Melissa Harris-Perry: When an angry violent mob of mostly white Trump supporters overran the Capitol, the first people I called to make sense of it were historians. It's historians who keep our collective record and help us make sense of our own moment.

Professor Jeffries: Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Associate Professor of History in the Department of History at the Ohio State University.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Professor Jeffries' research and teaching explore the long history of Black struggle. His work reminds us that the violence we saw at the Capitol one year ago is not an anomaly. In fact, political violence has long been a feature of how white supremacy has asserted itself in this country. Earlier this week, professor Jeffries tweeted, "Dear teachers, don't pretend that January 6th didn't happen." I asked him about it.

Professor Jeffries: First, I understand that given all that's going on with COVID and return to schools, that nothing is normal in this particular moment, I understand that. We're also asking a lot of our teachers because they've been on the front lines of this unfortunate culture war, this battle designed to not teach accurate history. There's a lot on their table. Having said all that, don't be scared to talk about what happened on January 6th, but you have to do it in a particular way. I think there's a number of important approaches that teachers should take at all grade levels, age-appropriate of course.

One is to put it in historical context. What we saw on January 6th is an extension of a long history of political violence that we have in American history. Dating back to the founding of this nation, through the civil war, through the end of reconstruction, the battles to extend voting rights to African Americans and alike. There is a history to this, but the history isn't even that remote. The historical context also means that the reason why these people storm the Capitol, the supporters of Donald Trump, who were animated by his belief in white supremacy and the sheer belief in white supremacy was their thinking that the election was stolen because Black people participated in it. That racism is essentially what was fueling this, and that has a long history as well that needs to be discussed.

Putting it in historical context is one approach, but then also we can also approach this and teachers should also approach this as simply how do we understand the functioning of government? The reason why the people were there is because they believed, some of them, that somehow they could stop this transfer. What are you talking about? That's not the way the constitution works. I need you to know some basic civics. There's a civics lesson that needs to be discussed. In the absence of that, in absence of understanding the way basic government works in American society, you literally have people storming the Capitol and losing their lives.

Then there's a third approach, a third reason why we should be teaching this or use this as a point of entry, and that is critical media literacy. Part of the reason why people are there is because they believe the big lie, and the big lie is being pushed on us, and it's only escalated over the last year, this idea of rampant voter fraud, electoral fraud. How can you, as students, be able to look out there and analyze for yourself evidence and arguments? That is another approach.

Then I think fourthly, another reason why this needs to be addressed in the moment, one, because it points to the fragility of our democracy. This goes back a little bit to we're not on this perpetually ascendant streak, if you will, where things will just always get better or democracy is safe. If you understand how fragile this democracy is, if you understand how this thing actually works, you can realize that there's no guarantee that this is going to be around. Not just in 100 years or 200 years in 300 years, in 6 months this whole thing could unravel.

The stakes are very high, and we can't afford to pretend as though what we saw there was a blip on the map. This is portending something very dangerous, not only for the fate of Black folk or for the fate of marginalized people. We're talking about the fate of the nation, and I don't think that's a hyperbole.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Thank you to professor Hasan Jeffries, Associate Professor of History at the Ohio State University.

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