The rioters, the extremists, the dark history: How do you explain the Capitol insurrection to kids?
Violent Pro-Trump Rioters Storm US Capitol
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There they were in broad daylight, an overwhelmingly white and male mob, many dressed like paramilitary, some waving the defeated flag of the Confederacy and the red, white and blue banner of Donald Trump, pushing past Capitol building police and into the annals of infamy. How do we explain to America s children, used to seeing only stars and stripes fly at the People s House, what a failed insurrection is?
“Our kids are pretty astute, they know these are injustices, said President Fred Rush of the Ocean County NAACP Lakewood branch, remarking on Wednesday s scene, which included nooses hung from a gallows and over tree branches, and rioters in hoodies emblazoned with Camp Auschwitz and 6MWE white nationalists shorthand for 6 million Jews wasn t enough. They have just seen another one.”
She ended up with intense discussions about history, elections and the dangers of political rhetoric. How did we get to this point, and how do we make things better? That was in the back of my head of everything we did, said Cutrone, who teaches European history and AP government at Tenafly High School.
In schools across New Jersey, teachers were hosting similar conversations, wanting to ensure that students were engaged and aware of an episode that would surely make it into history books. They invited students to share their own questions and feelings. They seemed just very concerned and confused about how we ended up in this situation, Cutrone said. It looked like a scene from a movie or a war.