North Carolina parent fails in effort to ban video of Native Americans talking about Thanksgiving

On Feb. 26, a team at Alston Ridge Middle unanimously voted to continue to let the video be shown to students. The team also rejected Braswell’s request that the teacher apologize for showing the video.

The Alston Ridge committee consisted of the principal, teachers, parents, a counselor and the library media coordinator.

Braswell then appealed the decision to the district’s Instructional Materials Review Committee, which consists of administrators, teachers and parents. This time, Braswell asked that the video not only be banned from Alston Ridge Middle but all Wake district schools.

Rudy, the Cut.com executive, stands by the video, which he says is part of an effort to increase empathy and understanding by hearing other people’s perspectives.

“I'm not a Marxist,” Rudy said. “I’m not a Communist. I just feel we should try to understand where everyone is coming from.”

Video called ‘appropriate instructional material’

During the meeting Wednesday, committee members said they were satisfied that the teacher showed the video by projecting it on a screen from her laptop. The teacher didn’t link to Cut’s website or YouTube page that had the content questioned by Braswell.

Rachel Huber-Jones, a committee member, said the video fits into North Carolina’s social studies standards about discriminatory practices and resilience to inequities, injustices, discrimination, prejudice and bias.

“In the course of eighth-grade, they will look at things like the Trail of Tears, the reservation system, relocation acts and broken and unfilled treaties with Native American tribes,” said Huber-Jones, who is Wake’s senior administrator for secondary social studies, “So having that conversation about what this holiday would look like today would make sense in that context.”

Committee members said the video is one of the multiple sources that students will watch about the Native American experience. There are 366 Native American students in Wake, or 0.2% of the district’s enrollment.

“It seems like not only appropriate instructional material but a solid choice as far as making sure that kids are given opportunities to critique and determine how they’re going to think about a specific moment in time,” said Kate Fehling, a committee member and principal of Hilburn Drive Academy in Raleigh.

The district’s committee’s decisions are binding for two years unless they’re reversed by the school board.