Jesse Hagopian on the “New McCarthyism”: As More Educators Self-Censor, Others Vow to Teach the Truth

As Black History Month begins, longtime educator Jesse Hagopian joins us for Part Two of an interview about the Trump administration and right-wing attacks on education, and his new book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education. He lays out how “truth crime laws” that criminalize honest education have prompted two out of three teachers to self-censor discussions of race, gender and sexuality. “This is the new McCarthyism,” says Hagopian. “Teachers are scared to teach the truth.” He also describes a “great rebellion” of educators, parents and students who are practicing “fugitive pedagogy” in defiance of “outrageous laws trying to ban the truth.” Hagopian is a longtime educator and high school teacher in Seattle who is on the leadership team of the Zinn Education Project, which draws on historian Howard Zinn’s influential book, A People’s History of the United States. He also serves on the national steering committee of Black Lives Matter at School. His recent article for The Nation is headlined “The Far Right’s Plan to Force Teachers to Lie About Race.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.