Why Ethnic Studies Isn’t Optional—It’s Foundational

When students only see one version of history, they learn to mistrust their own. Ethnic Studies doesn’t erase the past—it completes it.

From Choctaw land traditions to Chinese grocery stores in the Delta, real American stories include cultural intersections, unexpected alliances, and mutual aid that traditional textbooks ignore.

Cultural Memory vs. Historical AmnesiaWe don’t need more facts. We need more context. Teaching the Irish Famine without teaching the Choctaw donation is erasure. Teaching slavery without teaching the blues is theft.

Migration Is Not MonolithicMississippi became a melting pot not by accident, but by force, survival, and resilience. These overlapping stories are the foundation of what America is—not a flaw, but a feature.