Sometimes when I’m at my husband’s family’s house I’m reminded of how completely different our childhood experiences are, because he grew up in a blue state with democrat parents, and I grew up in a red state with conservative parents. He doesn’t seem to realize what a privilege that is, which reminded me of a super insane experience I had that I’ve never processed until now.
The year is 2005. I’m in 5th grade in a school in a deeply red town. One day in October I go to school and walk into my social studies class which is taught my the most unstable woman I’ve ever met in my life. she proceeds to announce to the class that Rosa Parks had died the day before. I am aware of who Rosa Parks is, we recently covered civil rights. I remember my only thought being “oh I didn’t know people from then were still alive.” (they’re good at making you think it was a million years ago, huh?)
anyways, my teacher then begins to go on a rant. she’s apparently furious because Ronald Regan recently passed away as well. her beef? that Rosa Parks had a larger funeral than Ronald Regan. i’m so serious when I say she talked about it all class- spending most of the time undermining Parks. She then instructed us to write an essay on Ronald Regan and some of the great things he’s done and why he deserved a larger funeral than Rosa Parks. the assignment would be due the next day. the kicker? I had zero fucking idea who Ronald Regan was. I was 10. I was also a pretty dumb kid who never payed any attention in school. so I go home, where my mother and father and a few uncles and cousins are there and I ask my mom who tf Ronal Regan was so I can write my stupid ass essay.
you’d think I asked her who jesus christ himself was. she was absolutely SHOOK that I didn’t know who Ronald Regan was, I mean she was actually angry. my family then asked me about 50 questions like “what do you mean who’s ronald regan??? he’s the greatest president who ever lived? how do you not know? what are they teaching you in school?”
I was like okay whatever I’m 10 I’m just going to write my bare minimum essay about Ronald Regan that I’m still extremely confused about.
so, to my extreme embarrassment and displeasure, there exists an essay in this world that I WROTE, talking about how cool and good present regan was and how he’s just as important if not more important than Rosa Parks.
(also that social studies teacher was fired a year later, NOT because she was a racist, but because she had an explosive fit of rage and threw a chair at a student. 👍)
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