JOHN MORRIN: American history/white– that’s American history in the United States. It’s a history for white folks. And that’s how it’s been taught since the educational system was created and the curriculum has been created.
LEAH LEMM: [NON-ENGLISH], hello. I’m Leah Lemm, citizen of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and independent producer and host of the Native Lights podcast.
STACI DROUILLARD: And I’m Staci Drouillard, Grand Portage Ojibwe descendant and WTIP producer. It Happens Here is an ongoing series that highlights the history and experiences of people of color on the North Shore. We just heard from John Morrin, a Grand Portage band member and diversity trainer for the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond.
In this episode, we take a look at who historically made decisions about the public school curriculum.
LEAH LEMM: As of May 2023, 18 states have passed laws that regulate classroom discussions about racism, sexism and systemic racism. And 44 states have introduced bills that, if passed, would make it legal to remove books, authors, literary and historical curricula that are viewed as controversial by those who create education policies. Here’s Bois Forte citizen and diversity trainer Christina Woods.
CHRISTINA WOODS: So there has been a long time practice of gatekeeping as to whose history actually gets included. And there’s a lot of power in that. That story lives in our public education system. Whose history do we tell?
It lives inside of our museums and our art institutes. Whose history are we telling? It lives inside of the laws and the policies that get made at the legislative level, at our city level. The history that we choose to tell is the history that we know. And then anything else falls away and becomes an absent narrative.
STACI DROUILLARD: The assertion that our public institutions are built on a partial telling of history is at the core of a 40-year-old academic theory called critical race theory. Efforts to tell a more inclusive history is something that John Morrin knows and understands very well.
JOHN Morrin: We’re challenging the way curriculum is taught. People of color are saying, hey, teach everybody’s history.
LEAH LEMM: Seeing history in a more inclusive way, is also something that Anton Treuer, Bemidji State University professor and author, strongly believes in.
ANTON TREUER: It’s critically important. As a matter of analogy, could you imagine going to see the shrink, and the shrink saying, don’t tell me about your mother? Don’t tell me about anything that’s ever happened to you before. You’re only going forward from here.
It probably wouldn’t be really effective. If we are to make a brighter, better future, we have to understand where we are. And to understand where we are, we have to know where we’ve been.
LEAH LEMM: In fact, the state of Minnesota recently passed legislation that is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion called the Indigenous Education for All Act. This three-year initiative provides resources for the creation of tribally-centered and urban curricular resource development and pilot programs for professional development.
STACI DROUILLARD: So if learning the complete history of a place is ultimately a good thing and worth supporting here in Minnesota, why do others see it differently? John Morrin has experienced this difference of opinion in his early work as an organizer with Cook County High School in Grand Marais and working with the state of Minnesota on developing an inclusive school curriculum.
JOHN Morrin: Native representatives have been involved in creating a social studies curriculum, in particular, getting a lot of information and a lot of facts about the people who were in this area first, which is not really being taught in most public high schools here in Minnesota.
We have Indian educational programs that I think supplement the various historical programs. Before I’d go into the school– oh, I still do. In fact, I was just over there the other day in the Indian history course that we have at Cook County now. And we’re one of the only public school districts in Minnesota that has a standalone Indian history course that kids get credit for.
That’s been ongoing for a number of years. And it’s on a state level. American Indian people put in what they want to see in the history of courses in the state educational school system now. I think we’re mentioned, like, 55 times. That’s a bigger improvement than not being mentioned at all.
We understand when you try and change that system the way it’s been operating, and you take action against that system, there’s a reaction. And so the reaction was we got a letter from 10 representatives who questioned, and there was a push back. And the question was, well, then how come we don’t talk about Norwegian or German or– wait a minute.
That is the curriculum. American history is American history/white. That’s American history in the United States. It’s a history for white folks. And that’s how it’s been taught since the educational system was created and the curriculum has been created.
LEAH LEMM: John attributes the lingering mainstream resistance to change to a lack of understanding about our cultural differences.
JOHN Morrin: American Indian people are still practicing a culture. So are African American people, Asian people, Hispanic/Latino people. They’re still living a culture that is different than what is called American culture or white culture.
And so how people are socialized and conditioned in what is called white culture, they’re socialized and conditioned to think of themselves as individuals– “e pluribus unum,” “out of many, one.” Well, that’s not just a nice phrase. But it’s to get everyone to think the same way.
And so they think as an individual– I’m sorry the Black folks are getting shot or Native people are getting shot, or now it’s Asian people are getting abused and hurt, but that doesn’t affect me– versus the culture of people of color. See, we think in a collective way. We don’t think as individuals unless we’ve been totally assimilated from our culture. And that’s possible.
But we think as a collective. So when we try to transform that system to educate all of us, not only our kids but other kids, about the American Indian people and the contributions that they played in the development of this country, you get that backlash. You get that backlash.
And that’s that white superiority thinking that, why should we change? It doesn’t make them bad people. It’s just that they don’t understand how they’ve been conditioned and socialized to think.
What I’m saying is racism just confuses all of us. It keeps us confused and so that when we’re confused and not clear about and have respect for each other’s culture and different ways of life, then we get socialized and conditioned to buy in to fall back on stereotypes and misinformation.
STACI DROUILLARD: Supporting the full history of America in our public schools and other institutions may just be one antidote to the confusion caused by racism. Here’s Professor Treuer.
ANTON TREUER: We have to learn from the mistakes of history so we don’t repeat them. If we want to reconcile, we have to tell these stories, and sometimes many times, so that we can not only get a better understanding, but get a shared understanding of what history is and what it means.
There are many reasons why understanding history and exploring it is really important. But it has the power and the potential to unite us.
STACI DROUILLARD: For WTIP, this is Staci Drouillard.
LEAH LEMM: And I’m Leah Lemm. [NON-ENGLISH] for tuning in.
STACI DROUILLARD: It Happens Here is a production of WTIP North Shore Community Radio. Support for the series comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
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CATHY WURZER: Thank you to WTIP North Shore Community Radio for sharing episodes of this award-winning podcast with us. It Happens Here is hosted by Leah Lemm and Staci Drouillard, as you heard, who also wrote and produced the show.