Do you know how I learned about MLK Jr. and the history of racism in America? Not in my Hasidic school, where racism & civil rights heroes were only mentioned in the context of the Civil War. I spent the last 1.5 decades educating myself and ensuring my children get a proper ed,

including in the brutal history of our country and the transgenerational trauma it has wrought.

Boys in most Hasidic schools do not even know who MLK was and have never studied American history. This is a fact.

I do not wish to speak ill of my former community. If you think

harping on educational neglect gives me a thrill, you are mistaken. I want to see change. I want every Hasidic boy to know the country they live in, its history, its heroes, and its villains. I want them to know how to read & write the language of their land.