We should teach critical race theory. That includes Miami’s history of lynchings | Opinion
Three known African Americans were lynched in southern Miami-Dade County in the 1920s, their names all but forgotten in the dust bin of history — until now.
The victims were Willie “Grey Eye” Simmons, J.B. Harris and Mary Cuzzins. Historian Gene Tinnie and I will tell their stories on Saturday at Sweet Home Baptist Church in West Perrine and will ask the community to assist in determining a location to erect a historical marker or markers recognizing the lynchings.
But why bring all this up now especially when the debate over critical race theory rages across the country? Why? Because the victims deserve at least that much respect and because the truth must be taught, whomever it makes feel uncomfortable.
The ‘era of the rope’
During the era of the rope in this country, a Black person living in Florida had a greater chance of being lynched than a Black person in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia or any other southern state. Should Florida high school students know this history or are they to be shielded from any history that leaves whites looking bad? Are we to deny the existence of white privilege because it may cause white students to feel guilty for things whites did centuries ago? Critical race theory is a political wedge invented for political purposes.
If the true history of racial violence were to be taught, the record will show that almost always there were some whites who defended and gave safety to Blacks as mobs roamed the countryside searching for victims. It would reveal that most southern whites eschewed the Ku Klux Klan, although they remained silent as black bodies swung from ropes. It would make known that whites, including white women, organized to fight lynching, introducing anti-lynching bills in Congress for decades — none of which passed up to this day.
No one race can lay claim to innocence in the commission of crimes against members of other races, including Blacks. Are we not to tell students about the African kings and chiefs who captured members of other tribes and sold them to slave traders making it unnecessary for whites to enter the interior of the continent to capture people — because telling that story might make African American students feel bad?
During the Miami riot of 1980, I personally witnessed a group of young Black men killing one of the white victims using a Miami Herald newspaper street dispenser to repeatedly bash his head as the young man lay helpless on the ground. Should that not be taught because it might make some Black students feel embarrassed or guilty? When we remove the uncomfortable parts of history, whether is is white history or Black history, the result is a whitewash. Our students deserve better. And they can handle it.
History can be uncomfortable
Critical race theory should be taught in our schools, but it should include fact-based criticism of all races, not only whites. The reason for teaching such history is not to attack whites or to play the blame game. Rather, it is to preserve the truth and to avoid making the same mistakes. I set up a website (dunnhistory.com) to preserve some of Florida’s most uncomfortable stories. I did it for teachers and students so that they would have direct access to those uncomfortable stories, unfiltered by the politics of the moment.
America is a work in progress. We are not yet so perfect as to be able to ignore the painful lessons of our past. On the contrary, we become a better, stronger and more loving nation when we recognize and reconcile our racial and ethnic differences. This was the reason I helped to establish the Miami Center for Racial Justice.
Teaching painful racial history is not about guilt. It is about growth. As for “white privilege”? Perhaps it doesn’t exist, but I sure wish I had some.
Marvin Dunn is a historian and president of the Miami Center for Racial Justice.
“Tales of the Rope: Lynchings in Miami-Dade County: Discussions Toward Making Amends” will be held at Sweet Home Misssionary Baptist Church, 10701 SW 184 St. in West Perrine on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 10 a.m. Admission to the event is free and open to the public. For further information please visit www.mdtear.com.
