fight Back against Erasure of Indigenous History by Kyle Keeler While the internet is often seen as a hotbed of revisionism and "political correctness," Wikipedia editors who seek the inclusion of indigenous perspectives on American history often are stymied by resistant editors and the platform's rules, which discount the reliability of new, critical scholarship.

 

 

Florida's AP Fight Latest Battle in a Very Old Education War by Bethany Bell The state's rejection of the proposed curriculum as "indoctrination" stands on the foundation laid by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to establish the Lost Cause myth as the center of history education in the South for generations.

 

 

Regina Twala's Stolen Life Work Highlights Colonialism Inside the Historical Profession by Joel Cabrita Regina Twala performed the intellectual labor that supported another intellectual's published work on African religious practices; her obscurity was the foundation of his fame.

 

 

Beneath the Surface of Virginia's History Standards by Edward L. Ayers Virginia's Department of Education has ignored the guidance of historians and educators in revising the state's K-12 history standards. The example of how political appointees treated the role of African Americans in driving the movement for abolition is a telling example of the inadequate history they want to teach.

 

 

Why We Need Pirates by Paul Buhle, Marcus Rediker and David Lester Though vilified in popular culture, the history of piracy shows that many crews were egalitarian bands of maritime workers escaping their exploitation at the hands of merchant companies and navies. A new graphic adaptation of a recent history of piracy tells the story.

 

 

The Real Failures of January 6 by Karen J. Greenberg Despite surface similarities, the attack on Brazil's government buildings earlier this month differed from January 6, 2021 in one key respect: the transfer of presidential power had already been accomplished. The contrast is sobering—for America.

 

* This article was originally published here