didn't want to complete her homework. this wasn't adolescent laziness, she was disturbed by what she was being asked to do. which was, "pretend you are a slave who has decided to escape from louisiana to chicago. go on google chrome and find the distance you have to travel and map an escape route for you and your family." the assignment was adapted from an online curriculum, "escape from slavery," and the more i learned about the assignment, the more angry i became. pretending to be an enslaved person is not an emotionally neutral experience. when i've talked with my daughter about slavery, i've tried to express the extreme human injustice and intense suffering that millions experienced. when a child is asked to be -- pretend to be escaping slavery, it's not just about mapping a route, it's about the horror and terror and likely death and deep injustice. imagine asking a student to pretend they're on the 80th floor of the world trade center when a plane strikes on september 11 s 1th and then to