If you thought Republicans’ anti-woke agenda couldn’t get any crazier, think again. This week, a new bill passed in the South Carolina House that could stir up all sorts of crazy in the state’s public schools.
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The bill, passed on February 8, allows parents to sue public school districts in the state teaching a curriculum they perceive as racist. And school districts that break the rules could be punished by missing out on desperately needed state funding. It should come as no surprise that the 83-34 vote was along party lines.
Democrats opposed the legislation on the grounds that it is an attempt to force teachers to whitewash history. You know, leaving out all of the uncomfortable racist stuff that makes conservatives squirm. But Republicans held firm to their position. Republican Rep. Adam Morgan, a co-sponsor of the bill, says it doesn’t stop teachers from giving their students the facts.
“Nothing in this bill restricts the teaching of fact-based history. It’s not in there. Read it. It clearly lays out the prohibited concepts, basically don’t discriminate, don’t push racism, don’t indoctrinate kids in your personal political viewpoints. That’s what it says,” he said. “There is nothing in that bill that really should be controversial.”
That is, except the part that bans teaching anything that assumes “fault, blame, or bias should be assigned to race, sex, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin, or to members of a race, sex, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin because of their race, sex, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin.” That’s code for teaching that white people are responsible for slavery.
Democratic Rep. Jermaine Johnson expressed his frustration to his Republican colleagues. According to Johnson, the bill is an effort to prevent white people from being “uncomfortable” with facing the reality of slavery and its impact. He added that it was even more shameful to have the discussion during Black History Month.
“This bill comes from people being uncomfortable about learning Black history,” Johnson said. “The nation’s founders killed people who looked like me. They hung people who looked like me. Is that indoctrination, or is that truth?”
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