In recent days, there's been a flurry of articles by cons seeking to set some guardrails on how states go about banning "CRT" and related books. They support the bans in principle, but for strategic reasons, worry that they might be going too far.
They are right to be worried.
E.g. Max Eden dismisses leftwing critics of these bills as witless hysterics, but then concedes that Tennessee's law, which bans the *inclusion* of certain concepts, might be a smidge of an over-reaction.
He can add Oklahoma's to that list too, since it has the exact same defect. Also ND's, which was signed into law last month. Maybe not such witless hysterics after all.
If only someone had tried to warn them way back in June that this might be a problem!
Of course, it didn't help that Chris Rufo was flat out lying about these bills in places like WSJ. But never fear. I'm sure we can trust him going forward.
All of this does raise the question of why, when victory is finally in sight, folks like Kurtz and Eden are suddenly raising some gentle objections about what these bills do or how they do it. It's simple: They know what's coming, and they know how crazy it is going to be.
For instance, I wrote about a new bill out of South Carolina this week for @PENamerica. It has to be seen to be believed, but here's a taste.
@PENamerica Oh, and it applies to higher ed too. Public and private.
@PENamerica A new bill in Oklahoma (also prefiled last week) explicitly *requires* teachers and university professors to lie to their students about American history. I'm not making this up!
@PENamerica This is clearly crazy, but that's just it. There's no getting off the crazy train once it's in motion. Not without making things politically painful for the legislators at the control switch, which is something Kurtz, Eden, and the rest are neither able nor willing to do.
@PENamerica And so we should expect more. A lot more. Hell, a New York assemblyman just introduced one yesterday. It's less insane than the bills above, but contains that exact same "inclusion" problem Eden ever so gently cautions against. Max, caution harder!
@PENamerica This brings to a grand total of THIRTY-FOUR bills either introduced or prefiled for the next leg. session. Something will probably pass in Wisconsin and Ohio soon, and Florida won't be far behind. PEN has an up-to-date Index of all these bills here.
@PENamerica Journalists, pay attention to what's happening. It is, unfortunately, poised to get much, much worse. And probably the only way to push back against it is to highlight just how outrageous some of these bills really are.
@PENamerica For more on new bills, trends and analysis, that sort of thing, be sure to check back at @PENamerica. I'll be providing monthly round-ups like this one for all things anti-CRT. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll run out of new things to say.
There is no person on earth with a stronger claim to my house than me because when I am in it, I remember that it is where my daughter took her first steps. No theory of Indigeneity or ethno-religious descent is more powerful than that.
IOW, what matters is community.
A rant:
It's important to keep in mind what the real crime of settler colonialism is. Not "theft" per se. No single ethnic group or cultural lineage can own the land, and if your political theory claims otherwise, it is evil and I want nothing to do with it.
The real crime of settler colonialism is the destruction of communities, the loss of one's home, the denial of self-determination. After all, that's what really matters to you, right? The freedom to move through the world how you like and in the company of those you love.
Another lawsuit has been filed against an anti-CRT bill. This time it's in Tennessee. @ThePlumLineGS has the details, which are pretty crazy. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
@ThePlumLineGS The 2021 law at issue is what @PENamerica calls an "Inclusion" ban. That means it forbids K-12 teachers from including certain ideas in classroom instruction. The other types of bans, Compulsion and Promotion, are also bad, but less so.
@ThePlumLineGS @PENamerica In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue that the law is unconstitutionally vague. It permits discussion of "controversial issues", but only if they're "impartial". What do "controversial" and "impartial" mean? I have no idea, nor (I suspect) does the state. tnea.org/_data/media/82…
This incredible admission comes after plaintiffs pointed out (and a lower court agreed) that the law's ban on saying that "[a] person, by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin, or sex should be discriminated against...to achieve DEI" would bar support for AA.
Is affirmative action good or bad? Does it achieve its stated goals or not? Should we keep it, change it, or get rid of it all together?
What plaintiffs were trying to do was make a reductio: Florida's argument, taken to its logical conclusion, would ban faculty -- and even...
The brain drain is real. Tampa Bay Times pulled records on faculty retention at four Florida universities. Resignations are way up, failed searches are common, fear and self-censorship are palpable. A disaster in the making.
“These may be the times that try men’s souls (Thomas Paine, The Crisis, 1776), wherein the masses, yearning to breathe free (Colossus, 1883, Statue of Liberty) were instead everywhere enchained (Rousseau, Social Contract Theory…
Under HB 1069 (signed by DeSantis in May), county residents may object to any book they feel "depicts or describes sexual conduct." Challenged books must be immediately removed and quarantined pending the outcome of a formal review.
There is one exception, but it is narrow: books that are part of a sex ed course or have been explicitly approved by the Florida Board of Education. Remember this. It's going to matter in a sec.
https://t.co/YDdQfdajaHflsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2…