Letter to the Editor: Integrating African American history into schools

This letter is written by a Burbank resident and addressed to the Burbank Board of Education.

To Whom it May concern;

My name is Africa Turner, and I am a parent to a fifth grader at [Robert Louis] Stevenson Elementary. In light of what is happening currently in this country around racism, I feel very compelled to write in to you.

Since my daughter has been in this district, she has barely learned anything about African American history, and that is not productive for a well-balanced education. As we all know, education is one of the most important areas of a society. It is clearly very important at this time for the children currently growing up, as well as future generations, to know about the history of this country and how that affects things in the present day. It is pertinent that this is changed moving forward, because African American history is just as important as any other part of history for this country. 

African American history is more than Black history month, or a few civil rights leaders, and it needs to be included and incorporated into the overall year-round curriculum, regardless of the percentage of people of color in this district. 

I would like to open up this discussion with you to hopefully collaborate on this, as this is something that is very badly needed moving forward, in order to promote racial sensitivity in this country for future generations.

Thank you for reading my thoughts, and I look forward to receiving your response. 

Sincerely,

Africa Turner