My name is Keziah Ridgeway. I'm a history teacher here in Philadelphia who was recently featured in a CNN story about critical race theory (CRT). In a letter to the editor written on July 12 by Josie Johnston, she falsely stated the following:
"Proponents like Elle Reeve of CNN, who are trying to bring more of these curricula to our schools, say it's not being taught in schools, then say it's a good thing it is."
Would you kindly correct this letter for your readers so that it accurately reflects the following:
Elle Reeve did not say CRT was not being taught in schools and then said it's a good thing. I'm the one who actually said it's not being taught in schools and that I was the only teacher I knew personally who taught the theory. I then stated, "can (CRT) influence the way that some teachers teach? Yeah. But that's a good thing, right? Because race and racism are literally the building blocks of this country. So how can you not talk about it?"
Never did I say that teachers were actually using it as a framework, just that it could be used in that way and in my opinion, it would be a good thing.
In addition, this person also stated: "Keziah Ridgeway who was also featured in Education Week advocating for what she calls abolitionist teaching (eliminating the white-supremacist point of view from teaching of race based issues)."
That's not what's said in the article, nor is that what abolitionist teaching is in the Ed Week article which can be found here: bit.ly/2UP6Hef. I stated the following: "Abolitionist teachers call out racism and discrimination both within the school and larger society."
I would hate for readers to be given a false view of what I actually said. Especially considering a lot of trolls have made comments on my social media after Fox also ran a story twisting my words around based on the CNN video.
As a newspaper, it's your duty to ensure that what's being printed is factually accurate, and this letter to the editor was not. I would appreciate it kindly if a note was placed on top of this article correcting this falsehood.
Keziah Ridgeway
Philadelphia
