By Kay Bolden | The Times Weekly

While the national push is on to recruit, train and support a new generation of Black teachers, the achievement gap between white and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students continues to grow. In response, some nonprofits are bringing education directly into community spaces, and inspiring Black students to succeed.

“Black history saved my life” is not just the title of Ernest Crim’s first book; it’s his philosophy of education, and the foundation of his mission to reach and teach Black youth their true history.

“It’s long past time for us to start taking control of educating our children at home first, so if they are in one of these schools where books are being banned, or Black history is being ignored or completely erased, they already have a strong base of knowledge,” Crim says. “They’ll be more aware, and more prone to push back against disinformation, rather than accepting whatever they are told.”

With 12 years’ experience teaching history at the high school level, including time at Joliet Central, Crim has left the classroom to take Black history to a much bigger audience; his 370,000 TikTok followers are treated to regular lessons on past and present issues affecting Black people across the country, and around the world.

Recent videos, for example, explore the meaning and location of “sundown towns” in Illinois–towns where Black people were allowed in during daylight hours to work or for other business, but had to be gone by sundown or risk being arrested or even lynched. Sundown towns, like segregation, were not restricted to southern states but were common in the northern states as well and were often targets of the Civil Rights Movement.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at North Central College in the 1960s, for example, he was not welcome in Naperville hotels; he spent the night in nearby Aurora. And as recently as October 2022, White Lives Matter flyers were distributed around Morris, Illinois.

Crim sees connections between those past oppressive laws, and today’s current efforts to eliminate books and forbid classes that explore the role racism has played in American society. “Part of the Great Replacement Theory rhetoric,” Crim points out, “Is this idea that Black and Brown people are taking over, whatever that means, and that we have to be stopped. How? By denying our contributions to America, and by erasing our history.”

Sometimes that so-called fear of being replaced can lead to violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the theory as “a racist conspiracy narrative falsely asserting that there is an active, ongoing and covert effort to replace white populations in current white-majority countries.” The mass shooters in Buffalo, NY (2022), Pittsburgh, PA (2018), all El Paso, TX (2019) all cited or posted about the “Great Replacement”.

Crim can’t help but feel that the belief in white supremacy is a dying ideology. “If you look at history, you see that right before an ideology dies, it becomes more virulent. That’s what we’re seeing now. The library closings, the canceling of Black history courses, the demonizing of diversity and inclusion training–in the end, this will prove to be ineffective and pointless,” he says. “This generation lives online. They have unprecedented access to more information than ever before. They will learn the truth, and they can’t be stopped.”

Black parents have to be proactive about making sure their children are learning the truth. The achievement gap between white children and children of color is well-documented. Crim’s second book, The ABCs of Affirming Black Children, highlights 26 Black artists, activists, scientists, and speakers who dared to be great in the face of injustice and adversity. Beautifully illustrated by Janine Carrington, the book seeks to correct the often-negative images Black children receive from the media and society at large, and to build a foundation of confidence and vision that will prepare them for greatness.

“While it’s written and illustrated to be child-friendly, it’s not just for children,” Crim says. “It’s a book for the whole family to read again and again. It’s a way to share the love of reading, while celebrating our rich history and affirming our own excellence.”

Crim admits it was a real challenge to write with a children’s audience in mind. He is now actively fundraising to help lower income schools acquire his book and others, and to support speaking engagements.

With summer vacation from school looming, Crim says the summer months are a good time for parents to reconnect their kids with their history, and to keep their bodies and minds active.

“The racial achievement gap spreads during the summer months,” he says. “But the summer months can be our most productive.” He encourages parents to seek out summer camps or other activities that support physical activities and academic learning.

“Not every parent has the luxury of being off in the summer with their kids,” he continues. “But everyone can give themselves an hour a day of reading together, or doing fun science projects with household items, or just playing math games. Keep those brains active!”

In the final analysis, he says, the education of Black children should not be based solely on what the school system provides, but on the strength of our history and on our aspirations for the future.

“America is only 200 years old,” Crim says. “I firmly believe we will get through this period of book banning and other forms of racial oppression. I am optimistic that the law of nature and the law of the universe will eventually bring justice.”

Crim’s books are available on Amazon.com and on his website, https://www.ernestcrim.com, or follow him on TikTok.

This is the fourth segment of a four-part series called Taking it to the Streets: Reaching Black Students Where They Live, exclusive to the Times Weekly. Contact Kay Bolden, Times Weekly features writer at Kayb@thetimesweekly.com

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