Education as Resistance

Resistance can take many forms. Those of us who dare resist do what we can and do what we must. We watch relentless chaos and disorder whirl around us as if we’re sealed inside a horror movie on a continuous loop. Passively observing the tumult devalues the power of doing something. Active resistance is better than nothing. It is not lost on me, for example, that some people love horror movies and roller coaster rides and find them endless amusement. For others, these activities churn the stomach, muddle the mind, and stress the heart. Because I don’t enjoy either form of entertainment, it doesn’t give me the right to interfere with the prerogatives of those who do.

Here lies the quandary. When horror movies and roller coaster rides are mandatory, my rights are infringed upon, and resistance becomes my superpower. My protest against such encroachments will resonate, and while my dissent against authoritarian rule may seem futile, I will persist. I will tell those who follow me that I did my best, that I stood up, that I chose the path of resistance, and that I persevered.

TruthTeeTold™ represents education as resistance. Gathering transformative content is a way to push back and collaborate in the power of truth-telling, spreading the word, reclaiming history that has been “lost, stolen, and strayed,” and sharing the good news and the not-so-good news about our collective American experience. The content gathered here reflects who we are and how we arrived at this point. Only together can we answer the question that Martin Luther King, Jr. posed in the title of his book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?