FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2022
Teach the Truth Thursday Returns
Local Series Designed to Provide Teens with Truthful Education about Racial Justice Begins this Thursday
This Thursday (4/21) a coalition of local educators, professors, and community members, organized by the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement (AADM) will begin its 7-week series of classes called Teach the Truth Thursday (T3). The series kicks off on April 21st from 5pm to 7pm at the AADM Justice Center in Georgia Square Mall. These classes are intended to provide teens with truthful education about issues of racism and movements for racial justice amidst the growing censorship of teachers and local schools.
T3 is a series founded in resistance to recent legislation passed by Georgia Republican lawmakers that censors public school teachers’ capacity to honestly teach about so-called “divisive concepts” such as race, racism, and sexism. Many educational scholars have pointed out how Georgia’s resolution, and the suite of similar resolutions passed in other conservative states, denies students the access to truthful teaching of our nation’s history by casting it as divisive to learn about racism and sexism and potentially harmful to students. However, the simple truth is that it is sexism and racism that are divisive, and learning about these issues has been empirically proven to bring about “meaningful and positive changes.” T3 co-facilitators Chaplain Cole Knapper and Beth Mendenhall, under the leadership of Mokah Johnson and AADM, designed T3 as a community response to politicians who wish to squash our students’ right to truthful education that has the capacity to create a more racially just future.
For six weeks, university professors and local educators will host weekly sessions at the AADM Justice Center designed for middle and high school students to provide them with a truthful education about the historical origins of racial injustice and local movements for racial justice. Previous iterations of T3 gained widespread community support for its grassroots organizing of local educational stakeholders around these timely issues; the second iteration of this series hopes to continue this legacy by offering classes, especially for teens. One local Athens high school student described her interest in attending T3 when she shared, “I am angry lawmakers are making it illegal to learn real history in school, so I think it is really cool that AADM is creating a place for us to learn the truth.”
This Thursday (4/21) from 5pm to 7pm T3 will kick off its 7-week series. Local World History teacher at Cedar Shoals High School, Beth Mendenhall, will facilitate the initial session about the history of the desegregation of Athens, Georgia Schools. All middle or high school-aged students are welcome to register to attend in person at the AADM Justice Center or online. Every Thursday, a free dinner will be served for those joining in person at 5pm, and all instructors starting their classes by 5:30pm.
Here is the zoom link for this Thursday’s T3 session!
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tdO6orTkpE9cp6EOrmUsQf0L1ese2VR-I
Or arrive in-person at 5:00 pm (3700 Atlanta Highway, Athens GA 30601)
For more information, please contact:
Chaplain Cole Knapper
404-775-4525
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Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement
Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement (AADM) is a grassroots, 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2016 and based in Athens, Georgia. The group aims to combat discrimination through education and activism. For more information visit www.aadmovement.org, their Facebook @AADMovement, or their Twitter and Instagram @aadmovement706