The Weber School District is unconscionably wrong in the censorship of South Ogden Junior High history teacher and Ogden School Board member Douglas Barker's showing of the movie "Glory."

To be sure, use of the N-word in our society today is morally and ethically wrong. But, when you want to tell the story of history accurately and objectively then we must not be afraid to face our past weaknesses and wrong choices. If we were to scrub history on the basis of political correctness now, there would not be much left to teach. And why do we teach history at all? Because by understanding our past, we light the path to our future. History is the best showcase to rectify and avoid mistakes going forward. As humankind, we are much too weak to bury, let alone brush off, the vast wealth of lessons from our past.

"Glory" tells the amazing, true and valuable story of the 54th Massachusetts Black-American regiment and their heroic service during the American Civil War, particularly in the ill-fated Battle of Fort Wagner. I feel bad that a student in Mr. Barker's class now feels threatened, but that's not the fault of history. Those feelings are another issue entirely that needs to be carefully resolved.

At this point, the Weber School District's condemnation of Mr. Barker only weakens our ability to uncover and respectfully analyze the truth of our past. If we want to fix the current challenges of our society and problems globally we must willing to courageously look at the unvarnished truth of history, understand it and leverage it for a better future of cooperative humanity.

Paul Maloy

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West Bountiful

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