Michael Harriot Profile picture
Writer, board-certified wypipologist, last real Negus alive. BlackAF History/Drapetomaniax podcast/theGrio…At the SAME DAMN TIME. Never reneged; Never will.

Oct 28, 2021, 17 tweets

I am big enough to admit when I am wrong

According to the new definition in some of the recently passed legislation, I found a few examples of schools and textbooks that promote Critical Race Theory in schools.

A thread.

First, let's agree that we shouldn't even argue about the 1800s. According to the CDC, the average life expectancy in the US is 78 years old, which means a 78-year-old would've entered school in 1949. But let's skip the 40s. In fact, let's skip the 1950s too.

Instead, every one of these examples of CRT is from the 1960s forward, which means the people who learned these lessons are statistically still living, most are still in the workforce, in fact, NO ONE who learned any of these CRT lessons are even old enough to get Social Security

It's a good thing SC's legislature defines critical race theory because every history student until 1984 learned that:

"Africans were brought from a worse life to a better one. As slaves, they were trained in the ways of civilization."

Again, no "race, ethnicity religion, color or national origin is supposed to be inferior or superior in SC schools, but the book also says:

"...the slaves were given the opportunity to become Christians in a Christian land, instead of remaining heathen in a savage country."

And:

“Most slaves were treated well, if only because it was to the planter’s interest to have them healthy and contented...The Africans were used to a hot climate. They made fine workers under the Carolina sun.”
Here's what they learned about white supremacist terrorists:

In Alabama, there's no CRT law. The state school board just banned it, which would have outlawed nearly every textbook in Alabama up until the 1980s Especially something like this that describes how slavery was so enjoyable.

Or this one, from the 1970s that showed how Slavery was "one of the earliest forms of Social Security in the United States."

Or the one that excused terrorism because "Many Alabama white men believed that they could not depend on the laws or the state government"

This is CRT

In Kentucky's 1983 curriculum, they actually had a film that showed slave life in Kentucky was not "as bad as in other areas of the South.

Then they did an exercise where the kids pretended to be slavemasters!

Thank GOD Kentucky outlawed it after teaching it for 200 years

Texas just lies or eliminates history altogether!

They didn't forget to include Reconstruction, redlining etc. The publisher removed subjects out of Texas' textbooks!

But that was way back in... *checks notes*
Today
It's today, y'all.

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Yes, they actually managed to erase racism!

Texas isn't the only state that lies.

Virginia's slave code forbade slaves from reading, owning guns and traveling. But here's what Virginia's 4th-grade textbooks taught kids until the 1970s.

Now, this purposeful lie is SPECIFICALLY intended to make white kids feel good.

But it's not just in the South.

Here's what a textbook from Connecticut taught fourth graders in 2016/

Apparently they don't believe that children are the future because they don't teach them well.

Or maybe the greatest love of all is whiteness.

And one of the most widely used textbooks in the country, The American Pageant, describes the human trafficking of the Trans Atlantic slave trade as "immigration" and says slaves helped out with "chores" on "agricultural plantations"

Good times.

In every state's definition of CRT, these would be banned, even though some of them are being used.

It's because they aren't trying to outlaw CRT. They're trying to outlaw the truth and and continue with the lies.

And I truly understand why they're doing it.

BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW THEY LEARNED LIES!

Only 8% of HS seniors can identify slavery as a cause of the Civil War.
68% don't know the 13th Amendment ended slavery.
Only 16% know that the Constitution provided protections for slaveholders

And THEY DID BETTER THAN MOST AMERICANS

That's why people should actually use these new laws to make sure schools are teaching the correct version of history.

But I just hope you can accept my apology. I was wrong.

White people have been learning CRT this whole time.

Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.

A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.

Keep scrolling