Thread by @KimforGeorgia

I rise today to speak in opposition to #SB377.

Our Republican colleagues have stated plainly yet defensively that they aren’t against the teaching of accurate history. They want Georgia students to learn about the hard truths of our past.

But the darkest parts of our history are not as far away as some of you might think.

Section 1 lists the concepts that teachers in Georgia would be prohibited from teaching.

Line 24 states: “The United States of America and the State of Georgia are fundamentally or systemically racist.”

So let’s unpack that a bit, because I think this is actually the heart of the problem that many of us have with this bill.

Systemic racism is defined as persistent, racially based inequality that exists within a system in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, education, government, and political representation.

So when we say that in the State of Georgia today, that Black people make up 32% of our population but 60% of our prison population, we can attribute that to systemic racism.

Not in the past – but now.

When we observe that statistically in the United States, Black people are more likely to be stopped by the police, detained pretrial, charged with more serious crimes, & sentenced more harshly than white people, we can attribute that to systemic racism. Not in the past – but now.

When Black women in Georgia are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women – that is systemic racism.

And it is happening now – in our state.

So if we can at least agree that all of these basic facts about inequity are true, what is a teacher to do if she’s confronted with these facts in a classroom?

How is she supposed to explain to students the reasons behind the inequality in our country and in our state – not the historical inequalities, but the ones that are happening now?

Right now?

If this isn’t systemic racism, then what is it?

Surely no one here would dare to suggest that there is something inherent in Black people that holds us back, that keeps us in jail, that causes us to die in childbirth?

Obviously that’s not the case.

But this is exactly the reason why it is so important that we DO teach about systemic racism – and the systemic racism not that’s just in our past, but in our present.

Because without explanation, without explaining that systemic racism is real, students of today would be left to draw *crushing* and *demoralizing* conclusions about inequality; left to conclude that inequality is somehow inevitable and inherent in a particular race of people.

We are going to take a vote today on this bill, and we are going to watch this overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male majority, decide for our students what is and isn’t okay to say about race in the classroom.

It's going to be codified, despite all the protests you have heard from people of color and women in this room, people who represent millions of Georgians: we are going to codify this.

And it’s going to be used to accuse teachers and punish schools simply because they dare to tell the truth – the truth that there are today some fundamental inequities in our systems.

This bill, and the process by which it was written, introduced, and ultimately may be passed, will become, in and of itself, a prime example of systemic racism, that is being enacted before our very eyes –
not in the past –
but now.

#GaPol #SB377