It’s clear my daughter’s 5th grade teacher is wary about saying certain things.
Today’s class convo about T-day was painfully vague… “Sometimes Thanksgiving sounds like colonists showed up & everyone was happy. There’s more to the story than that.”
She then changed the subject
It’s pretty clear teaching the REAL story behind Thanksgiving and the brutal oppression of colonialism is on us this year.
This is a good primer on how to talk about it and why it’s important not to whitewash Thanksgiving.
As I’ve advocated in previous years, the holiday is a great chance for families to learn about the indigenous people who used to live on the land they currently occupy and to honor them by incorporating their cuisine and history into your holiday.
In our Sunday morning thread we're taking a close look at the culture wars. GOP propaganda sure seems to be winning. What can Democrats do to break through the noise before the 2022 midterms?
Let's start with the fundamental misunderstanding that got us here.
(THREAD)
(2) It's clear that we're facing a war of disinformation where propaganda is being weaponized & proliferated on social media and through a plethora of right wing media sources.
And the problem for Dems is that they don't understand the rules of the game.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but teachers don’t pick your kids curriculum.
That’s mandated by state education boards. Trying to punish teachers for what’s taught in the classroom is like yelling at the cashier because you don’t like what’s stocked on the shelves.
Former teacher here. Let me explain how curriculum works.
The state works in coordination with the department of education to determine what gets taught at each grade level. They issue curriculum guidelines. They’re pretty specific.
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say for instance the math curriculum for fifth grade includes long division. The curriculum standards describe both what concepts long division encompasses & what students are expected to do to demonstrate competency in those concepts.
Dear Brighton High students,
I live less than a mile from the high school where the school district is forcing librarians to remove books from shelves.
I own a little library. It will be stocked with every title the district is censoring. Stop by anytime. ksl.com/article/502852…
@canyonsdistrict has an online submission form where you can let them know exactly what you think about the violation of their established policy in challenging books and hiding their censorship from the public.
Books being censored:
“The Bluest Eye" Toni Morrison
“Beyond Magenta" Susan Kuklin
“Monday's Not Coming" Tiffany Jackson
“Out of Darkness" Ashley Hope Perez
“The Opposite of Innocent" Sonya Sones
“Lawn Boy" Jonathan Evison
“Lolita" Vladimir Nabokov
“Gender Queer" Maia Kobabe
In today’s thread we’re discussing opposition to vaccine mandates. Specifically red states that are suing and blocking the enforcement of vaccine requirements.
How worried should we be and will this undermine our progress in combatting the pandemic?
(THREAD)
(2) Thus far, vaccine mandates have been an effective tool to ensure safety in key industries like public service, healthcare & transportation
But they haven’t been without controversy. Especially rules for private businesses going into effect in January
(3) Because these mandates work so well, the GOP is especially interested in challenging them. After all, their goal is to prolong the pandemic so it undermines Biden. They don’t care what that costs.
This morning we're asking what to do about the fact that so many Americans seem to be deeply entrenched in conspiracy theories.
As the pandemic took hold, QAnon seems to have infected more of the population. And the consequences may prove equally deadly.
(THREAD)
(2) How many people really believe in QAnon theories? At one point last year it was nearly 1 in 3 Americans that believed in some flavor of "deep state"conspiracy against Trump.
The good news is that crowd has been whittled down since the capitol riots.
(2) A security guard noticed us because I was one of the few people with a young kid in the crowd. He shouldered and pushed his way through and grabbed us before my son went completely under.
He took us to a special section on the side stage that was reserved for security.
(3) The lights were still off so people there was a lot of pushing as everyone panicked. The lead singer did something I will never forget. He jumped INTO the crowd.
He knew folks would make way for him and he was trying to stop the panic. It actually worked.