amy: howard zinn in the democracy now! studio in 2009 as he launched the paperback edition of "a young people's history of the united states." he died unexpectedly the next year in january 2010. we end today's show with one of howard zinn's last public appearances. he spoke in november 2009 at boston university. >> when i was discharged from the army, from the air force, i got a letter from general marshall. he was a general general. he sent me a letter, not a personal letter to me. "dear howie." no. [laughter] a letter that was sent to 16 million men who served in the armed forces. the letter was something likehis, "we won the war. congratulations for your service. it will be a new world." and we know it hasn't been a new world since world war ii. war after war after war and 50 million people were dead in that war to end fascism and militarism. i came to the conclusion that war cannot be tolerated. no matter what we're told. if we think there are good wars, i want to examine the so-called good wars, holy wars, and take a

special remembering the legendary historian and activist howard zinn,

special remembering the legendary historian and activist howard zinn,

zinn, a very radical anti-american socialist, and for them to use this to frame history for the student that an away according to the principle, in an e-mail sent to the parents, it is mandatory. of this get wants to graduate, that is of course absurd, the district is telling me it is an elective but the principal says otherwise, seems the intent here was to dupe parents and to dupe this kid and i'm grateful that parents paid attention, it is difficult to go every piece of curriculum your kid is going to be exposed to but it is time to do that. but this kid is doing with parents, they have to take a class outside of the district so they can get credit for history so the student can graduate on time. ashley: let me get this straight. if i understand, the district says it is not mandatory but the school says it is mandatory. is that right? >> yes. there is something going on here, what was so fishy, they said it is called the colonizing us history, it is nowhere it can be found in the course catalog. i went through the course catalog and asked can you point to be the class you are telling

tune into our labor day show on monday where we bring you a howard zinn special, including a major address that he gave at the university of vermont in burlington. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. coming up, president joe biden warns donald trump and his maga reporters pose a threat to democracy. we will get the reaction from professor nancy maclean. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden gave a primetime speech thursday night warning that donald trump and his maga supporters are threatening the foundations of the republic. biden spoke in philadelphia in front of independence hall, where the declaration of independence and u.s. constitution were debated and signed. this is part of president biden's speech. pres. biden: too much on what is happening in our country today is not normal. dold trump and the maga republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. i want t

textbook from the socialist howard zinn from the soviet perspective, warned students to prepare for discomfort when discussing topics like decolonization. thank you for being here and first of all how was the course represented? taker us history course? >> just ordinary us history, second week of school our son brought home a flyer that said the colonizing us history which to us was news so we started reading the flyer, the first paragraph says we are grateful to stand on the lands of one indian tribe and acknowledge friends, white guy bad, stole the land from the indians and as you keep reading you learn history is not a series of timelines, through themes and feelings, they are teaching history in a bizarro fashion, on the bottom left, two books and one of the first books is the young people's history of the united states, and admitted socialist, anti-american, all about america is bad, america is evil, let's prepare with north korea or cuba. they have free healthcare in cuba. cuba doesn't have an illegal immigration problem because nobody wants to go to cuba. america has an illegal immigrat

this is the world according to howard zinn. and it's completely wrong. and i don't care what matt damon thinks. no, he's the guy who's trying to get you to buy bitcoin or whatever. so, you know, don't listen to him and good will hunting. this is the basic story and this is what our students are being taught. this is what my kids were being taught in school and then trying to say, this is --. and my kids are saying, chill, dad. okay. this is the basic sort of narrative. and it's coming from beared. and whether you're aware of it or not, all your teachers and their teachers, this is what influenced them. this this book. but it's wrong on these facts. it's bunk. well-heeled delegates. this is the counter story that i'm basically saying is a myth. well heald delegates met in secret and exceeded their limit instructions to modify the articles of confederation that scrapped them entirely. these plotters then pressured slash bamboozled america into accepting a document designed mainly to protect private property and fat cat creditors and to suppress incipient m

will: howard zip, a re-- zinn, a rewriting of american history. pete: it is an anti-american u.s. textbook which in this place they put on the flyer, but it's often the bay access for the actual textbook. will: and you spoke to some parents about this exact issue. pete: that's right. michelle and cal. listen. >> first paragraph says that we're grateful to stand on the lands of one indian tribe, and we acknowledge the presence of it. so it's, you know, white guy bad, you stole the land from the indians. >> it's exhausting to be a parent right now and to have to babysit what's going on in the classroom. i guess calvin and i are are going to be history teachers. pete: by the way, those parents petitioned the school for their kid to be able to change the u.s. history course he needs to graduate, they wouldn't let him opt out of the course. you're in our world now, the school says. will: all right. next, qr codes in the classroom. pete: yes. hilliard school district in ohio, ultimately, parents have spoken out about the fact that kids are being told to talk about gender transitions or