Thread by @QasimRashid

Predictable fail from Chuck Todd

Todd: "Parents are saying 'don't make my kid feel guilty." And a parent of color is going ‘I need to teach reality.'"

@nhannahjones: "Your framing said 'parents.' And then 'parents of color.' So the 'white' is silent."

Also since @chucktodd keeps asking “how young is too young” to talk about racism—I was 8 the first time I was called “camel jockey” & “sand ni**er.”

If BIPOC kids are old enough to experience racism—all kids are old enough to learn about the existence of racism & how to stop it.

Moreover, 54% of US school kids are BIPOC & 46% are white, while only 20% of US teachers are BIPOC & 80% are white.

The claim that white kids are being “race shamed” by teachers—the vast majority of whom are themselves white—is absurd & w/o evidence.

Some white people in US history were slave owners & other white people were abolitionists

Parents who think teaching about America’s history of racism shames white kids should reflect on why they think white kids will associate more w/slave owner guilt than w/abolitionist pride.

But speaking of racism in schools, studies prove “educators hold ‘slight’ pro-white/anti-Black bias,” & “counties w/stronger pro-white/anti-Black bias among teachers have larger racial disparities in test scores & suspensions.”
brookings.edu/blog/brown-cen…

I’m not slamming educators—

I’m stating that GOP bills to ban teaching about the existence of racism will succeed only in stripping educators from the tools they need to combat racism—harming BIPOC kids directly & white kids by whitewashing reality

We don’t cure cancer by ignoring it. Same w/ending racism.