The school project was designed to elicit debate and discussion—but isn’t that part of the problem?

In 2018, a fourth-grade student’s school project sparked outrage on the internet. Every news outlet, including ABC7, HuffPost, and CNN, covered the event, in which students were asked to give three “good” arguments for slavery as part of their homework assignment. Yes, you read it correctly.

Fourth-grade students at Our Redeemer Lutheran School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were given an assignment that included three “bad” explanations for slavery. A fourth-grade mom published a photo of her child’s homework page on Facebook, wondering if anybody else found the assignment objectionable.

Now, it is not unusual for parents to be perplexed by their children’s schoolwork. Sometimes it’s been too long since they’ve done long division to be of much assistance. Or maybe teaching methods have changed too much while they were in school. Sometimes kids bring home something completely incomprehensible.

Trameka Brown -Berry’s mouth dropped as she looked over her fourth-grade son Jerome’s homework.

The school project was designed to elicit debate and discussion—but isn’t that part of the problem? The incredibly disrespectful task ought to be thrown away. But little Jerome diligently filled it out anyhow, and his response was pretty much perfect:

In the part allocated for “good reasons,” Jerome wrote, “I feel there is no good reason for slavery; that’s why I did not write.”

We are a country that values free speech and debate, which frequently leads to situations where “both sides” are represented. But it only goes so far. There is no serious discourse regarding the claimed benefits of depriving humans of their basic life rights. No one is compelled to try to “understand the other side” when the other side is biased and cruel.

In a follow-up article, Brown-Berry notes that the school has subsequently apologized for the assignment and promised to provide improved diversity and sensitivity training to its staff.

But what’s done is done, and the incident highlights the staggering racial disparities that persist in our country. After all, Brown-Berry told WCTI ABC News12, “You wouldn’t ask someone to list three good reasons for rape or the Holocaust.”

Jerome ended the assignment with a bang, saying, “I am proud to be Black because we are strong and brave…”

It is commendable that Jerome shut down the foolish assignment with bravery and remarkable eloquence, and he was strong enough to admit the truth: there are no decent excuses for history’s most horrible atrocities. The sooner the world recognizes this, the sooner we can heal and rebuild.