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Instruction about race may be under siege across the US, but this course is empowering students at a Southern high school | CNN

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Instruction about race may be under siege across the US, but this course is empowering students at a Southern high school | CNN


Washington
CNN
 — 

Within the early 2000s, once I was a scholar at Ridge View Excessive College, in Columbia, South Carolina, I cherished to parse the legacies of sure historic figures: W.E.B. Du Bois, in AP US Historical past; Malcolm X, in AP English Language and Composition.

On the similar time, I wished extra. Too typically, Superior Placement curricula appeared to present consideration to only a handful of Black heavyweights and, consequently, neglect the numerous methods Black Individuals have formed US society. Solely hardly ever had been Black college students like me mirrored in classes. (I keep in mind studying about “A Raisin within the Solar,” Lorraine Hansberry’s jewel of a play a few Black household in south Chicago, from my mother and questioning, Why aren’t we learning this at school?)

However issues are starting to alter. Ridge View is one in all about 60 excessive faculties throughout the nation piloting AP African American Research in 2022. The interdisciplinary course would be the latest addition to the Faculty Board’s panoply of AP choices and delve into the historical past of the African continent and Black contributions to music, literature, science, politics and arithmetic, amongst different fields. Mere weeks into the pilot course, college students and college at Ridge View already see AP African American Research as one thing of a salve. The course arrives at a second when instruction about race is beneath siege: Academic gag orders abound, and “essential race concept” has change into a lightning rod for the appropriate.

Given the meager illustration I noticed as a highschool scholar, I used to be surprised – and thrilled – to study that Ridge View, which is majority Black, is piloting AP African American Research. It will’ve been so welcome, I believed, to see myself on this context, to probe questions of identification and inheritance.

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Plus, it’s no small factor to check out the course in South Carolina, which didn’t banish the Accomplice battle flag from statehouse grounds till 2015, within the heartrending aftermath of a White supremacist bloodbath.

The importance of the second isn’t misplaced on Ridge View college students.

“It actually makes me joyful to be on this class – to know that I’m part of historical past,” Nacala McDaniels, a senior, informed CNN.

In August, the Harvard College professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of many architects of the AP African American Research curriculum, confused the course’s academic worth.

“Nothing is extra dramatic than having the Faculty Board launch an AP course in a area – that signifies final acceptance and supreme educational legitimacy,” he informed Time journal. “It’s a mainstream, rigorously vetted, educational method to a vibrant area of research, one-half a century outdated within the American academy, and far older, in fact, in traditionally Black faculties and universities.”

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Like so many within the Ridge View group, McDaniels needs AP African American Research to assist not solely different Black college students however all college students change into well-versed in under-told histories and cultures and incubate significant discussions about race.

“I hope that the course shall be provided to different individuals who appear to be me and to different individuals who simply wish to find out about historical past that’s been coated up and historical past that’s been ignored,” she mentioned. “And I hope that the course makes room for extra dialog. A lot of individuals are scared to speak about race, however with extra dialog comes higher understanding.”

Excessive faculties had been hungry for an AP African American Research course for years. Nonetheless, when the Faculty Board requested universities a few decade in the past in the event that they’d give credit score for a corresponding examination, they mentioned no.

However the uprisings of 2020 triggered a long-overdue shift.

“The occasions surrounding George Floyd and the elevated consciousness and a focus paid towards problems with inequity and unfairness and brutality directed towards African Individuals triggered me to surprise, ‘Would faculties be extra receptive to an AP course on this self-discipline than they had been 10 years in the past?’” Trevor Packer, who heads the Faculty Board’s AP program, informed Time.

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Sure, was the reply.

Perhaps essentially the most thrilling factor about instructing AP African American Research is the truth that educators get to speak about folks, topics and slices of historical past college students don’t know a lot about, in keeping with Daniel Soderstrom, who leads the course at Ridge View.

“Over the previous few a long time, we, as a society, have completed a greater job of instructing Black historical past and African American Research. However I’d argue that many lecturers nonetheless fall quick,” he informed CNN. “What I imply is that our youngsters hear the identical tales yearly. And that’s to not diminish the contributions of Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr. But when these are the one folks our college students are studying about at school, they’re lacking a whole lot of what’s actually there.”

The primary a part of the course examines early African kingdoms and a few of their foundational figures, together with Queen Nzinga of Ndongo, positioned in present-day Angola.

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“She was a really sturdy girl – a heroine – and fought on the entrance strains along with her troopers,” Soderstrom mentioned of Nzinga, celebrated for pushing again in opposition to Portuguese colonization and the commerce of enslaved folks in Central Africa within the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. “However we are inclined to skip the tales of individuals from Africa.”

Thus far, the teachings look like resonating with the youngsters.

“I didn’t even know that there have been any queens in Africa in any time interval. Like, in any respect,” Ashton Walker, a junior, informed CNN. “We bought to find out about Queen Nzinga and Idia. They’re each very attention-grabbing as a result of they had been highly effective ladies leaders who did superb issues for his or her kingdoms.”

Walker, who’s White, sees AP African American Research as a way towards visibility for her Black friends, who get to be members of their historical past.

“It issues that we get to study all these items as a society. We don’t ever actually get to listen to about any of those figures or what they went via,” she mentioned. “And my (Black) classmates deserve to listen to this historical past. It’s superior that Ridge View is a majority-Black college and will get to assist create this course.”

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Her mom, Nicole Walker, who was concerned in bringing the pilot course to Ridge View and is the director of the varsity’s Students Academy Magnet for Enterprise and Legislation (she additionally was my ninth grade English instructor), echoed a few of these sentiments.

“We all know that what’s finest for teenagers is for them to see themselves mirrored within the curriculum, for them to have a good time their cultures, for them to really feel valued,” she informed CNN. “We all know {that a} child who feels protected and valued goes to do higher at school.”

Martin Luther King Jr. addresses crowds during the March On Washington, August 28, 1963.

Jacynth Tucker, a senior, is intimately aware of the ability of inclusivity. She mentioned that at a earlier college, she and different Black college students felt invisible.

“I can’t even keep in mind a time after we actually explored Africa – talked concerning the historical past and the tradition,” she informed CNN. “Being in a category the place that’s extra of a spotlight could be very particular to me.”

Additional, the course provides Black Individuals extra dimension, per Clementine Jordan, a senior.

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“One exercise I actually preferred was when our instructor confirmed us a collage and requested, ‘What do all these folks have in widespread?’” she informed CNN. “Their commonality was that they’re all Black. However the level of that dialogue was that, sure, they’re all Black, however there’s a lot range inside the Black group, inside my group: numerous religions, gender expressions, sexualities, issues like that.”

Crucially, Soderstrom famous that AP African American Research isn’t a standard-issue historical past course, although it proceeds in a comparatively chronological style and can finally make its method to the US.

“We’re learning Black excellence and African American success via artwork, via literature, via tradition, via dance, via arithmetic, via science, via lawyering,” he mentioned. “It’s attention-grabbing that someday we’re an artwork piece, the subsequent day we’re listening to music, the subsequent day we’re studying a poem after which the day after that we’re listening to a mathematician converse.”

In different phrases, whereas the course charts struggles – together with the mid-century civil rights motion – it additionally underscores Black excellence in quite a lot of disciplines.

It’s just about unimaginable to separate the debut of the AP African American Research pilot course from the Republican-led racial panic looming over many colleges.

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In keeping with an August evaluation by PEN America, a literary and free expression group, legislators in 36 states have launched 137 legal guidelines this yr limiting discussions about race, US historical past and gender in Ok-12 faculties and better training. This determine is a 250% improve over 2021.

And final month, the American Library Affiliation predicted that the variety of makes an attempt this yr to censor books in Ok-12 faculties, universities and public libraries grappling with race, gender and sexuality will exceed 2021’s report rely. The ALA tallied 681 makes an attempt between January 1 and August 31; the 2021 complete was 729.

These assaults search to find out what content material is and isn’t reputable in a tutorial context; they’re a part of a wider counter-mobilization in opposition to efforts to topple racial and social hierarchies.

“We’re not seeing completely different political conflicts. We’re seeing one large political battle – one large reactionary political challenge,” as Thomas Zimmer, a visiting professor at Georgetown College, the place his analysis focuses on the historical past of democracy and its discontents, informed CNN in July.

But Soderstrom minced no phrases: AP African American Research is an important course, no matter anybody’s political affiliation.

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“Henry Louis Gates Jr. is likely one of the senior minds after we’re speaking about American research and African American historical past. He was quoted just lately explaining that the course isn’t political,” Soderstrom mentioned. “We’re instructing factual info, and all the things is verifiable.”

Lylou, a sophomore, shared this conviction.

“I’m a White individual, and I wished to take this class as a result of I don’t know that a lot about Black historical past,” she informed CNN. “The course needs to be within the curriculum. As a result of why would we wish to ignore this historical past?”

(Lylou’s mom requested that her daughter’s final identify not be included, given the extraordinary political local weather hovering over classes about race within the US.)

The pilot course is anticipated to develop to incorporate further excessive faculties subsequent yr after which be obtainable to all faculties the next yr, per the Faculty Board.

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Ridge View children, for his or her half, appear wanting to see how the remainder of the yr unfolds.

“The category is a studying alternative for everyone. I take each interplay I’ve with anyone as a studying expertise,” McDaniels mentioned.

Then, mirroring the identical basic curiosity I had as a highschool scholar practically twenty years in the past, she added, “I’m simply excited to see what’s subsequent.”

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Revolutionary Guard commanders vow response to Israel attack on Iran

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Revolutionary Guard commanders vow response to Israel attack on Iran

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

The top commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards issued a stark warning to Israel on Thursday, vowing that Tehran would deliver a harsh response to last week’s Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.

Major General Hossein Salami, the head of the guards corps, warned in a speech that Iran’s retaliation would be “unimaginable” as Iranian officials stepped up their rhetoric against Israel.

“Israelis think they can launch a couple of missiles and change history,” he said. “You have not forgotten . . . how Iranian missiles opened up the sky . . . and made you sleepless.”

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Separately his deputy, Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, told Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese television channel close to Iran, that a response would be “inevitable”. In more than 40 years, “we have not left any aggression without a response”, he said.

The belligerent comments came as the Islamic regime weighs its options following Israel’s attack on Saturday, during which Israeli war planes launched three waves of strikes at Iranian military installations. The targets included missile factories and air defence systems in three provinces, including Tehran.

Regime insiders told the Financial Times that the options being considered include a possible strike before next week’s US presidential election, or Iran’s leaders could decide to hold off for now.

“The winner of the US election could take an Iranian attack personally and act against Iran. So, if Iran wants to respond to Israel, the best time is before the US election,” one insider said. “The only thing that could change this would be a fair breakthrough in ceasefire talks between [Hizbollah in] Lebanon and Israel which does not seem very likely.”

The US has this week stepped up efforts to broker a deal to end the conflict that has lasted more than a year between Israel and Hizbollah, Iran’s most important proxy.

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But there was little optimism of a breakthrough as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel retain the right to unilaterally enforce any agreement that would lead to Hizbollah withdrawing from southern Lebanon.

Another Iranian insider indicated Tehran might opt to maintain psychological pressure on Israel rather than launch a direct assault.

“With Hizbollah launching tens of rockets into Israel daily in a legitimate war, a direct response may not be necessary right now,” the insider said. “What benefits us is not a direct war with Israel. We need to keep the level of people’s stress low so that they can live their lives. This is the top priority.”

But an Iranian analyst said the dilemma for Tehran was “that Israel would take any delay in Iran’s response as a sign of weakness and would feel emboldened”.

Iran’s initial reaction to Israel’s strikes — which were in retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage fired at the Jewish state on October 1 — suggested that Tehran’s response would be measured and not immediate, Iranian analysts said.

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Speaking on Sunday, a day after Israel’s attack, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader and ultimate decision maker, refrained from vowing to retaliate.

Instead, he said the strikes should neither be “overestimated or underestimated”. Iranian state media played down the impact of the attack, which killed four soldiers and a civilian, saying the damage was limited.

But Tehran has shown a willingness to risk an escalation with Israel as regional hostilities triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack have spread across the Middle East, thrusting Iran’s years-long shadow war with its regional enemy into the open.

In April, it fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in a clearly telegraphed retaliation for an Israeli strike on the republic’s embassy compound in Syria, which killed several senior guards commanders.

It gave little notice before launching 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, a more severe attack that was in response to the Israeli assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader and a close confidant of Khamenei.

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“Only a shock can stop Israel from its aggressions and free the region from the current stalemate,” the first regime insider said. “Iran might even go for a big bang and do something totally outside Israelis’ calculations as there is no other way to stop it.”

The US, which has pledged an “ironclad” commitment to the defence of Israel, has warned Iran not to retaliate as western nations have sought to contain the crisis amid heightened fears of all-out war.

“We will not hesitate to act in self defence. Let there be no confusion. The United States does not want to see further escalation,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said this week.

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Harris says Trump 'devalues' women's ability to make their own choices

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Harris says Trump 'devalues' women's ability to make their own choices

PHOENIX — Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that former President Donald Trump’s remarks this week about protecting women whether they “like it or not” is another sign of how he “devalues” women.

“His latest comment is just the most recent in a series of examples that we have seen from him in his words and deeds about how he devalues the ability of women to have the choice and the freedom to make decisions about their own body,” Harris told NBC News in an exclusive interview.

The vice president also argued that most Americans “believe that women are intelligent enough and should have and be respected for their agency to make decisions for themselves about what is in their best interest,” rather than the government or Trump “telling them what to do.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately provide a comment on Harris’ remarks.

Follow live updates on the 2024 election

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Trump on Wednesday said that his “people” had instructed him not to say that he wanted to “protect the women.”

“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to do it, whether the women like it or not.’ I’m going to protect them,” Trump said during his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt was asked if she can see how Trump’s comments about doing something “whether the women like it or not” might make women uncomfortable.

“No, I can’t. Because if you look at the full context of President Trump’s remarks, he brought this up in the context of illegal immigration and protecting women from the illegal immigrant criminals,” Leavitt said Thursday.

Harris on Thursday also talked about President Joe Biden’s “garbage” remark from earlier this week, in which he appeared to criticize either Trump supporters or a comedian who delivered racist jokes at Trump’s rally in New York, and reiterated her view that “we should never criticize people based on who they vote for.”

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In addressing Biden’s comments, Harris pointed to Trump’s rhetoric about “the enemy from within” and comparing the U.S. to a “garbage can.”

“He does not understand that most people are exhausted with his rhetoric, exhausted with that approach, exhausted with an approach that Donald Trump has that’s trying to divide our country and have Americans point fingers at each other,” she said. “They’re done with it, and they’re ready to turn the page.”

Harris’ comments came before her rally in Phoenix. Her next campaign stops on Thursday are in Nevada, where she will hold rallies in Reno and Las Vegas.

The Sun Belt blitz comes as polling indicates a neck-and-neck presidential race less than a week before Election Day.

When asked by NBC News what Harris thinks her late mother would say to her in the final days before the election, Harris smiled.

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“‘Just go beat him,’” she said, laughing. “That’s probably what she’d say. Yeah, that’s my mother.”

Yamiche Alcindor reported from Phoenix, and Megan Lebowitz from Washington, D.C.

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Election 2024 Polls: Senate Races

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Election 2024 Polls: Senate Races

About our polling averages

Our averages include polls collected by The New York Times and by FiveThirtyEight. The estimates adjust for a variety of factors, including the recency and sample size of a poll, whether a poll represents likely voters, and whether other polls have shifted since a poll was conducted.

We also evaluate whether each pollster: Has a track record of accuracy in recent electionsIs a member of a professional polling organizationConducts probability-based sampling

These elements factor into how much weight each poll gets in the average. And we consider pollsters that meet at least two of the three criteria to be “select pollsters,” so long as they are conducting polls for nonpartisan sponsors. Read more about our methodology.

The Times conducts its own national and state polls in partnership with Siena College. Those polls are included in the averages. Follow Times/Siena polling here.

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Maine and Nebraska award two electoral votes to the statewide winner and a single electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. (Maine has two congressional districts, and Nebraska has three.) Historical election results for these districts are calculated based on votes cast within the current boundaries of the district.

Sources: Polling averages by The New York Times. Individual polls collected by FiveThirtyEight and The Times.

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