This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

What Comes Next?

Your readers may not be aware that their taxpayer dollars were used to purchase and distribute copies of Ibram X. Kendi’s highly controversial book “How to be an Antiracist” to all teachers in our Guilford school district. The book has been lauded and equally criticized for its ideas on racism and how to combat it. Now that Kendi’s book has been distributed to our teachers, what comes next?

Despite apparently seeming to be a suitable book to purchase for Guilford educators, Kendi’s anti-racist ideology has been widely criticized as racist itself in that it looks at all of society strictly through the lens of race. I believe it even dismisses Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a color-blind society as racist. Kendi also proclaims that “The only remedy for past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy for present discrimination is future discrimination.” Additionally, he rejects capitalism by asserting that “Capitalism is essentially racist; racism is essentially capitalist…they shall one day die together from unnatural causes.” What impression would these words leave in the minds of Guilford students learning about how our American economy works in social studies class?

Will these destructive concepts find their way into the curriculum of our Guilford Public Schools? Are these the philosophies and ideologies we want we want our students learning and being promoted as part of a high-quality education in the town of Guilford? This is why your readers’ votes for Row B on Nov. 2 is so important.

Drew Bowman

Guilford