WEBVTT
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Texas passes a bill to counter critical race
theory in schools
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Critics say Texas is declaring a war on history
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by promoting white supremacy
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But wait… is that true?
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Welcome to America Uncovered.
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I’m Chris Chappell.
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even if you
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So, according to CNN,
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Texas has declared war
on history!
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That’s what you get for messing with Texas,
history!
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According to multiple news reports,
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a new
bill introduced by Republican lawmakers in the Texas Senate
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will radically alter what
gets taught in Texas schools.
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No more Civil Rights rights movement.
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No more Martin Luther King Jr.
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And the KKK is no longer morally wrong.
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This article in The Nation says the Texas
Senate bill
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“raises the prospect that Texas students could finish K-12 education
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with
scant knowledge of the civil rights movement.”
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Which is alarming,
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since Texas students already
finish their education with scant knowledge
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that cowboy hats don’t make them look as cool
as they think they do.
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The Huffington Post calls the new bill “a
new political low.”
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Although I think the lowest political point
I’ve seen involving a politician from Texas
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is still this.
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“Please clap.”
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Yes, I know Jeb Bush was
governor of Florida,
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but he grew up in Texas,
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and frankly this level of political cringe
transcends state lines.
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Back to the Texas Senate bill.
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Texas Democrats are up in arms.
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State Representative James Talarico says the
Republican bill is,
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“a frightening dystopian future that [is starting] to come into focus.”
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Which is almost as terrifying as an out of
focus dystopian future.
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Other Texas Democrats said Republican Governor
Greg Abbott
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doesn’t want kids to learn that white supremacy is morally wrong.
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That he’s trying to recast the KKK as the
good guys.
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I don’t know if I’d go that far.
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This pandemic has shown Greg Abbott
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isn't
a fan of establishments that make people wear masks
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And get this—Texas isn’t alone.
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Many other states are doing the exact same
thing.
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“But Texas is now one of at least 26 states
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that have proposed or have passed laws restricting
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or banning classroom discussions of concepts
relating to race and racism
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that Republican lawmakers say are divisive.”
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Leah Wright Rigueur:
“When you look at these states that have banned the Critical Race Theory,
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they’re
banning the study of race and racism in America
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and they are banning anything that essentially
upsets this idea
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that America is this perfect united place.”
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Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone.
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Banning Critical Race Theory is the same thing
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as banning the study of race and racism?!
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Are we sure we’re all talking about the
same thing?
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Looks like it’s time for another segment
of
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Wait, is that True?!
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More after the break.
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Welcome back.
00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:40.329
Though if you didn’t see an ad, it’s because
YouTube demonetized us
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for talking about controversial topics like Critical Race Theory.
00:03:44.396 --> 00:03:48.358
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mainstream media,
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please support our work with as little as a $1 per episode
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on the
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Visit pateron.com/AmericaUncovered for more.
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So you know, when you hear sensationalist
news stories like,
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Texas stops teaching that the Ku Klux Klan is morally wrong,
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it’s kind of like when a suspiciously hot
woman
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with a new Facebook account
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messages you saying she wants to “make the kissing”
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but needs your social security number.
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Before you get too excited about it,
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you might
want to take a moment and ask yourself,
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Wait, is that True?
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So a lot of states have started banning Critical
RaceTheory in K-12 schools.
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Now obviously,
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all of us learned in school
that slavery was bad
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and what happened to the Native Americans was horrible.
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And this was all possible in the days before
Critical Race Theory was taught in schools.
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So then this raises the question, what is
Critical Race Theory?
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What is actually being taught to children?
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Well, to quote one of the leading pro-Critical
Race Theory voices, Ibram X. Kendi ,
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“The most threatening racist movement is not the
alt right’s unlikely drive for a White ethnostate
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but the regular American’s drive for a ‘race-neutral’
one.”
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Now some people talk about judging people
not by the color of their skin
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but by the content of their character.
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Remember, it doesn’t matter what someone
looks like.
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All that matters
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is that they’re not a ventriloquist.
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But the new message is, being race-neutral
is actually bad.
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“The only remedy to past discrimination
is present discrimination.
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The only remedy to present discrimination
is future discrimination.”
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That sounds like he wants to create an endless
cycle of discrimination.
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And this is why Critical Race Theory is so
controversial,
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and why Republican lawmakers in Texas want to ban it.
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It’s essentially a way to look at the history
we all learned about,
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but through the Marxist lens of class struggle—
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that there must always
be opposing groups
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bent on destroying each other.
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For a more indepth look at Critical Race Theory,
check out our previous episode,
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“Is Marxism Invading our Schools”
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Still one of our best
thumbnails.
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Across the country,
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more and more parents
are saying Critical Race Theory
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has no place in schools.
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“What kept me down?
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What oppressed me?
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I worked myself from off the streets to where
I am right now.
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You’re going to sit here and tell me this
lie of Critical Race Theory,
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of this is the reason why black folks can’t get ahead because
of white folks?
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Are you kidding me?”
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Of course please don’t listen to what that
man says.
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It’s all a part of the GOP’s strategy!
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Letting parents share their opinions?
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Diabolical!
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So what was actually in the bill
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that has
led to claims Texas is stripping the KKK
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and Civil Rights teachings from school curriculum?
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Well, Texas House Republicans wanted a bill
to ban Critical Race Theory.
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“Texas Republicans wanted to be sure teachers
aren’t telling your kids
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that white people are inherently racist.
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So, this last session, they made a list of
concepts public schoolers
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should and should not learn.”
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Sadly, how dorky they look in cowboy hats
didn’t make that list.
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Now Texas House Democrats were not happy.
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They were operating under the premise
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that
banning Critical Race Theory means banning all conversation
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about slavery and the civil
rights movement.
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So a compromise was reached.
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“To get that bill through the House,
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the
Republican authors allowed Democrats to tack
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on a whole host of other issues that the Democrats
wanted to talk about.”
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Democrats included requirements for what had
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to be taught in public schools.
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These include lessons on things like Martin
Luther King, Jr.,
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the Emancipation Proclamation,
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Native American history, women's suffrage,
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the History of the KKK,
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and the ways in which white supremacy is morally wrong.
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All great lessons to learn.
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If only certain Democrats also learned
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this doesn’t make you seem as woke as
you think it does.
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State Representative Talarico , who I mentioned
earlier,
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is a major opponent to the bill,
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he says “the amendments the House added
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were
essential to ensure that we were teaching students
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all of American history —
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the good,
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the bad,
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and the ugly,”
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Talarico also said these amendments
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“were
put in place to ensure that teachers
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wouldn’t be punished for telling their students the
truth.”
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In June, Texas Governor Greg Abott signed
the bill into law.
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It was set to go into effect in September.
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But then the twist!
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This month, Republicans in the Texas Senate
passed another bill
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that took out most of what the House Democrats added.
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Which is why you have headlines saying
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the
Texas GOP wants to dump MLK
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and whitewash the KKK.
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Of course, whitewashing is the KKK’s favorite
type of washing.
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So, is the Texas GOP really trying to ban
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teaching about Martin Luther King Jr. in schools?
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Let’s put this story to rest after this
final commercial break.
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Welcome back.
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So it is true the Texas Senate passed a bill
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that removes the requirement to teach that the KKK is morally wrong.
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But headlines like these are misleading.
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Cutting out a provision citing the KKK
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doesn’t
mean that Texas is banning teaching about the KKK.
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It just means it isn’t required.
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Kinda like how it isn’t required to teach
atomic wedgies in school, either,
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but I still learned about them.
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The hard way.
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In fact, none of the things taken out from
the House bill
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will be banned from classrooms.
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That’s because those things are already
included in the Texas Administrative Code,
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which covers Texan education policies.
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The Texas Administrative Code says it is essential
for schools
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to teach about how Jim Crow laws
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and the KKK created obstacles to civil rights.
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The roles of political organizations and leaders
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who supported various rights movements.
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The impact of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
writings.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965.
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And how Whataburger is superior to In-N-Out.
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The list goes on.
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So why did this new Republican Senate bill
cut all that stuff?
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Well, according to the author, Senator Bryan
Hughes,
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that’s because legislation isn’t supposed to be a detailed curriculum.
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He’s saying a “specific reading list doesn’t
belong in statute.”
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And instead, these requirements should be
developed by the State Board of Education.
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“Each school would be responsible for deciding
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whether or not to teach” the topics omitted from the Senate bill.
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Makes sense.
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It’s probably a good idea that politicians
don’t decide
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what books kids are forced to read.
00:11:03.624 --> 00:11:05.335
To make it even clearer,
00:11:05.335 --> 00:11:07.911
an amendment to the
bill against Critical Race Theory
00:11:07.911 --> 00:11:10.941
later clarified the bill would not prevent teachers
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from discussing
things already included in the required curriculum.
00:11:16.043 --> 00:11:21.139
And again, teaching about MLK and civil rights
and the KKK
00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:25.110
are already included in the required curriculum.
00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:29.578
So no topics are actually being banned by
the Senate bill.
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Not even atomic wedgies.
00:11:31.886 --> 00:11:35.020
The bill just puts the decision on what topics
to cover
00:11:35.020 --> 00:11:37.720
in the hands of the State Board of Education.
00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.795
And again, the topics that Democrats were
worried about
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are already in the curriculum.
00:11:44.094 --> 00:11:47.199
But that hasn’t satisfied critics of the
Senate bill.
00:11:47.199 --> 00:11:50.579
Critics say removing the topics from the list
of requirements
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means teachers “may come under scrutiny due to the vague,
00:11:54.238 --> 00:11:56.704
anti-critical
race theory language.”
00:11:56.704 --> 00:12:01.458
Republicans, after all, have made it clear
this bill is meant to oppose critical race theory,
00:12:01.458 --> 00:12:04.001
including the 1619 Project.
00:12:04.616 --> 00:12:07.181
Lucky for Critical Race Theory proponents,
00:12:07.181 --> 00:12:10.006
the Senate Bill is like a 46 year-old DJ
00:12:10.006 --> 00:12:12.649
taking his G.E.D. for the third time:
00:12:12.962 --> 00:12:15.567
He probably
won’t pass.
00:12:15.567 --> 00:12:20.393
To become law, the bill must pass the state’s
House of Representatives.
00:12:20.393 --> 00:12:25.948
The problem is, 51 Democrats left the state
to D.C. earlier this month
00:12:25.948 --> 00:12:28.024
to block a voting bill.
00:12:28.024 --> 00:12:30.658
The Senate can’t hold a vote otherwise.
00:12:30.658 --> 00:12:35.852
We can also thank Governor Abbott for threatening
to arrest Texas Democrats earlier this month.
00:12:35.852 --> 00:12:39.194
“As soon as they come back in the state
of Texas, they will be arrested,
00:12:39.194 --> 00:12:43.801
they will be cabined inside the Texas Capital until
they get their job done.”
00:12:43.801 --> 00:12:46.965
Nothing like threatening to imprison your
political opponents.
00:12:46.965 --> 00:12:50.476
That’ll get them to pass a bill they already
don’t like.
00:12:51.099 --> 00:12:52.236
As I said before,
00:12:52.236 --> 00:12:55.360
the left and right seem
to have a very hard time
00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:59.320
finding ways to talk to each other in a meaningful way.
00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:01.413
Wherever you are in the political spectrum,
00:13:01.413 --> 00:13:03.690
I don’t think any normal American
00:13:03.690 --> 00:13:07.004
would say they’re opposed to learning from our
past mistakes
00:13:07.004 --> 00:13:09.312
about slavery and racism.
00:13:09.312 --> 00:13:14.379
What we disagree on is how we interpret and
frame our history.
00:13:14.379 --> 00:13:16.946
Are we a country that’s getting better?
00:13:16.946 --> 00:13:18.679
Or getting worse?
00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:22.038
And the fact we can’t even communicate with
each other about it,
00:13:22.038 --> 00:13:24.897
that’s the biggest political low since—
00:13:25.188 --> 00:13:26.355
“Please clap.”
00:13:26.355 --> 00:13:28.606
So what do you think about the Texan Senate
bill?
00:13:28.606 --> 00:13:30.322
Let me know in the comments below.
00:13:30.322 --> 00:13:34.474
Also, remember that we need your support to
keep America Uncovered going.
00:13:34.474 --> 00:13:37.511
We’re covering history without whitewashing
it.
00:13:37.511 --> 00:13:41.512
All it takes is $1 per episode on the crowd
funding website Patreon.
00:13:41.512 --> 00:13:45.189
Visit Patreon.com/AmericaUncovered to learn
more.
00:13:45.189 --> 00:13:46.583
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
00:13:46.583 --> 00:13:48.789
Thanks for watching America Uncovered.