It is is known that James Baldwin writes about Black and Brown and the educational system and how oppress we are in the educational system. As a child in the flawed educational system that is designed to keep our minds caged up I was taught that Christopher Columbus was this great explorer who took

all he glory for the Columbus Exchange.  The educational system has taught our children to tolerate oppression, and suppress us through education and the lies history tells us. For example, Baldwin states, “One of the paradoxes of education was that precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society. It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person.” (Baldwin 1) To me the knowledge we obtain is powerful and speaks in volume. Yes, the teacher holds some responsibility on the information we retrieve as children. Being raised in. community with both my parents and educated in a Progressive educational system I was lucky to have teachers who cared enough to teach us the truth about racial inequality, and curriculums that taught us our rights.  To me the educational system teaches young teens false perception of what we believe is true and the educational policies that manage what we learn and what can be taught in schools. A perfect example, Florida Governor Desantis is refusing for Race Theory to be taught in Florida Schools. How can someone be so ignorant to deny that there is racial inequality across America. Many minorities in Florida graduate from High School and accept minimum wage jobs and do not further their education because they are not taught excel. We pledge to the flag of the United States of America yet, we our alienable rights not protected.  

Black and Brown Education in America is so poor that “any negro who is born in this country and undergoes the educational system runs the risk of becoming schizophrenic” (Baldwin page 1) We are part of this country yet, we are taught that it is best accept that whites are better than us, and whites behave the way they do towards black and brown people  because they are taught that they are better than us.  The constitution that was designed to protect the rights of all Americans is faux. All our lives as black and brown children we had to accept that we were less than the dominant culture and we need to understand that the majority of teachers are given this curriculum to teach. Many are taught that Columbus, Slave owners were good men who fought battles and created the Constitution yet, they were slave owners. How inevitable it is for the educational system not to create a major mental health crisis among black and latinos.

Growing up in a diverse community I was taught that the area I lived in was considered “ghetto,” or as stated in the text where the authors explains how we are bred to believe as stated in the text, that “if he lives one of those housing projects of which everyone in New York is proud, he has at the front door, if not closer, the pimps, the whores, the junkies- in a word, the danger of life in the ghetto. And the child knows this, though he doesn’t know why.” (P.2).  Society has taught us or my black and brown brothers and sisters that we are “ghetto”, or low lives depending where you live, and the schools you attend. NYC school system that are among the worst segregated schools in America. As for me it is like the Allegory of a Cave; if you are caged up in a flawed educational system and not taught the truth about our reality then we will stay in that cave forever refusing to see that there is better for us and more to learn.