Thread by @TexasTribune

Some politicians and parents in Texas and across the country want greater control over the kinds of books available to public school students, and they're targeting specific titles to make their argument. Here's how we got here. texastribune.org/2021/11/12/gen…

2/ Earlier this year, Texas Republicans pushed for legislation supposedly banning "critical race theory," a term co-opted by a conservative activist to publicly denounce teachings that challenge dominant narratives about the U.S.'s history and identity. texastribune.org/2021/06/22/tex…

3/ Critical race theory is an academic discipline that challenges the mainstream understanding that racism is individual prejudice, instead saying that racism is structural and inherent to U.S. institutions and structures of government. texastribune.org/2021/06/22/tex…

4/ Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law what was commonly referred to as the "critical race theory" bill, although the term "critical race theory" never appears in it. The law's vague language left educators confused over its implementation.
texastribune.org/2021/08/03/tex…

5/ In October the Carroll ISD board in Southlake voted to reprimand a teacher who had an anti-racist book in her classroom. Carroll teachers were given rubrics to evaluate whether a library offering was compliant with the new law. texastribune.org/2021/10/15/Tex…

6/ State Rep. Matt Krause began an inquiry, asking public schools if they had copies of books from a list of 850 titles last month. A @dallasnews analysis found 97 of the first 100 titles listed were written by women, people of color or LGBTQ authors. dallasnews.com/news/education…

7/ Soon after Krause launched his investigation, Gov. Greg Abbott directed @teainfo to develop standards to block books with "overtly sexual" content and told one agency to investigate criminal activity related to "pornographic books" in schools.
texastribune.org/2021/11/10/abb…

8/ One book included on Krause's list and cited in one of Gov. Abbott's directives was the graphic novel "Gender Queer." The memoir, which has some explicit illustrations depicting oral sex, chronicles the author's journey of gender identity and sexuality.
texastribune.org/2021/11/12/gen…

9/9 As with uproar over schools supposedly teaching critical race theory, the controversy surrounding "Gender Queer" in school libraries was not exclusive to Texas. The book was also banned by a Virginia county school board and a Florida school district.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…