Excellent analysis!
On Jun 29, 2021, at 9:52 AM, Eric Russell <ericprussell@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Teaching Critical Race Theory should not be limited to the history of African
Americans in this country. Every group perceived as "other" has been
oppressed. It has often been covert. It has often been overt. Consider the
Asian exclusion laws which continued into the 20th century. Consider the
laws against miscegenation. Consider the signs and advertisements reading
NINA [No Irish need apply] which were once common. The list is long.
The important difference is that, even when these discriminations were
codified as law, they have largely disappeared. It often takes several
generations after arrival for a group to reach technical equality. The
recent attacks on Asians, especially Senior Citizens, make it clear that this
problem has not gone away. The critical difference is that the mistreatment
of African Americans continues to be institutionalized, as the recent attacks
on voting rights demonstrate.
The Supreme Court has, shamefully, continued this discriminatory process with
their recent anti-labor ruling. It mainly affects the right of dark-skinned
people's right to organize, both in agriculture and in commerce. It remains
to be seen whether the People's Right to Organize [PRO] Act will, once
passed, withstand the inevitable judicial review based on this history. I
do, however, hope it will pass soon.
This should be brought as an anti-discrimination resolution to the DA with
the intent of moving it to NYSUT and AFT. Perhaps it should be proposed as a
plank in the Democratic platform for 2024. The issue will not go quietly
into the night. The "Conservatives" seem to have opened a can of worms.
Eric
From: uupretirees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <uupretirees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on
behalf of Marshall Spector <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2021 8:04 AM
To: uupretirees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <uupretirees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [uupretirees] Opinion | The cold truth about Republicans’ hot air
over critical race theory - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/28/cold-truth-about-republicans-hot-air-over-critical-race-theory/
Opinion: The cold truth about Republicans’ hot air over critical race theory
Eugene Robinson
Opponents of critical race theory attend a packed Loudoun County School Board
meeting in Ashburn, Va., on June 22. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
The Republican state legislators falling over themselves to decide how
history can and cannot be taught in schools — and blowhards such as Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-Tex.), who warn that children are being taught “every White person is
a racist” — know exactly what they’re doing. They seek to create a crisis
where none exists in hopes of driving up GOP turnout in next year’s midterm
elections.
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It’s a cynical ploy. But a party willing to pretend — even now — that Donald
Trump might somehow have won an election he lost clearly embraces cynicism as
its core identity.
It is unclear whether the GOP’s focus on denying the reality of our racial
history will have any impact at the ballot box. Schoolchildren will suffer,
however, because teachers will be forced to keep them ignorant of relevant
facts and perspectives. And all Americans will suffer if Republicans succeed
in squelching the long-overdue reckoning with race that many of us believe
the nation sorely needs.
GOP politicians have especially taken aim at the New York Times’s 1619
Project, which provocatively explored the relationship of slavery to the
nation’s founding. Perhaps this is because many Republicans already see the
Times as a nest of villainous “elites.” Perhaps it’s because the 1619 Project
was led by a Black woman, Nikole Hannah-Jones, whom Republican strategists
believe they can demonize. Or perhaps it’s because the project tells so much
truth.
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Was slavery key to the colonial economy at the time of the Declaration of
Independence? Clearly it was, and one of the many charges the declaration
leveled against King George III is that he “has excited domestic
insurrections amongst us” — seen by historians as referring to a proclamation
in Virginia offering freedom to slaves who joined the British army. The
declaration also slams the king for his passive support of the “merciless
Indian Savages” who resisted the White settlers’ efforts to move westward and
take more of the Indians’ land.
Was slavery written into the Constitution? The word itself does not appear,
but the Constitution never would have been ratified without the famous
compromise that allowed states to count only three-fifths of their enslaved
populations for the purposes of apportioning seats in the House of
Representatives. The charter specifies that “free Persons” and indentured
servants be counted in full, leaving only slaves to constitute the “all other
Persons” who are subject to the three-fifths limitation.
Was slavery just a Southern phenomenon? Not at all. Slavery wasn’t outlawed
in New York until 1827, and the last 16 enslaved Black men and women in New
Jersey didn’t obtain their freedom until 1865. Moreover, the entire young
nation benefited economically from the plantation-style slavery practiced in
the South, which gave the mills of New England raw material to work with and
the nascent banking center of Wall Street a thriving enterprise to finance.
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Didn’t the Civil War and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments deal once and for
all with the problem of racial oppression in this country? Of course not.
Reconstruction was cut short, and the states were allowed to establish a
system of Jim Crow segregation that endured for nearly a century. Black
Americans were systematically robbed of land and wages, denied access to
capital, confined to substandard housing, and denied educational
opportunities. When some Black communities overcame these obstacles — as in
Tulsa, Atlanta and a host of other cities — White mobs burned and smashed
those communities out of existence.
These are all undisputed facts. This is the history that has, until now, been
ignored or played down. Teachers who expose their students to such truths are
not being “woke” or convincing impressionable young minds that the nation is
“irredeemably racist,” as Cruz has alleged. They are performing an essential
task of education: contextually explaining where we’ve been so that we can
understand where we are and where we need to go.
This nation can be redeemed — but not without first acknowledging the need
for redemption. The Republican Party is trying to prohibit that
acknowledgment, and is doing so for short-term political gain. The flap over
critical race theory is just another scam from a party that believes in
nothing except the unprincipled pursuit of power.
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Karen Attiah: The challenge for educators amid the critical race theory
backlash: How do you fight hot air?
Colbert I. King: A message to GOP congressmen — In D.C., critical race theory
is simple truth-telling
Vincent Jungkunz: Who’s afraid of critical race theory? Not the students in
my classes.
George F. Will: A teacher pushes back against K-12 critical race theory
indoctrination
Christine Emba: Why conservatives really fear critical race theory
Dana Milbank: Why does Biden hate the flag, family, grace, God and America?
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