New course to be offered

WHAT’S THE POINT Story behind CROWN Act

The CROWN Act stands for “Create Respectful and an Open World for Natural Hair.” It has been created as a law against discrimination toward race, based on hair.

Many people may view this law as “childish,” but many Black people do not want others to appropriate their hairstyles that are meant for a simple protective style. It’s just wrong and super disrespectful.

It is not hard to culturally appropriate hairstyles meant for Black people. I’ve seen people around Minnesota, who are not Black, wear protective hairstyles even though they have pin-straight hair. It’s annoying to me when people do things they know are wrong.

With the upcoming 2023–2024 school year, a new history course has been approved to be piloted at Park — AP African American studies. The course aims to bring new perspectives and opportunities. The course has been piloted over the country throughout this past year, but not every state has accepted it. Upcoming seniors at Park will be able to take this course starting next year.

Many on the Echo Editorial Board said they would consider taking this course. The Board believes this class will educate students about important history. The Echo Editorial Board believes that this is a fantastic and long overdue course option, helping to shed light on new points of view.

Over time, this course will grow in popularity and many will take it. In attempt to promote this new course, the Board believes having students promote it in the coming year would be beneficial. Having students present and express what would be taught can help intrigue others to register for the course. Oftentimes, little information is presented about alternate options during registration. If a group of students who were educated about the course’s content were presenting what the class would look like, however, this could help to get more students intrigued and potentially sign up. Teachers can also contribute to promoting the course by presenting slideshows and emphasizing the new option.

Although the course is important, it is still in its infancy. The fact that it is a new class might

Park Trails

scare students away. The Echo Editorial Board believes students are much more likely to take other history options their senior year like AP Psychology, because it has an easier AP test. When registering for classes, students often get their information from students who had taken the class previously. When registering for this course, since it is very new, no one would be able to explain what the workload and tests would look like.

Members of the Echo Editorial Board hope that this will be able to offer new perspectives. Classes like AP European History or AP U.S. History, while important, frequently offer the same Eurocentric perspectives to the same few moments in history, and many members of the Board hope that this will go more in depth with its content and perspectives.

Additionally, the question of who would be teaching this course remains. The social studies teachers at Park are predominately white. Incorporating teachers of color is a large contributor to how information is delivered to students, and the Board believes that Park should factor that into who they hire to teach AP African American History.

In the upcoming years, the Board believes that offering this class as an option for sophomores or juniors may make more sense. Currently, sophomores are offered AP European History as an alternative to AP World History.

The Echo Editorial Board unanimously believes that Park should make efforts to promote this class so that students are more aware of it and are open to enroll in it.

I had a teacher in my elementary school wear locs and continue to come to our school with that hairstyle. I was a seven-year-old girl and I didn’t know much about the meaning behind her hair. She was a white, blue-eyed, pin-straight-blonde-haired woman who knew it was wrong. Older students spoke to her about it and she kept using the fact that she was in South Africa during the summer as an excuse. That didn’t justify her actions.

What’s the POINT?

New law against hair discrimination

The history still makes no sense to me. Why are Black People getting discriminated against for having their hair in braids, twists, an afro or even locs while in school or work? But when non black people do it, they get justified or defended because they were following a trend or being confused by not knowing right from wrong.

The CROWN Act has impacted me positively because it’s teaching others who might not have been educated about cultural appropriation more about how negative these actions could be to others. I have a feeling that people who aren’t Black know that they’re appropriating Black culture — they know it’s messed up, but they still do it. The CROWN Act shows that we’re done taking such mockery and have decided to fully take action.

History classes should at least go over the CROWN Act because few people know about it. It’s sad to know that non black people continue to appropriate our culture just for simple fame or to be trendy. Reading this shows others that they can be educated on the impact cultural appropriation has on people in general. Minnesota officially passed the CROWN Act as law on Feb. 1. The CROWN Act has a huge effect inside of my world. It’s so thoughtful to me that Minnesota has made it an official law.