BUFFALO, N.Y. — There’s a battle going on in classrooms across the country about what should and shouldn’t be taught and how. A group of teachers in New York came together a few years ago with the stance that their curriculum should be anti-racist.

“Can I press play?” asked Deborah Bertlesman, an English teacher at P.S. 156 Frederick Law Olmstead.

Teaching isn’t black and white for Bertlesman. She sees her English classroom as a way to lift students’ voices and engage in social justice work through anti-racist inquiry.

“It's more rooted in, what does this text tell us about ourselves? What does this text tell us about larger social issues? And what are we going to do with this new information,” Bertlesman explained.

Those are questions she had to ask herself in college.

“There were some students, specifically Black women, who sort of called me out on some of the things that I was saying that they were like, 'That's kind of problematic,'" she recalled. "And I was like, 'Oh, my God. I have some work to do.'”

Bertlesman says she realized for some people education was rooted in oppressive experiences. She wanted to make sure her students had the freedom to discuss that.

“Recognizing who they are, where they're coming from, and what they bring to the table,” said Bertlesman.

It’s something students like freshman Mia Abraham appreciate.

“I think it challenges like your brain to think more," Abraham said. "Other classes we don't talk about. We only talk about stuff that's in a book.”

Abraham is working on a project focusing on the incarceration rates of Black men and its impact on the class.

“I think that society or like everyone around us tries to hide some of the stuff that we're talking about in this class," Abraham said. "But some things should be talked about in order to get through it.”

They don't just talk about topics about race, but also gender, class, culture, and more.

“I've heard about many others' experiences about inequalities due to their gender or their race," Abraham recalled. "I didn't realize how important it was to them until actually talking about it in class.”

That doesn’t mean there isn’t pushback.

“We were watching a documentary about how gangs came about based on the destruction of community centers, based on racism," recalled Bertlesman. "I had a parent who felt that that made it seem like I didn't like white people, or that I was working against white people.”

Groups like Parents Defending Education say curriculums like this divide kids into “oppressor” and “oppressed” groups, teaching them either guilt and shame or grievance and resentment. They argue the classroom needs to be a non-political space. 

On their website, they have an IndoctriNation Map showing “reported incidents.” In Buffalo, critical race theory, usage of the 1619 Project, and topics about systemic racism are all listed there. 

Spectrum News 1 Buffalo did reach out to PDE for an interview. We received no comment.

Either way, Bertlesman will continue talking about these topics.

“[The topics are] super difficult, challenging, emotional,” said Bertlesman.

That's work that’s constantly in progress.

“You're either working against oppression or you're working for it," she added. "You can't be neutral because if you're not working against it, you're not doing anything."

Bertlesman isn't in this alone. She's part of a group of teachers supporting each other in this goal of an anti-racist curriculum.