Thread by @VoteDarlene

This will probably be a long thread. First of all, the entire premise of this op-ed by @RepChrisStewart is based on a lie. He says, the Department of Education has proposed a rule as a means of promoting critical race theory. That is untrue. #utpol

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On April 19th, the Biden Administration Department of Education announced proposed plan for American History and Civics Education. The proposal will give priority to American history and civics education programs that will, “support efforts to improve:”
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(1) The quality of American history, the civics, and government education by educating students about the history and principles of the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights; and (2) the quality of the teaching of American history, civics, and government

in elementary schools and secondary schools, including the teaching of traditional American history. Right wing media and Republicans like Chris Stewart and @RepBurgessOwens took this statement to put forth the incorrect claim that the administration is pushing Critical Race

Theory into schools. This has contributed to the right-wing freak-out about CRT and is simply not true. First, Critical Race Theory is an scholarship taught at colleges and universities by scholars who specialize in Diversity and Inclusive Education. It critically examines the

law as it intersects with issues of race. It explores that what is past is not past, when it comes to race. No offense to our students, but these are complex ideas about race and law and are not something that would be taught in elementary or high schools. So, yes, this is the

latest right-wing outrage over something that is manufactured within their echo chamber. Here is the fact. The Department of Education is soliciting comments on its proposed priorities that includes the following for the American History and Civics Education programs:

(1) The quality of American history, civics, and government education by educating students about the history and principles of the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights; and (2) the quality of the teaching of American

history, civics, and government in elementary schools and secondary schools, including the teaching of traditional American history. The Department of Education proposes giving priority to projects that “incorporate racially, ethnically, cultural, and linguistically diverse

perspectives into teaching and learning. This means, the DOE wants teachers to teach American history without whitewashing the uncomfortable parts of our history, because 'what's past is past.' This does NOT mean that the Administration is using this proposal as a, "means of

promoting a partisan, divisive agenda known as critical race theory," as Stewart claims.
At the heart of this controversy is Donald Trump's ban on diversity training, calling it "divisive" and "un-American.”
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American history includes a perspective of people that reflects our diversity. Therefore, our history curriculum must include the voices, perspectives, and experiences that reflect our population. This may freak out Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, but we live in a multi-cultural

nation that's always been multi-cultural. A curriculum that 'incorporates racially, ethnically, cultural, and linguistically diverse perspectives' would consider a lessons about the Antebellum told only from the perspective of the plantation owners is an
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incomplete retelling of history. A lesson plan that does not reflect the diversity makeup of our population is intentional and unsafe. However, incorporating the DOE's suggestions would provide a safer and richer learning environment for everyone, and encourage students and

teachers to have more empathy and understanding of those who are different. That's the point of the plan. Instead of embracing those ideas, conservatives view them as promoting a culture of anti-whiteness or victimhood. Both are false.
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By incorporating the DOE proposals, instead of students learning about a one-dimensional Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, they would also learn about his slaves and Sally Hemings. They would learn that while the
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15th Amendment to the Constitution gave Black MEN the right to vote in 1870, states instituted road blocks that prevented them from doing so until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. They would learn about Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears. Students would learn the

correct history of Christopher Columbus and why Columbus Day is a day of mourning for Native Americans. When students learn about the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, they would also read Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech. In that lesson, they

would also become educated about the significance of June 19, 1865 and why that day is celebrated as Juneteenth, Freedom Day for African Americans. Most of these things are not taught in our schools, and most people graduate and grow up not knowing the Emancipation Proclamation

did not free all slaves. Students would also learn that the events of WWII was more than storming of the beaches of Normandy, France. They would learn about the Internment of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the racism that followed. They would also learn

learn about Chinese American's pivotal role in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and that the first Immigration law that was enacted in 1882 was to restrict Chinese immigrants from Asia and not immigrants from our southern borders.

We are a nation that continues to strive to be that more 'perfect union.' We are not there yet. Our success, as a nation is because of our diversity, not in spite of it. It is what makes us, great.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”