On Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver continued to develop on his protection of racism in America. After ripping into TV personalities Joy Behar and Tucker Carlson over their televised misunderstandings of historical past, Oliver did a deep dive into the way in which slavery and white supremacy are taught (or, in lots of circumstances, not taught) in U.S. historical past courses. As he mentioned on the high of the phase, “George Floyd’s homicide has compelled a tough nationwide dialog about this nation’s current, which is unimaginable to do successfully with out re-examining its previous.”
Whereas he acknowledged that studying the reality about historical past includes folks reckoning with the atrocities dedicated by their ancestors, Oliver additionally made word of some fairly startling info: There aren’t any nationwide requirements for what matters are lined in historical past courses, and the curriculum tends to fully range by state. (Seven states, he identified, merely do not point out slavery of their state requirements, and solely two point out white supremacy.) Oliver additionally introduced up how the truth that the overwhelming majority of faculty lecturers within the U.S. are white performs a big half within the “incomplete” and “dangerous” historical past educations being given to children. “Many [teachers] might have grown up studying the identical skewed model of historical past that they’re now passing on,” Oliver mentioned.
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The host went on to take a look at three obvious faults within the educating of American historical past, the primary being the refusal to completely acknowledge white supremacy. The second, in line with Oliver, is the way in which progress in America is commonly framed as “as if it was always and inevitably upward,” which is a part of the explanation many individuals consider racism now not exists. The third is many white People’ lack of ability to attach the dots from the previous to the current and acknowledge how white supremacy has “tailored” to trendy occasions.
After discussing the way in which Martin Luther King Jr. is commonly cited as proof that America has grow to be totally equal, Oliver mentioned, “Whereas I do know it is easy to distort King’s full legacy right down to that one hovering speech, level to the forged of This Is Us, and say, ‘See? We did it, everybody! All the pieces is mounted now,’ the reality is that the civil rights motion was longer, messier, and extra radical, and crucially, was thwarted in a lot of its goals, than any of us had been taught in class.”
Oliver concluded the phase by stressing the significance of adjusting the way in which college students find out about racism early on. As Oliver put it, “Ignoring the historical past you do not like is not a victimless act.”
Final Week Tonight airs Sundays at 11/10c on HBO.
Final Week Tonight with John Oliver