On Tuesday, Republicans in the Texas House advanced a controversial piece of legislation that will ban public school teachers from discussing or teaching anything to do with the topics of racism, white supremacy, or even current events in the news which might deal with race.
Yes, once again the Lone Star State has rocketed to the pinnacle of ignorance.
HuffPost reports that the bill will likely become law in the very near future:
The bill, which is being fast-tracked to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to sign into law, states that social studies and civics teachers aren’t allowed to discuss the concept that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” or the idea that “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.”
Even though the bill doesn’t actually contain the word “ban,” Democratic state Rep. James Talarico says it might as well considering just how sweeping the other language of the legislation is:
“The bill is written in kind of a clever way. You can talk about race in the classroom, but you can’t talk about privilege or white supremacy. It doesn’t outright ban talking about race, but the idea is to put in landmines so any conversation about race in the classroom would be impossible.
“The idea is to whitewash American history of any legacy of racism and white supremacy. The scope of this bill is very broad and is going to have a chilling effect on social studies and civics teachers across the state.”
The actions being taken in Texas are part of a larger national effort being carried out by conservatives who want to eliminate the teaching of “critical race theory,” which maintains that people of color face racism in their everyday lives on multiple levels and the issue hasn’t been dealt with because it benefits white people.
The sponsor of the legislation, Republican Rep. Steve Toth, was asked if he would favor adding an amendment to his bill that would at least allow teachers to discuss a more honest and open history of the United States, with Rep. Talarico posing this question of Toth:
“Would you be open to an amendment requiring that we teach the history of white supremacy and teach students that it’s morally wrong?”
Toth responded:
“No. I’m not.”
WATCH: Rep. @jamestalarico grills Republican Steve Toth about his terrible civics bill.
Talarico: “Would you be open to an amendment requiring that we teach the history of white supremacy and teach students that it’s morally wrong?”
Toth: “No, I’m not.” #txlege #HB3979 pic.twitter.com/BJCNwZwPr0
— Mason Reid (@Masonreid54) May 11, 2021
In other words, truth is irrelevant to Texas Republicans and all that matters is continuing to perpetuate their lies and propaganda