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Darlene McDonald Profile picture
Darlene McDonald
@iamdarlenemcd
Darlene McDonald, writer and author. Director of 1Utah Project We must Educate to Eradicate Racism in Utah. #eracism
Jul 22 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
*Reposting from Facebook*

Some have asked, so I will speak to this historic moment:

Please note, in this post I speak for Darlene and not on behalf of any party or numerous groups I belong to. This message is from U.S citizen, Darlene McDonald.

First, at the moment, I’m grieving. Yes, I’ve shed many tears today. I’m grieving how President Joe Biden was pushed out and a feel that human pain of loss and anger that he and his family must be feeling in this moment. It is not a matter of whether or not he SHOULD have resigned, it is a matter of allowing myself to feel the very real human emotion of loss. #JoeBidenImage It is MY opinion that President Joe Biden WILL be recorded as one of the most successful presidents in American history. With that comes policies that I personally agreed with and DID NOT agree with. He will be recorded as the most successful president in American history, period. He has the numbers to prove it.
Apr 21 • 17 tweets • 10 min read
Let’s talk about this. Cari Bartholomew is a District 13 Republican State Board of Education candidate. It's speculated that she, along with husband ‘podcaster’ Adam  Bartholomew, play a large role in the recent “Furries” faux-rage in order to bolster her campaign. #utpol #USBE Image Full Disclosure: I have a history with Cari. It’s safe to say that I do not hold her in high regards. Cari is bi-racial (black and white). Her social and political views toward Black people, culture and history are deeply troubling and align with those of the recently ousted right-wing love child Candace Owens. In fact, Cari once bragged about writing Owens' anti-CRT script. She and Owens exhibit extreme internalized racism that’s harmful and exploited by organizations like Utah Parents United and Turning Point USA and people like Natalie Cline and Charlie Kirk.
Apr 3 • 16 tweets • 12 min read
You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. The #utleg dressed up Florida’s antidiscrimination bill by changing a few words and called it the #Utahway.
A 🧵

There's nothing different about #HB261 nor Utah's approach to DEI and antidiscrimination. Utah is being led by the same people with the intention to dismantled antidiscrimination and civil rights laws and protections.

HB261 substitutes 'race, color, sex, or national origin' for 'personal identity characteristics.' By doing so, HB261 includes gender identity.

The Florida's 'Stop Woke Act' placed strict limitations on the topics Florida employers can discuss at diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI") trainings and seminars.

The Utah way prohibits mandatory DEI-training and instructional programs by covered institutions that promote #DEI initiatives.

.@johnforutah quotes Maximilian Werner, a University of Utah professor who is a campus co-chair of the Heterodox Academy (HxA) at the UofU.

In November 2023, @GovCox interviewed John Tomasi, President of the Heterodox Academy at an NGA event, where they discussed "how to help college students freely explore new ideas and uncomfortable topics."

This is quite significant. Why? you might ask.

Well, it's all about money💵; where it comes from, who they are giving to, and for what purpose.

Pull up a chair. I'm going to take the scenic route to explain why this is a big deal. #utpol #utleg #crt #HxA Why is it significant that Cox sat down with John Tomasi?

When the news broke that the Utah state legislature was going to take up anti-DEI legislation during the 2024 Legislative session, in almost every article, Representative Hall notes that she worked with college professors and university presidents on the legislation. Those processors and college presidents are never named. In each article that states a "University of Utah professor" who believes DEI-initiatives go to far, they quote the same University of Utah professor and no one else. Why is that?

Well, it turns out that it's kind of a big deal.

The scenic route.

In 2021, John Warner wrote an opinion article for Inside Higher Ed where he began by quoting another writer that described the newly appointed president of Heterodox Academy, John Tomasi as "One of Charles Koch's "pet professors.""

In addition to being the new President of Heterodox Academy, John Tomasi is also the founder and director of the Political Theory Project at Brown University.

The PTP is described as "an on-campus organization that hosts credit-bearing courses, houses postgraduate fellows and produces original programming around their mission to "investigate the ideas and institutions that make societies free, prosperous, and fair.""

Political Theory Project receives significant funding from libertarian organizations such as the oft-mentioned Charles Koch and the slightly unknown Thomas W. Smith Foundation.
insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
Jan 26 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
The psychology of white resentment.

When you study American history and especially America’s periods of racial progress, you will inadvertently study the accompanying white backlash.

“The word came to stand for a topsy-turvy rebellion in which white people with relative societal power perceived themselves as victimized by what they described as overly aggressive African Americans demanding equal rights.”

If/When the Utah State Legislature passed #HB261, they’re willing participants in one of the oldest traditions in American history.

It happened after Reconstruction. It happened before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. It happened after the election of Barack Obama. And, it happened after the murder of George Floyd.

What one reporter called “white panic” was driven by fears of “favoritism” and “special privileges” for African Americans—that white “workers would be forced out of their jobs to make way for Negroes,” as one article put it that year, when Jim Crow still prevailed.” #utpol #utlegImage On more than one occasion, Rep. Katy Hall testified how people were made to feel ‘uncomfortable’ and how students had turned their backs on a panelist at an Utah university. That panelist turned out to be a bi-racial woman who aligns with Utah Parents United and proudly notes, at every opportunity, that she’s not one of ‘those’ black people (same person made the same declaration during public comment for school board Administrative Rule R277-328). Note: While Conservatives like to quote Martin Luther King Jr., when he lived, he was one of the most hated men in America. Only 75% of Americans approved of King. That means, there were plenty of African Americans and so called progressives who felt he was ’rocking the boat’ or pushing things “too far.”
Jan 24 • 13 tweets • 8 min read
Monday, we attended public comment during the Utah Senate Education Committee Hearing on #HB261. There were many people speaking for and against the bill. At the end of the hearing, the bill's sponsor, Rep Katy Hall became emotional when she stated, people believe "...that this is just a national agenda. That this is just a push against the 'woke'. I wouldn't bring this bill forward if that's what it was."

Well, as it turns out, much of #HB261 is a copy and paste of Florida's Stop Woke Act , with a minor tweet to wording and phrases, here and there.

See for yourself 1/

(clip Start: 9914 seconds | End: 9941 seconds)
#utpol #utleg #stopwokeact #copyandpaste #dei
le.utah.gov/av/videoClipTe… STOP WOKE ACT
virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.

HB261
(C) asserts that an individual should be discriminated against in violation of Title VII
197 and Title IX, receive adverse treatment, be advanced, or receive beneficial treatment because of
198 the individual's personal identity characteristics;

STOP WOKE ACT
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

HB261
(B) asserts that an individual, by virtue of the individual's personal identity
194 characteristics, is inherently privileged, oppressed, racist, sexist, oppressive, or a victim,
195 whether consciously or unconsciously;

(G) asserts that meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist;

STOP WOKE ACT
An individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.

HB261
199 (D) asserts that an individual's moral character is determined by the individual's
200 personal identity characteristics;

STOP WOKE ACT
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears responsibility for, or should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.

HB261
(E) asserts that an individual, by virtue of the individual's personal identity
202 characteristics, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other individuals with
203 the same personal identity characteristics;

STOP WOKE ACT
An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.

HB261
(F) asserts that an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or other
205 psychological distress solely because of the individual's personal identity characteristics;

STOP WOKE ACT
Florida employers beginning in July 2022 (the effective date of the law) will need to carefully scrutinize the content of any mandatory DEI or non-discrimination training to avoid running afoul of the Act’s prohibitions.

Florida employers should note that the Act restricts the content of mandatory training sessions but does not restrict the content of training that employees attend on a purely voluntary basis.

HB261
(a) "Prohibited training" means a mandatory instructional program and related
532 materials that an LEA requires the LEA's employees, prospective employees, students, or
533 prospective students, to attend that promote prohibited discriminatory practices as that term is
534 defined in Section 53B-1-118.

More information found here 2/
lockelord.com/newsandevents/…
Jul 10, 2023 • 25 tweets • 6 min read
🧵TL;DR
I’m going to tell you a story about my morning and some not pleasant things that’s going on. First, I’d planned to go hiking, but I overslept. Instead, I decided to go on a bike ride with son.

Before leaving the house, I checked my phone and saw that I’d missed called to inquire if I was still going hiking (SORRY!), and I saw that I had a DM on Twitter from Senator John Johnson @johnforutah. I clicked the link.

Deciding to deal with it later, my son and I went for our 🚲 ride and stopped for breakfast. He also had a yummy strawberry smoothie.

May 28, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
A little over a month ago, most Americans filed their annual income tax return. The goal is to get as close to zero as possible. Yet, most Americans believe getting a tax return check is a good thing. It can be. But, it also means you're using the feds as a savings account. The Inflation Reduction Act allocated money to staff an understaffed IRS. Republicans went berserk. Middle-income earners typically don't have tax accountants scrutinizing their income to the last cent. Most are using a tax software or tax agency to file. The 'lucky' ones are
May 26, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
"Good for me, but not for thee." In 1968, Burgess Owens was only the third African American to be offered a scholarship to play football at the University of Miami. Two years after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the United States Office of Education ordered the desegregation of collegiate athletic programs. Ray Bellamy was the first to desegregate the University of Miami football. Even though the Brown v Board of Education decision desegregated public facilities, many schools around the country and not just in the South,
May 26, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
"Just finished reading the final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It will cut taxes for working Utah families. I will proudly vote for it." @SenMikeLee 2017
How did it work out?
1. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes substantially from 2018 through 2025. The resulting deficits will #utpol add $1 to $2 trillion to the federal debt, according to official estimates. The debt increase will be larger if some of TCJA’s temporary tax cuts are extended. Republicans want to make them permanent. The CBO has estimated the cost of making TCJA cuts permanent to be
May 23, 2023 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
"The biggest lie of all time" is that the Democrats and GOP switched parties.
I wish I had the time to really break this down, but there are BOOKS for this sort of thing. Our history is not that complicated. There was the Party of Lincoln and the conservative Southern Democrats. Image When Hubert Humphrey gave his Civil Rights speech at the 1948 DNC Convention, the only people that didn't cheer him were the conservative Southern Democrats and Northern Conservative Republicans. Party insiders also worried that Humphrey's speech would split the Democratic Party
May 22, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Here we go again. In case you're like @RepBurgessOwens and don't know, the middle class in the US was made possible by unions and collective bargaining. Also, Owens was able to join NFL players lawsuit against the NFL over brain injuries because of its players union. #utpol Worth noting, thousands of former Black NFL players stand to benefit from the $1B concussion settlement. Black retired football players who were initially denied payments for dementia because of the NFL's use of race-norming, were able to be retested or have their claims rescored
May 22, 2023 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
I completed, The House on Mango Street. Conclusion: This is a beautifully written book that contains no material that warrants this post by @UTBoardofEd member Natalie Cline. There’s no way she or the ‘concerned parent’ read the book. It would be my guess Ms. Cline acted on #uted Image existing implicit biases rather than offer an educated and thoughtful critique of a book. I read the book looking for material that warranted the harsh declaration of 'disgusting.' I found none. Written as a series of vignettes, the book is a collection of lyrical prose in the Image
May 22, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Florida's history with racism is oft forgotten due to the state's sunny nickname. Blacks were targeted by law enforcement to provide mandatory labor for citrus groves. Dr. King called St. Augustine 'America’s most segregated city' in 1964. The city is forever linked to the Civil Image Rights Movement by the swimming pool incident. On June 18, 1964 a group of black and white protestors jumped into the segregated swimming pool at the Monson Motor Lodge. The hotel's manager responded by pouring acid into the pool. The very next day, Congress passed the
May 13, 2023 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
This is a lie. President Obama tried to score points with the GOP on immigration. He became the 'Deporter-in-chief'. A title he cannot defend. Republicans lied and hated him anyway. Trump wanted a moat with alligators. The GOP loved it. The cruelty IS the point. Obama remains the most aggressive enforcer of federal immigration laws in modern U.S. history. More than 2.8 million undocumented immigrants were deported under Obama, outpacing deportations carried out by his predecessor, by almost a million and 60% more than Trump.
economist.com/united-states/…
Mar 24, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
In 1988, President Reagan vetoed a bill that would’ve restricted television programming aimed at children saying, “this bill simply cannot be reconciled with the freedom of expression secured by our Constitution.” The FCC had said the marketplace could best regulate commercials. Peggy Charren was one of the first activists against programming and advertising to children. She accused networks of airing cartoons that were ‘tie-ins’ for children toys. Captain Kangaroo’s creator, Bob Keeshan also advocated against expanded newscasting and commercials and the
Mar 22, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Pay attention to the stories of what's happening at New College in Florida. It's the model for what the DeSantis and those who support him wants for the country. A must watch:
Mar 21, 2023 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
What is at issue here is that @VoteTrevorLee isn't just a random Twitter personality. He's a state representative who's district is in a county (Davis) that's home to a school district that's been found by the Department of Justice to have committed serious and widespread #utpol racial harassment of Black and Asian-American students. The investigation revealed persistent failures to respond to reports of race-based harassment of Black and Asian-American students by district staff and other students between 2015-2019, and
standard.net/news/education…
Feb 15, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
And @RepBurgessOwens voted NAY on American Rescue Plan that included money to address the systemic racism against socially disadvantaged farmers. Owens then turned around and called it “reverse racism,” and sponsored a bill to not allow it. Never-mind, the USDA admitted #utpol discriminating against Black farmers.
And, never-mind that the MAGA hat wearing @BurgessOwens never acknowledged that Black farmers received almost no money during the Trump Administration.

thecounter.org/usda-trump-tra…
Feb 15, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Digging into this VERY confusing bill reveals how dangerous it is. We know that African American women are 3-5 times more likely to die of pregnancy or delivery complications than white women. #HB451 would make it illegal to gather that data. #utpol #utleg
le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/st… If my understanding of this bill is correct, we know that financial institutions have charged minorities higher interest rates on home loans despite having the same down payment and credit score than their White peers. This bill would make it illegal to capture that data.
Feb 14, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Ironically, before the Southern states started voting Republican, they were Democrats. Why? Because they hated Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans. One of them was the TX Congressman and Speaker, Sam Rayburn. Rayburn held the Speakership in 1940. Rayburn was said to have been an honest man, who could not be bought. He hated the railroad, tariffs, banks, and utility companies because they took from farmers. He was also known for hating the rich, and Republicans because they “fooled ... the farmer into supporting the tariff to take from the poor
Feb 13, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction and also eliminated all political gains made by black voters in the South, which included electing black politicians. After Republican President Rutherford B Hayes withdrew federal troops from the South, they moved to implement restrictive voting rights laws such as Literacy and Jelly Bean tests. All of these men had short political careers due to the disenfranchisement of Black voters after 1877.

Take The Near Impossible Literacy Test Louisiana Used to Suppress the Black Vote.
openculture.com/2014/07/litera…