Texas BANS Teaching about Slavery and MLK | Wait… Is That True?

Texas passes a bill to counter critical race
theory in schools

Critics say Texas is declaring a war on history

by promoting white supremacy

But wait… is that true?

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I’m Chris Chappell.

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So, according to CNN,

Texas has declared war
on history!

That’s what you get for messing with Texas,
history!

According to multiple news reports,

a new
bill introduced by Republican lawmakers in the Texas Senate

will radically alter what
gets taught in Texas schools.

No more Civil Rights rights movement.

No more Martin Luther King Jr.

And the KKK is no longer morally wrong.

This article in The Nation says the Texas
Senate bill

“raises the prospect that Texas students could finish K-12 education

with
scant knowledge of the civil rights movement.”

Which is alarming,

since Texas students already
finish their education with scant knowledge

that cowboy hats don’t make them look as cool
as they think they do.

The Huffington Post calls the new bill “a
new political low.”

Although I think the lowest political point
I’ve seen involving a politician from Texas

is still this.

“Please clap.”

Yes, I know Jeb Bush was
governor of Florida,

but he grew up in Texas,

and frankly this level of political cringe
transcends state lines.

Back to the Texas Senate bill.

Texas Democrats are up in arms.

State Representative James Talarico says the
Republican bill is,

“a frightening dystopian future that [is starting] to come into focus.”

Which is almost as terrifying as an out of
focus dystopian future.

Other Texas Democrats said Republican Governor
Greg Abbott

doesn’t want kids to learn that white supremacy is morally wrong.

That he’s trying to recast the KKK as the
good guys.

I don’t know if I’d go that far.

This pandemic has shown Greg Abbott

isn't
a fan of establishments that make people wear masks

And get this—Texas isn’t alone.

Many other states are doing the exact same
thing.

“But Texas is now one of at least 26 states

that have proposed or have passed laws restricting

or banning classroom discussions of concepts
relating to race and racism

that Republican lawmakers say are divisive.”

Leah Wright Rigueur:
“When you look at these states that have banned the Critical Race Theory,

they’re
banning the study of race and racism in America

and they are banning anything that essentially
upsets this idea

that America is this perfect united place.”

Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone.

Banning Critical Race Theory is the same thing

as banning the study of race and racism?!

Are we sure we’re all talking about the
same thing?

Looks like it’s time for another segment
of

Wait, is that True?!

More after the break.

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So you know, when you hear sensationalist
news stories like,

Texas stops teaching that the Ku Klux Klan is morally wrong,

it’s kind of like when a suspiciously hot
woman

with a new Facebook account

messages you saying she wants to “make the kissing”

but needs your social security number.

Before you get too excited about it,

you might
want to take a moment and ask yourself,

Wait, is that True?

So a lot of states have started banning Critical
RaceTheory in K-12 schools.

Now obviously,

all of us learned in school
that slavery was bad

and what happened to the Native Americans was horrible.

And this was all possible in the days before
Critical Race Theory was taught in schools.

So then this raises the question, what is
Critical Race Theory?

What is actually being taught to children?

Well, to quote one of the leading pro-Critical
Race Theory voices, Ibram X. Kendi ,

“The most threatening racist movement is not the
alt right’s unlikely drive for a White ethnostate

but the regular American’s drive for a ‘race-neutral’
one.”

Now some people talk about judging people
not by the color of their skin

but by the content of their character.

Remember, it doesn’t matter what someone
looks like.

All that matters

is that they’re not a ventriloquist.

But the new message is, being race-neutral
is actually bad.

“The only remedy to past discrimination
is present discrimination.

The only remedy to present discrimination
is future discrimination.”

That sounds like he wants to create an endless
cycle of discrimination.

And this is why Critical Race Theory is so
controversial,

and why Republican lawmakers in Texas want to ban it.

It’s essentially a way to look at the history
we all learned about,

but through the Marxist lens of class struggle—

that there must always
be opposing groups

bent on destroying each other.

For a more indepth look at Critical Race Theory,
check out our previous episode,

“Is Marxism Invading our Schools”

Still one of our best
thumbnails.

Across the country,

more and more parents
are saying Critical Race Theory

has no place in schools.

“What kept me down?

What oppressed me?

I worked myself from off the streets to where
I am right now.

You’re going to sit here and tell me this
lie of Critical Race Theory,

of this is the reason why black folks can’t get ahead because
of white folks?

Are you kidding me?”

Of course please don’t listen to what that
man says.

It’s all a part of the GOP’s strategy!

Letting parents share their opinions?

Diabolical!

So what was actually in the bill

that has
led to claims Texas is stripping the KKK

and Civil Rights teachings from school curriculum?

Well, Texas House Republicans wanted a bill
to ban Critical Race Theory.

“Texas Republicans wanted to be sure teachers
aren’t telling your kids

that white people are inherently racist.

So, this last session, they made a list of
concepts public schoolers

should and should not learn.”

Sadly, how dorky they look in cowboy hats
didn’t make that list.

Now Texas House Democrats were not happy.

They were operating under the premise

that
banning Critical Race Theory means banning all conversation

about slavery and the civil
rights movement.

So a compromise was reached.

“To get that bill through the House,

the
Republican authors allowed Democrats to tack

on a whole host of other issues that the Democrats
wanted to talk about.”

Democrats included requirements for what had

to be taught in public schools.

These include lessons on things like Martin
Luther King, Jr.,

the Emancipation Proclamation,

Native American history, women's suffrage,

the History of the KKK,

and the ways in which white supremacy is morally wrong.

All great lessons to learn.

If only certain Democrats also learned

this doesn’t make you seem as woke as
you think it does.

State Representative Talarico , who I mentioned
earlier,

is a major opponent to the bill,

he says “the amendments the House added

were
essential to ensure that we were teaching students

all of American history —

the good,

the bad,

and the ugly,”

Talarico also said these amendments

“were
put in place to ensure that teachers

wouldn’t be punished for telling their students the
truth.”

In June, Texas Governor Greg Abott signed
the bill into law.

It was set to go into effect in September.

But then the twist!

This month, Republicans in the Texas Senate
passed another bill

that took out most of what the House Democrats added.

Which is why you have headlines saying

the
Texas GOP wants to dump MLK

and whitewash the KKK.

Of course, whitewashing is the KKK’s favorite
type of washing.

So, is the Texas GOP really trying to ban

teaching about Martin Luther King Jr. in schools?

Let’s put this story to rest after this
final commercial break.

Welcome back.

So it is true the Texas Senate passed a bill

that removes the requirement to teach that the KKK is morally wrong.

But headlines like these are misleading.

Cutting out a provision citing the KKK

doesn’t
mean that Texas is banning teaching about the KKK.

It just means it isn’t required.

Kinda like how it isn’t required to teach
atomic wedgies in school, either,

but I still learned about them.

The hard way.

In fact, none of the things taken out from
the House bill

will be banned from classrooms.

That’s because those things are already
included in the Texas Administrative Code,

which covers Texan education policies.

The Texas Administrative Code says it is essential
for schools

to teach about how Jim Crow laws

and the KKK created obstacles to civil rights.

The roles of political organizations and leaders

who supported various rights movements.

The impact of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
writings.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965.

And how Whataburger is superior to In-N-Out.

The list goes on.

So why did this new Republican Senate bill
cut all that stuff?

Well, according to the author, Senator Bryan
Hughes,

that’s because legislation isn’t supposed to be a detailed curriculum.

He’s saying a “specific reading list doesn’t
belong in statute.”

And instead, these requirements should be
developed by the State Board of Education.

“Each school would be responsible for deciding

whether or not to teach” the topics omitted from the Senate bill.

Makes sense.

It’s probably a good idea that politicians
don’t decide

what books kids are forced to read.

To make it even clearer,

an amendment to the
bill against Critical Race Theory

later clarified the bill would not prevent teachers

from discussing
things already included in the required curriculum.

And again, teaching about MLK and civil rights
and the KKK

are already included in the required curriculum.

So no topics are actually being banned by
the Senate bill.

Not even atomic wedgies.

The bill just puts the decision on what topics
to cover

in the hands of the State Board of Education.

And again, the topics that Democrats were
worried about

are already in the curriculum.

But that hasn’t satisfied critics of the
Senate bill.

Critics say removing the topics from the list
of requirements

means teachers “may come under scrutiny due to the vague,

anti-critical
race theory language.”

Republicans, after all, have made it clear
this bill is meant to oppose critical race theory,

including the 1619 Project.

Lucky for Critical Race Theory proponents,

the Senate Bill is like a 46 year-old DJ

taking his G.E.D. for the third time:

He probably
won’t pass.

To become law, the bill must pass the state’s
House of Representatives.

The problem is, 51 Democrats left the state
to D.C. earlier this month

to block a voting bill.

The Senate can’t hold a vote otherwise.

We can also thank Governor Abbott for threatening
to arrest Texas Democrats earlier this month.

“As soon as they come back in the state
of Texas, they will be arrested,

they will be cabined inside the Texas Capital until
they get their job done.”

Nothing like threatening to imprison your
political opponents.

That’ll get them to pass a bill they already
don’t like.

As I said before,

the left and right seem
to have a very hard time

finding ways to talk to each other in a meaningful way.

Wherever you are in the political spectrum,

I don’t think any normal American

would say they’re opposed to learning from our
past mistakes

about slavery and racism.

What we disagree on is how we interpret and
frame our history.

Are we a country that’s getting better?

Or getting worse?

And the fact we can’t even communicate with
each other about it,

that’s the biggest political low since—

“Please clap.”

So what do you think about the Texan Senate
bill?

Let me know in the comments below.

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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.

Thanks for watching America Uncovered.