Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

In January 21, a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives introduced a bill that would bar schools as well as organizations that have entered into a contract or subcontract with the state from endorsing “divisive concepts.”

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

Specifically, the measure would forbid “race or sex 'scapegoating',” questioning the value of meritocracy, & suggesting that New Hampshire—or the United States—is “fundamentally racist.”

Contrary to their often repeated claim, the Right actually HATES *certain* free speech.

The bill is one of many that Republicans have introduced. In Arkansas, lawmakers have approved a measure to ban state contractors from offering training that promotes “division between, resentment of, or social justice for” groups based on race, gender, or political affiliation.

Critics warn that the bills would effectively prevent public schools & universities from holding discussions about #racism; the New Hampshire bill would even ban companies that do business with government entities from conducting diversity, equity, & inclusion programs.

The larger purpose is to rally the Republican base—to push back against recent re-examinations of the role that slavery & segregation played in American history & the attempts to redress those historical offenses. The shorthand for the Right's bogeyman is 'critical race theory'.

For Republicans - as with the UK @Conservatives - the end goal of all these bills is clear: initiating another battle in the culture wars, dividing voters, & holding on to some threadbare regressive misleading mythology of the nation that has been challenged in recent years.

Critical race theory is a legal framework developed decades ago at Harvard Law School, claiming racism is not just about individual bias, but is embedded in legal systems & policies. It's the subject of heated debate on Fox "News", GB "News", & across right-wing media & politics.

It's not taught in ANY schools - it's taught in some Universities, usually in Law Schools, & the overwhelming majority of the US public & politicians opposing it have *no clue* what it actually is. I tried to explain CRT in this #THREAD from January 2022:

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1484830038210060293?s=20&t=Q75ELVfqTicXFFnKzxuB3g

In the UK, leading Conservatives such as Patel, Truss, Javid, Liam Fox, Hannan, & their donors have close ties to think tanks like the hard-right Heritage Foundation, which wants to not only ban CRT but is determined to roll-back abortion rights in the US.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1463206583232569356?s=20&t=Q75ELVfqTicXFFnKzxuB3g

By March 2022, Mississippi’s governor had signed a bill to limit how race can be discussed in classrooms, marking the latest move in a Republican-driven battle over “critical race theory”.

theguardian.com/us-news/2022/m…

The Mississippi bill has sparked opposition from Black lawmakers, who have said its passage could squelch honest discussion about the harmful effects of racism. The main text of the legislation does not mention or define CRT, & many pushing the bill cannot even say what it means.

Here in the UK, sociologists (like me) have raised concerns since 2020 about the UK Government's Steve Bannon-inspired political culture war attacks on the teaching of critical race theory, after it suddenly started being discussed.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Prior to October 2020, the term “critical race theory” had never once been uttered in the House of Commons. By the end of the day on 20 October, however, it was of such importance that the government declared itself “unequivocally against” the concept.

Hard-right Minister Kemi Badenoch led the attack at the end of a debate to mark #BlackHistoryMonth: Any school which teaches CRT or “which promotes partisan political views such as defunding the police without offering a balanced treatment of opposing views, is breaking the law.”

In October last year, the British Sociological Association made a statement which involved placing CRT in the wider context of UK Govt's unwelcome, unwarranted, partisan & dangerous culture war interventions into academic free speech in UK Universities:

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1452626871817019397?s=20&t=Q75ELVfqTicXFFnKzxuB3g

In summary...