Thread by @jbendery

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who raised his fist in solidarity with white supremacists before they attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, calls for "an investment in love" by not teaching children about racism in American history huffpost.com/entry/josh-haw…

"Let’s make it together ― and now." -- Josh Hawley on making love to America, or making investments in love, or ... something

Hawley gives examples of how schools can teach kids about American history through a rosy lens:

"This isn’t a ­nation of oppressors. This is a nation of liberators," he says.

(We were founded by white colonizers who slaughtered Native Americans in the name of civilization.)

"This is the country founded on the worth and dignity of every individual," says Hawley.

(The founders' Constitution did not give women the right to vote + categorized enslaved people as “three-fifths of a free individual” for deciding a region's congressional representation.)

Another way Hawley says schools should erase racism as they teach children to love America:

“This is the country that gave working people the right to vote."

(Women only gained the right to vote in 1920 after a decadeslong fight -- and even then, women of color were left out.)

“This is the country that freed the slaves," Hawley says as he pitches ways for schools to teach children to love America's history without talking about racism.

What?

Speaking of promoting American patriotism: Hawley was one of 147 Republicans who rejected American democracy on Jan. 6 by voting to overturn the the presidential election based on a lie about voter fraud that fueled the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. huffpost.com/entry/republic…

Hawley was also one of 139 Republicans who voted to block the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate what led up to the insurrection and how to prevent such an attack from happening again. huffpost.com/entry/republic…

And on July 4, Hawley was one of dozens of Republicans publicly celebrating the U.S. as “the greatest nation in the history of the world," despite previously lying to the American public to justify his vote against democracy. huffpost.com/entry/republic…

What Hawley is really doing here with his calls for making love to America is trying to lump himself in with conservative Republicans' broader, nationwide effort to attack critical race theory b/c they're eyeing a run for president in 2024. huffpost.com/entry/josh-haw…

The thing Hawley and others want to gloss over when they criticize critical race theory is that 1) they don't actually know what it is or don't want to know because it doesn't serve their political purpose and 2) it's an academic discipline not taught in K-12 public schools.

What they def don't want to talk about the idea that racism is an everyday experience for most people of color, that this has shaped the country’s legal + social systems, and that a large part of society has no interest in changing this reality because it benefits white people.

That, in a nutshell, is critical race theory.

Hawley is simultaneously distorting the concept of patriotism + the concept that only positive things by white colonizers led to the America's founding.

It's simply not true and he knows that. But this is where conservatives are focusing energy right now, so he's all in.

Between the events of Jan. 6 + efforts to rewrite American history sans racism, a whole of whitewashing happening by Republicans these days.

Hawley is right in the middle of both of these efforts. huffpost.com/entry/josh-haw…