- A history of America that
ignores white supremacy
is a white supremacist history of America,
- [Reporter] John Oliver is
arguing that U.S. schools
need to do a better job of
teaching the nation's history.
On Sunday's "Last Week Tonight,"
Oliver showed clips from "The View,"
where joy Bihar incorrectly
spoke about George Washington
freeing his slaves during his lifetime,
which actually wasn't
done until much later,
and Fox News's Tucker Carlson
admonishing former president Barack Obama
for speaking about abolishing
the filibuster if necessary
to expand voting rights.
- What kind of person would do that?
- Wait, what kind of person
would honor a friend's legacy
by continuing to advocate
the voting rights?
You know what? I can think of one.
John (bleep) Lewis would do that!
- [Reporter] Oliver says that,
with so many people
misunderstanding history,
it's time to talk about how
the history of race in America
is currently taught in schools.
First, he cited a CBS report
showing that there are
no national standards
when it comes to teaching history
and that state standards all vary.
He also argued that, for those who think
rewriting textbooks
would get too political,
the teaching of history has,
in fact, always been political,
pointing out that, after the Civil War,
one group, dubbed the United
Daughters of the Confederacy,
wanted librarians to label the books
as being, quote, unjust to the South.
- It'd be like a librarian
writing "unjust to Voldemort"
on Harry Potters one through seven.
- [Reporter] Oliver then
showed a CBS News report
citing a current Texas
history book that reads,
"Some U.S. settlers
brought slaves to Texas
to help work the fields and do chores."
- Calling slave labor chores
is a euphemism on par with calling Hitler
a bestselling author with a side hustle
or JFK's assassination a bad hair day.
- [Reporter] Oliver also showed a report
on how the teaching of
slavery in one school
was being done via Monopoly-style,
where the students had to escape slavery
by using a, quote, Freedom Punch Card,
or they were asked to imagine
that they were slave owners
and set prices for their slaves.
- Just imagine what it would feel like
to be a black kid in that classroom,
or, if you don't have
to imagine, remember.
- [Reporter] Oliver
said part of the problem
may be that, according to a survey,
79% of teachers in public schools
were white in 2017 to 2018
and maybe passing on, quote,
the same skewed version of
history they grew up learning.
Oliver then outlined what he said
are three big mistakes
that historians have argued
need to be corrected
in schools and beyond.
First ...
- That we don't fully
acknowledge the history
of white supremacy in America,
from its founding to the present day.
- [Reporter] The second point being ...
- Viewing American history's progress
as if it was constantly
and inevitably upward.
- [Reporter] And the third ...
- We don't connect the
dots to the present.
And those dots are very much there.
- [Reporter] To see the full
segment on "Last Week Tonight,"
head to THR.com.
For The Hollywood Reporter
News, I'm Emma Joy.
